Academy Speaks at NAIC Meeting

• Academy President Mary D. Miller spoke to all three actuarial task force sessions at the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) Fall 2014 National Meeting in Washington Nov. 13-19. Miller updated regulators on the comments received and continuing development of the Academy’s proposed attestation form, which members will be able to use to document their general and specific qualifications to issue statements of actuarial opinion. Other Academy activities at the meeting include a well-attended Nov. 16 Council on Professionalism briefing and breakfast for regulators, and presentations and proposals from the Academy on a wide range of insurance policy issues. Presentations included:

• Casualty. Mike Angelina, immediate past vice president for casualty, presented to the Casualty Actuarial and Statistical Task Force on the public policy and professionalism implications raised by the practice of price optimization in ratemaking. Noting the controversy the practice has generated among some regulators and consumer advocates, he stated that rates should be based on the cost of transferring risk, not on ability or willingness to pay.
• Health. The Individual Disability Tables Work Group presented to the Health Actuarial Task Force (HATF) on the newly revised individual disability report and actuarial guideline. The HATF created a subgroup to look at the work group’s recommendations, and will be consulting with the work group throughout the process of finalizing and approving the table. The Medicare Supplement Work Group presented to the HATF on recommendations for potential modifications to the Medicare Supplement refund formula.
• Life. The Annuity Reserves Work Group’s Deposit Fund Subgroup presented to the Life Actuarial Task Force on the subgroup’s proposal to modify regulations of synthetic guaranteed investment contracts (GICs). The subgroup also submitted a supplemental proposal on reserving for synthetic GICs and proposed changes to the existing model regulation.
• Actuarial Standards Board (ASB) Chairperson Patricia Matson reviewed the ASB’s progress updating and adding to the actuarial standards of practice (ASOPs), while Actuarial Board for Counseling and Discipline (ABCD) member John Purple led a discussion on interactions between regulators and the ABCD.

Learn more by logging in to the members-only page and visiting “Cross-Practice Alerts.”

Annual Meeting Speeches Available Online

• The Academy concluded a very successful Annual Meeting and Public Policy Forum in Washington last week that featured prominent speakers who provided public policy perspectives on actuarially significant issues. The full remarks of several speakers are available on the Academy website, including those of former Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, former U.S. Senator and NAIC CEO Ben Nelson, as well as the farewell and inaugural addresses from Academy Immediate Past President Tom Terry and new Academy President Mary D. Miller.

Academy Dues Renewal

• Academy President Mary D. Miller announced this week that membership dues will remain the same for a fourth year in a row. Please click here to conveniently pay your dues without logging in. If you prefer, you may also log in to pay and make changes to your account. Coinciding with the dues renewal, the Academy released The Record, which highlights the Academy’s 2014 publications and achievements.

Reminders

• The Joint Board for the Enrollment of Actuaries (JBEA) has asked the Academy to alert its members that the JBEA is seeking applications from enrolled actuaries to serve on its Advisory Committee on Actuarial Examinations. The committee is responsible for reviewing, editing, and finalizing examination questions, reviewing statistical results of the examination, and other activities. The application period closes on Dec. 5.
• The ASB is seeking comments on the second exposure draft of its proposed ASOP, Principle-Based Reserves for Life Products. The ASB seeks feedback on issues such as whether the distinction between the company’s responsibility and the actuary’s responsibility is clear; whether the language of the standard quotes or summarizes VM-20 text appropriately and usefully; and whether it is sufficiently clear how the standard applies to actuaries who do not sign the PBR actuarial report but are involved in the preparation of principle-based reserves. The deadline for comments is Dec. 15.

Opportunities to Learn

• Webinar on updated ASOP No. 6. The May 2014 update of ASOP No. 6, Measuring Retiree Group Benefits Obligations and Determining Retiree Group Benefits Program Periodic Costs or Actuarially Determined Contributions, included a number of changes that have practical implications for actuaries. Register now for a Nov. 24 webinar, The New ASOP 6: Does Your Actuarial Work Measure Up? The webinar will provide an overview of the changes, review aspects of the U.S. Qualification Standards (USQS), and explain how data recently made available by the California Public Employee Retirement System (CalPERS) pertain to the new requirements for developing age-specific costs.
  
• Webinar to highlight revised FAQs for the USQS. The Committee on Qualifications is updating its Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about all aspects of the USQS for the first time since 2008. The greatly expanded FAQs—now with nearly 50 questions—will group questions by topic to help you quickly find what you are looking for. Join us Dec. 11 when the experts unveil the new FAQs in a webinar, Revised FAQs On USQS: Spelling Out The Details.

Alert

• The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation's (PBGC) Annual Report indicates that the PBGC's deficit increased to $62 billion for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30. Learn more by logging in to the members-only page and visiting “Pension Alerts.”

Public Policy Activities

• The Solvency Committee submitted written testimony to the U.S. House Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance hearing on "The Impact of International Regulatory Standards on the Competitiveness of U.S. Insurers, Part II."
• The Reinsurance Committee submitted comments to the International Accounting Standards Board on the Insurance Contracts Project's reinsurance and ceding commission’s proposal.

Academy in the News

• Politico’s coverage of the 2014 Annual Meeting and Public Policy Forum’s opening keynote speech focused on former HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius’ remarks on the future of state Medicaid expansion. “There are a bunch of brand-new governors, and there are also people who I think wanted to get through their election cycle and now will take a new look at this,” Sebelius said. Outgoing Academy President Tom Terry and Secretary Sebelius were shown together in this video clip of the event taken by Fox News. A subscriber-only article in Inside Health Policy scrutinized the role of the individual mandate in the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and the consequences of repeal of the mandate. Other media outlets that reported Secretary Sebelius’ speech include:
• Bloomberg BNA (subscriber only)
• Washington Times
• Real Clear Politics
• The Blaze
• The presidential transition and award ceremonies held at the Annual Meeting and Public Policy Forum were reported in Insurance Networking News.
•  A CBS News report presented analysis from the Academy issue brief, “Drivers of 2015 Health Insurance Premium Changes” to help readers make sense of possible increases to their 2015 health insurance premiums. The story focused on three drivers of health care costs: new ACA risk pool composition changes, reinsurance fund reductions, and the rising cost of medical services due to inflation and an aging U.S. population.
• AHIP Coverage reported on the Medicare Supplement Work Group’s Nov. 11 comment letter to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on the introduction of Sovaldi and other new Breakthrough Therapy Designation medications and their potential impact on Medicaid costs.
• Insurance News Net’s coverage of the NAIC fall meeting mentions that the Academy will be involved in drafting a revision to the basic life insurance illustration model law. The story reports that regulators plan to have revision guidelines available by late December.

Publication notice: Due to the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, the Academy will not publish This Week next week.

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