Public Policy Activities

• Several Academy members presented at the National Conference of Insurance Legislators’ summer meeting in Boston, July 9–13. Mike Angelina, vice president of the Casualty Practice Council, presented on the evolving role of the private market in providing flood insurance, and Senior Life Fellow Nancy Bennett offered an update on principle-based reserving (PBR) implementation that included a legislation-in-brief document and FAQs. Ellen Kleinstuber, vice-chairperson of the Pension Committee, plans to discuss NCOIL’s proposed Pension De-Risking Model Act in the wake of the Pension Committee sending a letter to NCOIL on the proposal last week.
• The Academy released a new Essential Elements paper, Terrorism Risk Insurance, that explores the terrorism risk insurance program, how terrorism risk insurance is different from other types of insurance, and the case for extending the program. The Essential Elements series is designed to make actuarial analyses of public policy issues clearer to general audiences.
• The Financial Reporting Committee submitted comments to the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) encouraging it to continue to work toward convergence for long-duration contracts, and highlighting targeted improvements that could be made in the financial reporting of these contracts.
• The Casualty Practice Council submitted comments to Senate leaders on the Terrorism Risk Insurance Reauthorization Act of 2014 in support of reauthorizing the federal backstop for a peril that is difficult to fully insure in the private market.
• The Medicaid Work Group sent a letter to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services requesting specific guidance on the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) Health Insurance Providers (HIP) fee and how it affects the Medicaid program.

Alerts

• Longevity Annuity Contract Rules: The Department of the Treasury issued final rules on July 1 to allow employees to convert part of their 401(k), and other employer-sponsored individual account plans and IRAs, to longevity annuities with guaranteed lifetime payouts. To view the full alert, log on to the membership page and visit “Pension Alerts.”
• PBGC FY 2013 Projections: The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.’s (PBGC) FY 2013 Projections Report shows multiemployer pension plan solvency problems are worse than expected, even while market conditions have improved over the fiscal year. To view the full alert, log on to the membership page and visit “Pension Alerts.”

Opportunities to Learn

• Are you ready to implement the new life principle-based reserve requirements? Delve into basic and advanced implementation topics at the “Implementing VM-20: A Practical Approach” seminar on Aug. 27 in New York. Basic sessions will provide an overview of how to perform a VM-20 calculation, while advanced sessions will focus on more complex VM-20 requirements. Register online.
• Do you wish to qualify to sign the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) annual statements of actuarial opinion, but haven’t met the basic education requirements set forth in Section 3.1.1 of the U.S. Qualification Standards? Obtain the required basic and continuing education at the 2014 Life and Health Qualifications Seminar, which will take place Nov. 10-13 in Arlington, Va. Learn more and register now.

Recent Events

• On June 30, attendees of the Academy webinar, “PBGC: Protecting Pensions & the Role of the Actuary,” heard details of how PBGC works. Two of the PBGC’s highest-ranking actuaries discussed how actuaries help PBGC make pensions secure for American workers, provided updates on PBGC news and regulations, and more. The event was part of the Academy’s “Capitol Forum: Meet the Experts” webinar series. The webinar slides and recording are available on the Academy website.

Newly Released

• July/August Contingencies: Read about the evolution of terrorism risk coverage, how savvy actuaries are embracing emerging technological advances within the industry, President Tom Terry’s message on rethinking what retirement security should look like, and more.
• July HealthCheck: Read about the Academy’s congressional testimony on risk-sharing mechanisms in the ACA, a final rule on tax credits for small employers offering health coverage, media coverage of the Academy’s analysis of factors influencing 2015 premiums, and more.  

Academy in the News

• Senior Health Fellow Cori Uccello’s participation in a June 27 Capitol Hill panel discussion on 2015 health insurance premiums was televised live by C-SPAN2, and reported in a Washington Health Policy Week in Review article as well as a (subscriber-only) Bloomberg BNA Daily Report story. The panel was sponsored by the Alliance for Health Reform and The Commonwealth Fund.
• The Solvency Committee’s June 5 letter to Congress regarding the Insurance Capital Standards Clarification Act of 2014 was quoted in an op-ed published by National Review and the Competitive Enterprise Institute. The legislation would clarify that the Federal Reserve has the authority and the ability to differentiate between banks and insurers in terms of capital requirements.
• Thomson Reuters Tax & Accounting News reported on the Academy’s June 30 letter to the FASB recommending that the board continue to work toward convergence for long-duration contracts. The letter emphasized that the building block approach described in a previous FASB exposure draft, with the inclusion of some critical changes, “provides the best opportunity for a high-quality accounting standard for long-duration contracts.”
• The Medicaid Work Group’s July 7 letter requesting specific guidance on the ACA’s HIP fee, as an alternative to the current approach of informal state-by-state discussions or a proposal-submission process, was mentioned in a Central Penn Business Journal article and on the National Association of Medicaid Directors website.
• A link to the summer 2014 edition of Academy’s Enrolled Actuaries Report was published in the BenefitsLink Retirement Plans Newsletter.

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