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Recent Academy Activity, April. 15–19, 2013

 

Actuaries Look to Elevate Importance of Disclosure as Public Employee Pension Transparency Act Is Introduced

  • In a news release, the Academy said it recognizes the importance of the issues addressed by newly introduced Congressional legislation and offered its public policy resources to legislators, regulators and other stakeholders at the federal, state and local levels to assist them in understanding the nature of the risks related to the financial soundness of state and local government public pension benefit plans.

Tell Us about Exceptional Academy Members

  • Nominations for three different Academy awards are now open! The Jarvis Farley Service Award is given to Academy members whose volunteer efforts on behalf of the Academy have made significant contributions to the advancement of the profession. The Robert J. Myers Public Service Award recognizes actuaries who have made an exceptional contribution to the common good. And, the Award for Outstanding Volunteerism honors Academy volunteers who have made a single, noteworthy contribution above and beyond what is reasonably expected.

2013 Member Dues: Pay by May 1 to Avoid Late Fees

  • Please pay your 2013 membership dues by May 1 to avoid a 20 percent late fee. Click here to pay directly on the online payments page. Now is also a good time to ensure your member profile is up to date and take advantage of two members-only benefits: Academy alerts and archived professionalism webinars. Academy alerts are timely online bulletins about legislative and regulatory developments, while archived professionalism webinars could potentially provide members with CE credits. To update your profile and access these benefits, log in now.

New Public Policy Activities

  • On April 16, the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight (CCIIO) released an updated version of the unified rate review template (URRT) that corrects a number of fields to allow for zero/negative values. During Thursday’s Academy webinar on the URRT and actuarial memorandum, a CCIIO representative referenced the revised version, noted that it is available via the Health Insurance Oversight System (HIOS), and addressed the columns that were modified to allow for zero/negative values.

Recent Events

  • Members of the Academy’s Health Practice Council and Federal Health Committee converged on Capitol Hill on April 15 and 16. Twenty-three volunteers met with representatives from more than 39 congressional offices and government agencies. During the visits, Academy members responded to questions on a wide variety of issues—including Affordable Care Act (ACA) implementation, Medicare, Medicaid, and how to address health care costs.
  • More than 800 registrants tuned into the Academy’s Rate Review and Disclosure Webinar to learn more about requirements related to the ACA rate review and disclosure provisions, specifically the final unified rate review template (URRT) and actuarial memorandum. A CCIIO representative was available to answer questions on developing rates from the index rate, specific input values in the two URRT worksheets, and actuarial memorandum requirements. Look for coverage on this webinar in the upcoming May HealthCheck.

Opportunities to Learn

  • April 23, Post-NAIC Update/PBA Webinar: Receive important updates on the activities of the NAIC’s Life Actuarial Task Force, PBR Implementation (EX) Task Force, Joint Qualified Actuary (A/B/C) Subgroup, and the Emerging Actuarial Issues (E) Working Group.
  • June 4, Regulatory Issues for Small Insurance Companies Webinar: Join the Academy and the Society of Actuaries to gain a better understanding of regulators’ thoughts on a variety of topics, including how actuaries can adapt to the new risk-focused exams, whether PBR makes sense for most small companies, how ORSA will help and evolve, and many more!
  • Nov. 11–14, Life and Health Qualifications Seminar: Expedite the basic education you will need to obtain health and life qualifications under Section 3 of the U.S. Qualification Standards. This seminar is the primary source of instruction to become qualified. Seats are limited!

Actuaries in the News

  • A Sacramento Bee reporter cited the Academy’s brief on “The 80% Funding Standard Myth” in his blog, to support a higher “threshold for healthy pension funds” in a story about an accounting change for the California Public Employees’ Retirement System.

 

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