The Pension Committee released an issue brief, Aligning the PBGC’s Single-Employer Premium Structure With Its Objectives, which discusses options for modifying the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation’s (PBGC) single-employer premium structure to better support the single-employer defined benefit system, while preserving a strong level of retirement security.
(March 05, 2024)A new issue brief from the Asset Adequacy and Reinsurance Task Force, Asset-Intensive Reinsurance Ceded Offshore From U.S. Life Insurers (With Focus on Bermuda), offers a summary of motivations, common practices, and relevant actuarial guidance for U.S.-based actuaries involved in reinsurance transactions based offshore, particularly in Bermuda. Read the Academy press release.
(February 15, 2024)Social Security Committee issue brief on 2023 Social Security Trustees Report examining the latest detailed annual assessment by the federal government of the program’s solvency.
(February 02, 2024)The Prudential Regulation Committee released an issue brief, Introduction to Insurance Group Capital Requirements, which focuses on U.S. application, including a discussion of the two primary approaches used to determine group capital.
(January 24, 2024)The Climate Change Joint Committee released an issue brief, ESG and the Actuary, which is intended to present some of the basics of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) considerations as actuaries contemplate how ESG may impact their work.
(January 24, 2024)The Pension Committee released an issue brief, Church-Sponsored Retirement Plans—Overview and Considerations. This issue brief discusses the broad range of church plans and practices. Among other considerations, it discusses the impact on a participant of being in a church plan when the ERISA protections and provisions for U.S. tax-qualified single or multiemployer pension plans generally do not apply.
(January 24, 2024)The Health Equity Committee released an issue brief summarizing its "Health Benefit Design Innovations for Advancing Health Equity: Removing the Barriers to Successful Implementation" series.
(November 14, 2023)The Health Equity Committee released the final two issue briefs in its "Health Benefit Design Innovations for Advancing Health Equity: Removing the Barriers to Successful Implementation" series. How to Better Understand the Needs of the People We’re Trying to Serve explores how to better understand unmet needs and incorporate input from employees and plan members into the benefit design decision-making process, and Overcoming Constraints to Implementation discusses some of the challenges of implementing equity-enhancing benefit plans—and possible solutions. The lessons learned in discussions that led to the four issue briefs will be the topic of a special Health Symposium: Health Benefit Design Innovations for Advancing Health Equity Nov. 15, from 8:15 a.m. to 3:45 EST.
(November 10, 2023)The Health Equity Committee released the final two issue briefs in its "Health Benefit Design Innovations for Advancing Health Equity: Removing the Barriers to Successful Implementation" series. How to Better Understand the Needs of the People We’re Trying to Serve explores how to better understand unmet needs and incorporate
input from employees and plan members into the benefit design decision-making process, and Overcoming Constraints to Implementation discusses some of the challenges of implementing equity-enhancing benefit plans—and possible solutions. The lessons learned in discussions that led to the four issue briefs will be the topic of a special Health Symposium: Health Benefit Design Innovations for Advancing Health Equity Nov. 15, from 8:15 a.m. to 3:45 EST.
(November 10, 2023)Social Security’s combined trust fund reserves are projected to become depleted around 2034,1 at which time its income would be able to pay only 80% of the benefits scheduled for its 80 million beneficiaries. It is important that Congress immediately focus on this issue because delay makes the solution more difficult, as it gradually limits the viable options to those relying on increasing taxes.
(October 31, 2023)The Committee on Cyber Risk released a new chapter in the Cyber Risk Toolkit, "Personal Cyber: An Intro to Risk Reduction and Mitigation Strategies." The chapter identifies some of the penetration points of cyberattacks from an individual’s perspective and examines how an individual can work to minimize their risk of being hacked.
(October 30, 2023)A new issue brief released by the Health Equity Committee provides an overview of how potential benefit changes are evaluated and how those evaluations could facilitate the incorporation of equity-enhancing benefit design features. These issues were discussed in the second of a series of workshops with stakeholders and decision-makers focusing on changing cost-sharing features, such as through value-based insurance design (VBID), as well as adding benefits to address health-related social needs.
(October 05, 2023)The Social Security Committee released an issue brief, Assumptions Used to Evaluate Social Security’s Financial Condition. The issue brief describes the assumptions that must be made in any actuarial projection of the Social Security program’s finances and explains how variations in the assumption values affect the projections.
(September 21, 2023)The Pension Committee released an issue brief, Enhancing Retirement Security Through Changes in Plan Design and Related Requirements, that examines modifications to defined benefit (DB) plans that would make them more attractive for modern employers, and looks at ways to incorporate some of the more desirable attributes of DB plans into the more common defined contribution (DC) options that many employers are currently offering.
(September 14, 2023)Pension Committee issue brief examining issues pension actuaries may consider when performing an actuarial valuation using sex/gender expansive data—data on sex/gender that is either missing or nonbinary.
(August 14, 2023)A new issue brief released by the Health Equity Committee provides an overview of issues related to designing health benefits to improve health equity. These issues were discussed in the first of a series of workshops with stakeholders and decision-makers focusing on changing cost-sharing features, such as through value-based insurance design (VBID), as well as adding benefits to address health-related social needs. In particular, the brief outlines some of the decision-making process with respect to adding benefits and the challenges of incorporating more equity-improving elements into health insurance plan designs.
(August 08, 2023)This issue brief defines discrimination (including distinguishing between discrimination, unfair discrimination, and unjust discrimination); presents practical methods for testing and monitoring algorithms; provides a regulatory overview of the issue; and identifies considerations for actuaries, algorithm creators, and regulators.
(August 07, 2023)The Individual and Small Group Markets Committee released its annual issue brief laying out the factors underlying premium rate setting and highlighting the major components driving premium changes in the individual and small group markets for 2024.
(July 19, 2023)This issue brief examines the key types of data bias that actuaries may encounter and focuses on the kinds of biases found in modeling data and the implications for algorithmic outcomes.
(July 18, 2023)Academy Senior Life Fellow Nancy Bennett and Paul Navratil, chairperson of the Life Investment and Capital Adequacy Committee, presented to the U.S. Department of Labor’s ERISA Advisory Council public meeting on pension risk transfers on July 18. They gave an overview of life insurance regulations focused on the regulatory framework governing solvency requirements, including the establishment of liabilities and required capital for benefit obligations that are the result of a pension risk transfer. Additionally, the Academy submitted the Pension Committee’s recent issue brief, Buy-Out Group Annuity Purchase Primer, for the meeting record as a resource on “buy-out” annuity contract transactions from a pension actuarial perspective.
(July 17, 2023)Digital assets and their roles in cybercrime continue to increase. This paper seeks to provide a baseline understanding of digital assets for insurance industry practitioners whose lines of business may interact with digital assets and highlight recent trends surrounding their use within cybercrime.
(July 14, 2023)Pension Committee issue brief on pension plan sponsor role and considerations regarding “buy-out” annuity contract transactions.
(July 07, 2023)Issue brief authored by the Lifetime Income Joint Risk Committee considering Experience-Sharing Lifetime Income (ESLI), a retirement income approach that shares features of both lifetime annuities and structured drawdowns.
(June 28, 2023)The Active Benefits Committee released an issue brief focusing on the role of actuaries in employee benefits for health policy development.
(April 17, 2023)The Workers' Compensation Committee released an issue brief providing an overview of medical marijuana laws and court cases—and the impact they have on the workers’ compensation system—to help actuaries navigate the complicated legal landscape.
(April 17, 2023)The Medicare Committee released an issue brief focusing on the near and long-term financing challenges facing the Medicare program based on the 2023 Medicare Trustees Report.
(April 13, 2023)The P/C Committee on Equity and Fairness released an issue brief that provides a survey of methods aimed at helping to identify and/or mitigate bias in rating for property and casualty lines.
(February 28, 2023)The Academy’s Life Experience Committee released a discussion brief on the use of margins in life insurance modeling.
(December 02, 2022)The Academy’s Life Experience Committee released a discussion brief on credibility in life insurance modeling.
(December 02, 2022)The Academy’s Life Experience Committee released a discussion brief on the impacts of inflation, interest rates, stock market volatility, and potential recession on life insurance business.
(October 14, 2022)