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Recent Academy Activity, Jan. 27–31, 2014

Professionalism News

  • Volunteer Action Required: Committing on an annual basis to professional objectivity is required to perform volunteer work for the Academy. That’s why the Academy emailed each volunteer a request to submit a conflict of interest (COI) acknowledgement and continuing education (CE) attestation. To comply, follow the instructions in the email or on the membership page under “COI and CE Acknowledgement.”

Alerts

  • Senate OKs Rate Increase Delays: The U.S. Senate passed a bill (S. 1926) on Jan. 30 delaying some premium increases mandated by the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012 by up to four years. Log in to read the full alert under “Casualty Alerts.”

Opportunities to Learn

  • “The Latest Findings on National Health Spending from CMS” will be the topic of an Academy webinar on Feb. 6. Lekha Whittle, economist in the Office of the Actuary at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), will discuss new analysis showing that the trend of lower growth rates in spending continued into 2012 with an increase in spending of only 3.7 percent to $2.8 trillion. Register online.
  • The “Academy Capitol Forum: Meet the Experts” lunchtime guest webinar series continues on Feb. 21 with “Monitoring Financial Stability at the OFR.” Rebecca McCaughrin, associate director with the Office of Financial Research (OFR) at the U.S. Treasury Department, will provide an overview of the OFR and its responsibilities; an examination of the recently released OFR annual report that focuses on the framework and tools for monitoring and assessing risks to financial stability; and a look at potential channels for transmitting various stress areas within the OFR. Register online.

International Congress of Actuaries (ICA): This Week’s Spotlighted Session

  • Regular registration closes today for the ICA. This diverse meeting comes to the U.S. for the first time in over 50 years, bringing more than 100 sessions and offering up to 27 hours of CE. On April 2, join Patricia Guinn, a managing director at Towers Watson, as she leads “A conversation with leading insurance industry CEOs,” including: Greig Woodring, CEO of RGA Reinsurance Co.; Michel Lies, Group CEO of Swiss Re; and Clive Cowdery, founder of Resolution Group. The conversation will address questions like: What are the implications for actuaries of demographic shifts, new technology, and new regulatory approaches? And what skills will actuaries of the future need to support the industry? Register and learn more about this and other sessions on the ICA website.

Public Policy Activities

  • The Academy hopes that the introduction of comprehensive retirement legislation (the USA Retirement Funds Act, S. 1979) by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), will prompt a national discussion about retirement policy. Academy President Tom Terry noted that “The discussion is long overdue.” The Academy will host a policy forum on its Retirement for the AGES initiative in Washington on April 28.
  • The day before the State of the Union address, the Academy called on the President and Congress to commit to addressing the financial security of federal programs like Medicare and Social Security.
  • The reconstituted Federal Advisory Committee on Insurance (FACI) should include one or more actuaries, Academy President Tom Terry explained in a Jan. 28 letter.
  • The Academy’s Risk-Based Capital work groups sent a letter to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ (NAIC) SMI RBC Subgroup outlining concerns with a Capital Adequacy Task Force operational risk proposal.
  • The Rate Review Practice Note Work Group submitted comments to the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight on a second draft of revisions to the Unified Rate Review Template and actuarial memorandum instructions.
  • Senior Pension FellowDonald Fuerst participated in a Jan. 29 panel discussion on securing lifetime income at a National Academy of Social Insurance policy conference in Washington. He highlighted the Academy’s Risky Business: Living Longer Without Income for Life discussion paper.
  • The Solvency Committee submitted comments to the NAIC on the International Association of Insurance Supervisors’ proposal, Basic Capital Requirements for Global Systemically Important Insurers (G-SIIs).
  • The ERM Committee submitted comments to the Financial Stability Board on its proposal, Guidance on Supervisory Interaction with Financial Institutions on Risk Culture.
  • The Nonforfeiture Modernization Work Group developed a spreadsheet for the NAIC Life Actuarial Task Force that illustrates potential nonforfeiture benefits for guaranteed lifetime withdrawal benefits contained in fixed deferred annuities based upon the work group’s December proposal.
  • The Pension Committee commented on the Actuarial Standards Board’s (ASB) proposed revision of actuarial standard of practice (ASOP) No. 35, Selection of Demographic and Other Noneconomic Assumptions for Measuring Pension Obligations. The committee found that the overall objectives regarding disclosure of the rationale behind selected assumptions have been met in the proposed revision.

Academy in the News

  • Senior Pension Fellow Don Fuerst reviewed the MyRA proposal made by President Obama in the State of the Union address for listeners of Boston’s WRKO AM680 on Jan. 29. The interview is posted online and starts at the 34:52 mark. Fuerst also commented on the proposal for an MSN Money/Bloomberg story and a Washington Post/Bloomberg story.
  • Fuerst explained to listeners of Tampa Bay’s WHNZ AM1250 in a Jan. 28 interview that a change to accounting rules requested by some members of Congress could produce less useful reporting of pension obligations.
  • The Academy’s Retirement for the AGES monograph was the subject of Marketwatch’s Jan. 29 “Encore” blog about living in and planning for retirement.
  • The Academy Health Practice Council’s fact sheet examining the Affordable Care Act’s three risk-sharing mechanisms was widely cited by the media, including Yahoo! Finance and Kaiser Health News. The Washington Post featured a graphic from the fact sheet.
  • The Academy’s recommendation that the FACI include one or more actuaries was reported by Best’s News Service and InsuranceNewsNet.
  • The Academy’s pre-State of the Union call for policymakers to address the financial security of federal programs like Medicare and Social Security was reported by numerous media outlets, including BenefitsPro, Senior Journal, and the Social Security Report.

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