Annual Meeting and Public Policy Forum, Nov. 13-14

• The Academy has two announcements to make regarding the Nov. 13-14 Annual Meeting and Public Policy Forum in Washington:

• Former Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius will deliver the opening keynote address. Join us as Secretary Sebelius reflects on the lessons learned from her time leading implementation of the Affordable Care Act, and overseeing public programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program. Hear the former secretary’s thoughts on what the future might hold in these critical areas of public policy.
• Could your discussions with public officials constitute prohibited “insider trading”? A story in The Wall Street Journal this week highlighted this little-understood risk to the actuarial profession. Insider trading laws, including the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act, mean that all those who interact with congressional staff and/or employees of the executive branch on public issues should be knowledgeable about certain risks. Our Nov. 14 professionalism plenary will offer expert insight from a senior SEC enforcement official and a defense attorney, who will explore the potential risks and how to address them.  

The annual meeting offers public policy and professionalism content relevant to all actuarial areas of practice, the opportunity to earn up to 12.2 organized activity continuing education (CE) credits and 1.5 professionalism CE credits, as well as entertainment and networking opportunities. View the agenda, updated with the latest speakers, and register here.

Opportunities to Learn

• Last chance to register: The National Conference of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL), and how it develops public policy relating to insurance, will be the topic of the Academy’s Capitol Forum: Meet the Experts webinar Nov. 3 at noon Eastern Time. North Dakota state representative and former NCOIL President George Keiser will join us to discuss how the organization contributes to the development of insurance policy at the state level and how industry, consumers and the Academy are involved. Rep. Keiser will also take questions from members. Learn more and register now.
• Actuaries who prepare or sign National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) annual statements of actuarial opinion on P/C loss reserves, or those who assist in preparing them, will find valuable the Academy’s 2014 Seminar on P/C Effective Loss Reserve Opinions: Tools for the Appointed Actuary, Dec. 2-3 at the Westin Baltimore Washington Airport. Attendees will earn valuable CE credit. Learn more and register here.

Alert

• Pension Mortality Reports were released this week. See the RP-2014 Mortality Tables and the Mortality Improvement Scale MP-2014, regarding the measurement of retirement program obligations in the United States. Learn more by logging in to the members-only page and visiting “Pension Alerts.”

Public Policy Activities

• The Individual Disability Tables Work Group released a newly revised final report and actuarial guideline and gave a presentation on Oct. 30 to the NAIC’s Health Actuarial Task Force on changes made to the report and actuarial guideline.
• The Life Illustrations Work Group sent a comment letter to the NAIC’s Life Actuarial Task Force regarding the proposed actuarial guidelines for indexed universal life illustrations.
• The Principle-based Reserving Strategy Subgroup sent a comment letter to the NAIC’s PBR Implementation Task Force on an exposure draft of Actuarial Guideline 48.
• The Financial Reporting Committee sent a comment letter to the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board regarding the staff consultation paper draft Auditing Accounting Estimates and Fair Value Measurements.

Academy In the News

• Modern Healthcare reached out to Barbara Klever, chairperson of Risk Sharing Work Group, for insight on the risk mitigation role of the Affordable Care Act’s risk corridors.
• A LifeHealthPro article exploring the role life insurance policies play in today’s financial planning strategies cites analysis from the Academy discussion paper, Risky Business: Living Longer Without Income for Life. The story notes that a permanent life insurance policy may also double as a supplemental retirement income or long-term care asset.

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