The Academy sent a holiday card to all members this week, as well as a gift—members can request a complimentary copy of the recently produced Code of Professional Conduct in a convenient pocket-sized format by following the link at the end of the card.
Please note: This Week will not be published next week.
Recently Released
The Winter 2015 issue of Retirement Account features items on the Academy’s “Aging Securely” forum on Capitol Hill that covered a variety of topics including lifetime income, long-term care, and the sustainability of public programs. Also in this issue, read the notes from the Intersector Group’s recent meetings with the Treasury Department, the IRS, and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.; and registration is now open for the 2016 Enrolled Actuaries meeting, to be held April 10-13 in Washington, DC.
Alerts
U.S. House Passes Spending Bill; Includes ACA Delays: The U.S. House of Representatives today passed a $1.1 trillion spending bill (H.R. 2029) for fiscal year 2016 that includes provisions delaying the Affordable Care Act’s tax on high-cost employer-sponsored plans (often referred to as the “Cadillac tax”), and suspending the annual tax on insurers. Read the full alerthere or in the member section of the website under “Health Alerts.”
From the ABCD
The Actuarial Board for Counseling and Discipline (ABCD) received a specific question pertaining to the use of unadjusted premiums (without regard to age) pertinent to the application and scope of Section 3.7.7 (c) of Actuarial Standard of Practice No. 6, Measuring Retiree Group Benefit Obligations (adopted by the Actuarial Standards Board in May 2014). In an effort to provide timely guidance to actuaries practicing in this area and to mitigate the potential for future complaints associated with the relevant section, the ABCD issued a formal opinion on the matter.
Reserve Your Copy of the P/C Loss Reserve Law Manual
The 2015 Property/Casualty Loss Reserve Law Manual is available to pre-order. The manual, updated annually and available in numerous formats, is designed to help appointed actuaries comply with NAIC annual statement requirements for statements of actuarial opinion. Click here to pre-order the manual.
Webinar Will Cover New P/C Loss Reserves Practice Note
Save the date: A Jan. 14 webinar, “Keeping Current: Changes to the 2015 SAO P/C Loss Reserves Practice Note,” will help signers of statements of actuarial opinion (SAOs) keep up to date with the latest NAIC instructions. The forthcoming 2015 Statement of Actuarial Opinion P/C Loss Reserves Practice Note has been revised to improve its format and presentation. This webinar, co-hosted by the Academy’s Casualty Practice Council and the Casualty Actuarial Society, will be a guide to the updated practice note and will highlight a few areas of practice related to preparing SAOs. Registration will open soon.
In the News
The U.K. outlet Actuarial Post cited findings from the paper The Challenge of Longevity Risk: Making Retirement Income Last a Lifetime in its reporting of new government estimates that newborns in the United Kingdom are now expected to live into their 90s. The paper was a joint project of the Academy, the U.K. Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, and the Actuaries Institute of Australia that highlights risks associated with longevity and asset decumulation.
A graphic from the Academy Health Practice Council’sfact sheet examining the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) three risk-sharing mechanisms was reproduced in a Bangor Daily News (Maine) editorial warning readers of the potential systemic risks assumed if Congress passes a budget bill that underfunds the ACA risk corridor program. The editorial also ran in Insurance News Net.
The Richmond Times-Dispatchcited the Academy’s issue brief, Drivers of 2016 Health Insurance Premium Changes, in a story that fact-checks statements by a presidential primary candidate regarding expected 2016 rate increases.
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