Academy Releases Issue Brief on Implications of Response to King v. Burwell

In light of the pending decision in King v. Burwell, in which the Supreme Court will rule on whether federal premium subsidies under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will be available for individuals in states participating in the federally facilitated marketplace (FFM), the Academy’s Health Practice Council released a new issue brief, Implications of Proposed Changes to the ACA in Response to King v. Burwell, on Thursday.

Various proposals would provide transitional coverage for individuals who would lose subsidies if the court rules that they are not available in FFM states. Many of those proposals also include provisions that are featured in proposals to replace the ACA more broadly, including eliminating the individual and/or employer mandates, establishing the ability to sell insurance across state lines, and allowing association health plans.

The issue brief lays out three principles that are important to ensuring a viable health care system and evaluates the extent to which the proposals to address the potential disruption from the King v. Burwell case, as well as broader reforms to the ACA, adhere to these principles.

The issue brief has been a major topic of discussion in the national news media and on Capitol Hill. The Wall Street Journal was among the numerous outlets that included Academy analysis in reporting on proposals to modify ACA in light of a possible decision eliminating federal premium subsidies in FFM states. Others include:

• Benefitslink.com
• BenefitsPro
• Bloomberg
• Bloomberg BNA (Subscriber Only)
• Daily Kos
• The Fiscal Times
• Life & Health Advisor
• LifeHealthPro
• McClatchyDC
• Modern Healthcare
• Salon
• The Hill (Story 1)
• The Hill (Story 2)
• U.S. News & World Report
• Washington Monthly
• Washington Post

Public Policy Activities

• Ellen Kleinstuber, vice chairperson of the Pension Committee, provided testimony for an ERISA Advisory Council hearing regarding model notices and disclosures to assist defined benefit plan participants in understanding the options available to them when offered a lump-sum distribution as part of a pension risk transfer transaction.
• The Public Plans Subcommittee submitted comments to the Actuarial Standards Board on its exposure draft, “Assessment and Disclosure of Risk Associated with Measuring Pension Obligations and Determining Pension Plan Contributions.”
• The P/C Risk-Based Capital Committee sent a comment letter to the NAIC’s Catastrophe Risk Subgroup on the addition of instructions and interrogatories to form PR026 for the 2015 reporting year.

Alerts

• The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed a new rule Tuesday that would modernize the Medicaid managed care regulations to promote similar standards among both private and public marketplaces. Read more here or in the member section of the Academy website under “Health Alerts.”

Upcoming Events

• ASB hearing on public pension plans: The Actuarial Standards Board’s (ASB) hearing on public pension plan issues will take place on July 9 in Washington. The ASB intends to use information obtained through this hearing as it considers next steps in the evolution of actuarial standards of practice (ASOPs) applicable to actuarial work regarding these plans. For the hearing, ASB is accepting both written comments and requests to present oral testimony. Learn more about the hearing, including the comment and submission guidelines, and register here. 
• Casualty Loss Reserve Seminar: The 2015 Casualty Loss Reserve Seminar (CLRS) and Workshops, jointly sponsored by the Academy and the Casualty Actuarial Society, will be held Sept. 9-11 at the Omni Hotel at CNN Center in Atlanta, Ga. Attend the 2015 CLRS to stay current and learn from expert analysis of innovation in reserving. For more information on attendee registration, please email arc@casact.org or visit the CLRS website.
• Registration continues for the 2015 Life and Health Qualifications Seminar, to be held Nov. 9-12 in Arlington, Va. (metropolitan Washington). See why so many of your peers find this seminar the most succinct and effective way to acquire the required basic education and continuing education (CE) to assist in being qualified to sign NAIC annual statement life and health actuarial opinions for those who may not have met the basic education requirements set forth in Section 3.1.1 of the U.S. Qualification Standards (USQS).

Recent Events

• As reported last week, the Academy’s latest professionalism webinar provided the first analysis and discussion, with questions and answers from the participants, about the results of our survey on “Key Ethical Concerns Facing the Actuarial Profession: Perceptions of Members of the American Academy of Actuaries.” It yielded a wide-ranging and interesting conversation among the presenters and the participants. For those members who were not able to attend live, slides can be downloaded here, and an audio recording is available here.

Earn CE at Your Convenience Through the New Actuarial eLearning Center

• The Academy’s Actuarial eLearning Center provides members with an opportunity to earn CE credit described in the USQS at their convenience through a unique, substantive online course, “Understand the Code of Professional Conduct,” which includes an optional final examination to test your knowledge. Once members have registered at the center, they may return at any time for one year to review the course at their leisure and may obtain a certificate of achievement after successfully taking the exam.

Nominate a Deserving Member

• The Academy reminds you to submit nominations of members for its two highest awards, the Robert J. Myers Public Service Award and the Jarvis Farley Service Award, as well as for the Outstanding Volunteerism Award. The Myers award recognizes actuaries in public service who have made an exceptional contribution to the common good. The Farley 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 Outstanding Volunteerism Award honors Academy volunteers who have made a single, noteworthy volunteerism contribution that is above and beyond what is reasonably expected of an Academy volunteer. The Academy will present the awards during its 50th anniversary Annual Meeting and Public Policy Forum, Nov. 12-13, in Washington.

In the News

• A subscriber-only Bloomberg BNA story quotes testimony by Ellen Kleinstuber, vice chairperson of the Academy’s Pension Committee, in its coverage of the ERISA Advisory Council hearing on model notices and disclosures for pension risk transfer transactions. “Disclosures should address the ‘known unknowns’ and individual circumstances that could influence a participant's decision whether to accept a lump-sum offer,” said Kleinstuber.
• The National Law Review mentions the Academy in a story examining the CMS proposed new rule for Medicaid managed care regulations. The story notes that the proposed rule would require Medicaid managed care rate setting to be actuarially sound “to incorporate standards previously included in non-binding guidance issued by the American Academy of Actuaries.” See the May 27 Academy Alert for more information on the proposed rule. The story also ran in JD Supra.
• A Rome (Ga.) News-Tribune opinion piece examining Social Security solvency proposals cites the Academy monograph Social Security Reform Options in discussing the cost-saving benefits of switching to a chained CPI cost-of-living adjustment.

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