Announcements

• In lieu of postage for holiday cards, the Academy has made a donation to SOME (So Others Might Eat) on behalf of our membership and staff. SOME is an interfaith, community-based organization that helps the poor and homeless in our nation’s capital.

Professionalism

• A new, greatly expanded Frequently Asked Questions for the U.S. Qualification Standards is now available to help answer your questions about qualifications under the U.S. Qualification Standards (USQS). The new FAQs contain nearly 50 questions and the COQ’s carefully considered responses. They are available online and in an easily printable PDF format.

Pre-order the 2014 Property/Casualty Loss Reserve Law Manual Now

• You can now pre-order the 2014 Property/Casualty Loss Reserve Law Manual. Updated annually, the Property/Casualty Loss Reserve Law Manual is scheduled to be released soon. The manual is designed to help appointed actuaries comply with NAIC Annual Statement requirements for Statements of Actuarial Opinion. It can be ordered online or by mail/fax.

Alerts

• The U.S. Senate this week adjourned without reauthorizing the federal insurance backstop program established under the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act due to an objection and request for an amendment on an unrelated provision in the bill. Learn more by logging in to the members-only page and visiting “Casualty Alerts.”
• The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) voted this week to adopt Actuarial Guideline (AG) 48. This guideline is intended to lay out uniform standards for XXX/AXXX captive financing arrangements. Learn more by logging in to the members-only page and visiting “Life Alerts.”

Public Policy Activities

• The Pension Committee sent a comment letter this week to the Internal Revenue Service regarding recently updated final and newly proposed regulations for hybrid retirement plans.
• The Life Practice Council submitted comments to the Actuarial Standards Board (ASB) regarding an exposed actuarial standard of practice (ASOP) on Principle-Based Reserves for Life Products.
• The Life Products Committee submitted comments to the ASB regarding an exposed ASOP on Life Insurance and Annuity Pricing.
• The Risk Management and Financial Reporting Council sent comments to the Financial Stability Board on the consultative document, Recovery and Resolution Planning for Systemically Important Insurers: Guidance on Identification of Critical Functions and Critical Shared Services.
• The Financial Regulatory Task Force sent comments to the Government Accountability Office on its global capital standards report.

Upcoming Events

• ORSA webinar announced—Join us on Jan. 6 for a webinar providing an actuarial overview of what is needed to complete an Own Risk and Solvency Assessment (ORSA) report and help reviewers understand what an ORSA report would contain. The presenters will describe the basics of enterprise risk management as they relate to each section of the ORSA report, including examples of key ORSA content covering life, health, and property and casualty.

Newly Released

• The Academy published its winter PBA Perspectives, a quarterly update on regulatory, legislative, and Academy activities surrounding the implementation of the principle-based approach (PBA) for life insurance.

Academy in the News

• The Medicaid Work Group’s recent letter to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on the potential impact of high-priced breakthrough therapy designated drugs on rate setting was the basis of a Modern Healthcare story. It quotes the Academy’s comment letter to CMS, saying “A new therapy … has the potential to diminish the ability of the actuary to accurately project future expenses from historical experience because of the significant change in practice patterns and costs that such new treatments can create.” The piece was also published in the subscriber-only publication, American Health Line.
• Nasdaq.com republished a recent Kiplinger article that cites analysis from a Social Security Committee monograph regarding the chained consumer price index (CPI) calculation method for Social Security cost of living adjustments (COLA). Chained CPI calculations include periods of economic inflation in the average and will typically result in a smaller change in COLA.
• A post on the blog of the Sightline Institute, which focuses on public policy issues in the Pacific Northwest, asks “What Do Oil Train Explosions Cost?” The blog cites the Terrorism Risk Insurance Subgroup’s 2006 assessment examining insured loss estimates for several hypothetical disasters.

Publication notice: Due to the upcoming holiday, the Academy will not publish This Week next week. Publication will resume Jan. 2, 2015.

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