This Week, January 4, 2013

Reminders

• If you have not paid your 2013 membership dues, please do so by clicking here [2] to conveniently pay online without logging in. If you prefer, you also can log in [3] to pay your dues, print your invoice, or update your profile.

News from the Actuarial Standards Board

• The ASB approved a second exposure draft [4] of a revision of ASOP No. 4, Measuring Pension Obligations and Determining Pension Plan Costs or Contributions. Changes include new concepts and refinements to language in the first exposure draft.

Member Alerts

• The legislation (HR 8 [5]) that allowed the country to avoid the “fiscal cliff,” signed into law by President Obama on Jan. 2, addresses certain health insurance and pension provisions. Log in [3] to read the full alert.

Website: New Postings

• The Pension Committee submitted comments [6] to the ASB responding to its proposed revisions to ASOP No. 25, Credibility Procedures. The comments focused on the ASOP No. 25 exposure draft’s expanded scope, which includes pension practice.
• The Actuarial Value Subgroup submitted comments [7] to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in response to a request for information on plan data collection requirements.
• The Individual and Small Group Market Task Force submitted comments [8] to CMS on the EHB components of the proposed rule, Standards Related to Essential Health Benefits, Actuarial Value, and Accreditation.
• The Individual and Small Group Market Task Force and Premium Review Work Group submitted comments [9] to CMS on the proposed rule regarding health insurance market reforms, which modifies the final rule on rate review and disclosure requirements.
• The Risk Sharing Work Group submitted comments [10] to CMS on the proposed rule, Benefit and Payment Parameters for 2014, addressing payment methodologies and data collection for the risk adjustment, reinsurance, and risk corridor mechanisms in the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
• The MLR Work Group submitted comments [11] to CMS on the proposed rule, Benefit and Payment Parameters for 2014, addressing proposed changes to the final rule on the medical loss ratio.

Recently Released Publications

• The 2012 Property/Casualty Loss Reserve Law Manual is available for purchase. The manual [12] is designed to help appointed actuaries comply with the NAIC requirements for statements of actuarial opinion. 
• January/February Contingencies: Read [13] about the Academy’s decades-long work toward the adoption of principle-based reserving for life insurance products, how the implementation of ACA will affect young adults, the impact of obesity on employer-based health care and workers’ compensation programs, and much more.

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