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Editor’s Note: Today’s issue of This Week will be the last of 2016; the next issue will be published on Jan. 6.
Regulator-Only Professionalism Breakfast Highlights Academy’s Activity at NAIC Meeting
 Past Academy President Mary D. Miller, Actuarial Board for Counseling and Discipline (ABCD) Chairperson Janet Fagan, and Actuarial Standards Board (ASB) Chairperson Maryellen Coggins presented professionalism updates to the NAIC life, health, and casualty actuarial task forces at the NAIC Fall 2016 National Meeting in Miami earlier this month. The presenters, joined by Committee on Qualifications member Tom Campbell, also presented at the always well-attended regulator-only professionalism breakfast on Dec. 10 and invited candid conversations.
The Academy released an alert recapping key issues from the NAIC meeting, including risk-based capital, professionalism, principle-based reserving, as well as the release of the Actuaries Climate Index.
Two post-NAIC webinars will recap life and property/casualty issues from the NAIC meeting. The Life Practice Council webinar will be held on Thursday, Jan. 5, 2017, from 1:30 to 3 p.m. EST (please note time change). The Casualty Practice Council webinar will be held on Thursday, Jan. 26, from noon to 1 p.m. EST; more details will be forthcoming.
ABCD Unveils Revamped Website
The ABCD website has been upgraded to provide a more user-friendly experience, including information about guidance, requests for speakers, and the ABCD complaint process.
Capital Adequacy Assessment Exposure Draft Open for Comment
The exposure draft of a proposed new actuarial standard of practice (ASOP), Capital Adequacy Assessment for Insurers, is open for comment through Jan. 31, 2017. The proposed ASOP will apply to actuaries involved in capital adequacy assessment work for life or health insurers, including fraternal benefit societies and health benefit plans, property and casualty insurers, mortgage and title insurers, financial guaranty insurance companies, complex insurance organizations, and similar organizations.
Upcoming Events
Next Week—Professionalism Webinar on ASOP No. 41: Join the Academy next Wednesday, Dec. 21, from noon to 1:30 p.m. EST for the professionalism webinar, “Can You Hear Me Now? Actuarial Communications Under ASOP No. 41.” The webinar—suitable for actuaries in all practice areas—will feature Actuarial Board for Counseling and Discipline (ABCD) vice chairpersons Janet Carstens and Rick Block, who will discuss ASOP No. 41, Actuarial Communications, through the lens of their ABCD experience. Using case studies and examples based on requests for guidance and cases submitted to the ABCD, they will discuss documentation and communication in environments that have prompted actuaries to seek counseling and provide guidance on how to apply this ASOP, which is likely to touch nearly every assignment an actuary works on. Paul Kollmer-Dorsey, the Academy’s director of professionalism, will moderate. Register today. Discounted Registration for EA Meeting: Extra-early discounted registration rates are available to Academy members through Dec. 31 for the Enrolled Actuaries Meeting, to be held April 2–5, 2017, in Washington, D.C. Sponsored jointly by the Academy and the Conference of Consulting Actuaries, the 42nd annual EA Meeting will offer panels, workshops, and speakers covering a variety of topics and issues relevant to enrolled actuaries and other pension professionals.
See our website for a listing of all Academy events.
Preorder Your Copy of the P/C Loss Reserve Law Manual
The 2016 Property/Casualty Loss Reserve Law Manual is available for pre-order. The manual, available soon, is updated annually in numerous formats and is designed to help appointed actuaries comply with NAIC Annual Statement requirements for statements of actuarial opinion.
Recently Released
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The December issue of HealthCheck covers the Health Practice Council’s (HPC) letters to Congress on the potential consequences of repealing Affordable Care Act (ACA) provisions without having a replacement approach in place, and the widespread media coverage they received (see “In the News,” below); the Academy’s testimony on long-term care insurance before a U.S. House subcommittee; and President Obama’s signing this week of the 21st Century CURES Act into law.
The latest Enrolled Actuaries Report includes two bylined pieces by Senior Pension Fellow Ted Goldman on proposals for both saving for a healthy retirement and an effective drawdown strategy during retirement; stories on the pension plenary and breakout sessions from the Academy’s recent Annual Meeting and Public Policy Forum; the Pension Practice Council’s (PPC) issue brief on challenges facing the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.’s multiemployer program; and the November webinar on alternative pension costs. The latest Retirement Account covers the release of two new issue briefs, the November webinar on alternative pension cost, comments to the ASB, and PPC Vice President Bill Hallmark’s representation of the Academy at a daylong expert panel on the state of retirement in America convened by the Government Accountability Office.
Alerts
The U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 5143, the Transparent Insurance Standards Act of 2016, by a 239-170 vote. The NAIC’s Executive Committee and Plenary adopted the Term and Universal Life Insurance Reserve Financing Model Regulation at its Fall 2016 National Meeting. Subscribe to Member Alerts: Subscribers to the Academy’s alerts are notified by email when a new alert is posted in their area(s) of interest. The alerts are available in five areas of focus: casualty, health, life, pension, and cross-practice issues. Academy members may subscribe to any or all of them free of charge as a member service after signing in to the member section of the website.
Public Policy Activities
The Financial Reporting Committee submitted comments to the Financial Accounting Standards Board on its proposed accounting standards update, Targeted Improvements to the Accounting for Long-Duration Contracts (Topic 944). Senior Life Fellow Nancy Bennett and Rich Owens, a member of the C1 Work Group, presented an update on portfolio adjustments to the C1 factors for corporate bonds to the NAIC Investment Risk-Based Capital Working Group.
In the News
More than 500 media outlets—including the Associated Press, CNBC, The Hill, and MSN—have covered the HPC’s Dec. 7 letters to the U.S. House and Senate on the potential adverse consequences of repealing provisions of the ACA provisions without having a replacement approach in place. A Dec. 10 Washington Post editorial directly cited the letters. National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered” national news radio program also cited the HPC’s letters, and quoted Senior Health Fellow Cori Uccello on the situation faced by health insurers in determining whether to participate in the individual market. The story, published on NPR’s website, was reprinted by nearly 80 media outlets. A subscriber-only Bloomberg BNA story discussing a pilot program for tighter eligibility verification during ACA special enrollment periods also quoted Uccello on balancing the need for documentation with the need for an enrollment process that is not onerous. An excerpt from Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Acting Administrator Andy Slavitt’s speech at the Academy’s Annual Meeting and Public Policy Forum was played on C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal” program on Monday to give context to a forward-looking discussion of health care and the Trump administration. A LifeHealthPro story about actuaries seeing more risk inside stop-loss issuers cited the Academy’s report on the Stop Loss Factors, which was presented to the NAIC’s Health Risk-Based Capital (E) Working Group.
Note: Some links in this email go to external websites and may require registration. The Academy is not responsible for the content of these websites. Links may expire.
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