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Recent Academy Activity, December 8-12, 2014

Academy Testifies Before Senate Finance Committee

  • Janet Barr, former chairperson of the Social Security Committee, testified on behalf of the Academy at a U.S. Senate Committee on Finance hearing on “Social Security: Is a Key Foundation of Economic Security Working for Women?” on Tuesday. Barr noted that the program’s rules are gender-neutral, but women frequently receive lower benefits because of differences in work histories and other factors between men and women. Read the written testimony and news release or watch the full hearing video.

Professionalism

  • The Council on Professionalism hosted a widely attended webinar, Revised FAQs on USQS: Spelling Out the Details, on Thursday. The Committee on Qualifications chair along with another committee member discussed with the actuarial profession aspects of a greatly expanded and detailed revision to its Frequently Asked Questions on the U.S. Qualification Standards, including topics such as statements of actuarial opinion, practicing in more than one area, continuing education, and other qualification matters. Additional questions were asked and answered during the course of the webinar. More than 5,100 attended. The newly expanded FAQs will be posted on the Academy website soon, and for those who missed this important webinar, the recording will be available free of charge to Academy members next week.

Alerts

  • The U.S. House of Representatives yesterday passed multiemployer pension reform as part of the omnibus government funding bill (H.R. 83). The Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014, added as an amendment to the funding bill, allows distressed plans projected to become insolvent in the next 15 or 20 years to cut the benefits they pay to both current and future retirees in order to prevent insolvency. Learn more by logging in to the members-only page and visiting “Pension Alerts.”
  • The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation this week clarifying that the Federal Reserve Board has the authority and the ability to differentiate between banks and insurers in terms of capital requirements. The Insurance Capital Standards Clarification Act, S. 2270, was passed without objection. Learn more by logging in to the members-only page and visiting “Cross-Practice Alerts.”
  • The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday passed government funding legislation that includes a provision to prohibit the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) from using appropriated or transferred funds to make Affordable Care Act risk corridor payments. H.R. 83, the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act of 2015, continues funding of the government through September 2015. Learn more by logging in to the members-only page and visiting “Health Alerts.”
  • The U.S. House of Representatives this week passed a bill extending the terrorism risk insurance (TRIA) program by six years, while also making other changes to the program. Its prospects in the Senate, however, are unclear. Learn more by logging in to the members-only page and visiting “Casualty Alerts.”

Reminders

  • The Actuarial Standards Board (ASB) is seeking comments on the second exposure draft of its proposed actuarial standard of practice (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.

Public Policy Activities

  • The Committee on Property and Liability Financial Reporting published an update of its paper, Overview for P/C Insurers’ Audit Committees: Effective Use of Actuarial Loss Reserves Expertise. The paper provides members of boards of directors and audit committees of property/casualty insurance companies with a more complete understanding of the information and assistance that actuarial professionals can provide as board/committee members perform their financial reporting oversight roles. An alert discussing the paper can be viewed at the members-only page under “Casualty Alerts.”
  • The Solvency Committee sent comments to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners on the “U.S. Group Capital Methodology Concepts Discussion Paper.”

Recent Events

  • Members of the Life Practice Council joined Mike Boerner, chairperson of the NAIC’s Life Actuarial Task Force, for the fall Post-NAIC/PBA Update Webinar. The webinar provided an overview of the NAIC Fall 2014 National Meeting, an account of the Life Actuarial Task Force meeting, as well as recent developments relating to capital, captives, and other hot topics.

Newly Released

  • December HealthCheck: Read about a Council on Professionalism webinar covering new requirements for retiree group benefits programs in pooled health plans, Academy updates to the NAIC, final national health spending figures for 2013, and more.

Academy in the News

  • Academy member Janet Barr’s testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance hearing on the Social Security program’s impact on women was mentioned in Examiner.com, The Daily Caller and Benefits Link.

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