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Recent Academy Activity, July 28–August 1, 2014

Announcements

  • Tom Wildsmith leads the slate submitted to the Academy Board to be the Academy’s next president-elect. Read about all the officer nominees on the Nominating Committee slate on the Election Center webpage. All new board terms begin at the close of the Annual Meeting of members.
  • You can make a difference by volunteering with the Academy. Take the quick survey to identify the volunteer opportunities that may be right for you, and join the more than 1,200 Academy volunteers who have contributed their actuarial expertise and made lasting professional and personal connections, and earned valuable continuing education, as volunteers. The survey is also available on the members-only page of the Academy website through Aug. 8.

Alerts

  • Trustees reports published: The Social Security and Medicare Boards of Trustees issued their annual reports on the financial status of Social Security and Medicare programs on July 28. The reports state that the retirement and disability programs of Social Security in combination have sufficient resources to cover benefits until 2033 and that the Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund has improved with enough funds to ensure the coverage of its obligations through 2030. To view the full alert, log in to the members-only page and visit “Cross-Practice Alerts.”
  • Highway bill with ‘pension smoothing’ heads to White House: On July 31, the U.S. Senate joined the House of Representatives in passing a bill extending the use of 25-year averaging of interest rates for determining minimum funding standards for single-employer defined benefit pension plans (referred to as “funding stabilization” or “pension smoothing”). The bill also applies the 25-year average rates to determine the plans that must restrict accelerated forms of payment. The president is expected to sign the measure. To view the full alert, log in to the members-only page and visit “Pension Alerts.”

Public Policy Activities

  • The Academy published a new Essential Elements paper, “Securing Social Security,” that examines the long-term solvency challenges facing the nation’s largest social insurance program and approaches that could provide adequate long-term financing for the program. The Academy’s Essential Elements series of papers is designed to make actuarial analyses of public policy issues clearer to general audiences.
  • The Medicare Steering Committee updated its annual issue brief that offers a perspective on Medicare’s financial condition and outlines the public policy options to address the program’s long-term financial challenges.

Opportunities to Learn and Earn CE

  • Are you ready to implement the new life principle-based reserve requirements? Delve into basic and advanced implementation topics at the “Implementing VM-20: A Practical Approach” seminar on Aug. 27 in New York. Basic sessions will provide an overview of how to perform a VM-20 calculation, while advanced sessions will focus on more complex VM-20 requirements. Learn more and register now.
  • Do you wish to sign the National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ (NAIC) annual statements of actuarial opinion, but haven’t met the basic education requirements set forth in Section 3.1.1 of the U.S. Qualification Standards? Obtain the required minimum basic and continuing education at the 2014 Life and Health Qualifications Seminar, which will take place Nov. 10-13 in Arlington, Va. Learn more and register now.
  • Earn up to 11.1 continuing education (CE) credits, including 1.5 professionalism CE credits, by attending the Academy’s Annual Meeting and Public Policy Forum, Nov. 13-14, in the nation’s capital. Through cross-practice and practice-specific sessions, distinguished speakers from the White House staff, Congress, federal agencies, state insurance departments, and the actuarial profession (including U.S. professionalism bodies) will provide first-hand perspectives on the latest developments affecting different practice areas and the U.S. actuarial profession as a whole. Learn more and register now.

Newly Released

  • July Actuarial Update: Read about the Academy’s Summer Summit, where policy experts and Academy leaders gathered to discuss the Aging of America; a new Essential Elements paper on Social Security; an Actuarial Standards Board request for comments on public pension standards; the additional qualifications required for signing NAIC annual statement opinions; the Academy’s expanded Annual Meeting and Public Policy Forum; and much more.

Academy in the News

  • The Academy’s senior pension and health fellows provided context on the solvency and sustainability of Social Security and Medicare to several media outlets following the publication of the trustees reports on July 28. Senior Health Fellow Cori Uccello pointed to Medicare’s long-term challenges in a (subscriber-only) Modern Healthcare story and a (subscriber-only) Bloomberg BNA story. Senior Pension Fellow Donald Fuerst told the Bankrate.com Retirement Blog that policymakers should consider smaller, earlier adjustments to Social Security rather than waiting until more substantial adjustments can’t be avoided.
  • For its reporting on proposed changes to health insurance premiums in Louisiana, the Baton Rouge-based newspaper, The Advocate, turned to Uccello for an actuarial perspective. She explained that insurers are looking at the composition of the risk pool, but information about some key drivers of premium changes, such as medical spending for new enrollees, is limited.
  • A Congress Blog posting published by The Hill marking the four-year anniversary of the Dodd-Frank legislation cited the Solvency Committee’s June 5 letter to members of the U.S. House of Representatives. The letters encouraged them to enact the capital requirements legislation passed by the Senate.
  • Brookings Institution’s coverage of a webinar on the risk-bearing capacity of accountable care organizations (ACOs) noted concerns raised in the Academy’s June 2011 issue brief, “An Actuarial Perspective on Accountable Care Organizations.”
  • A Health News Colorado column examining proposed changes in 2015 health insurance rates in the state cites the Academy’s work. The column contemplated the effects of a relative increase in enrollment of lower-cost individuals.


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