Read about the latest Academy news and events.

Recent Academy Activity, April 25–29, 2016

Academy Announces Officer Nominations

Stephen Alpert has been nominated to be the Academy’s next president-elect in a slate presented by the Nominating Committee to the Academy board. In addition to Alpert, four other nominations for officer positions were made, and all will be voted on by the Academy board, as directed by the Academy’s bylaws, at the board’s annual meeting Oct. 13-14:

  • Tom Campbell, nominated to be secretary-treasurer;

  • Rade Musulin, nominated to be vice president of the Casualty Practice Council;

  • Shari Westerfield, nominated to be vice president of the Health Practice Council; and

  • Joeff Williams, nominated to be vice president of the Council on Professionalism.

The Nominating Committee has been meeting regularly since mid-February, and will now commence work on identifying a slate of nominees for regular directors for the Academy membership to vote on during the summer online election. As the committee works to identify candidates, it welcomes members to submit nominations and information about active Academy volunteers who should be considered.

Please visit the Academy’s Board Election Center, review the Nominating Committee Guidelines, and submit your nomination for regular director(s) to the Academy’s Nominating Committee.

Academy Representatives Attend NAAC Meeting in Mexico

Academy leadership representatives attended the North American Actuarial Council (NAAC) meeting hosted by the Mexican Association of Actuaries (AMA) April 22-24 in Guanajuato, Mexico. Participants discussed how they address a wide range of issues in order to share information that may yield collective insights valuable to each organization in NAAC (the five U.S.-based organizations, the Canadian Institute of Actuaries, and three Mexican organizations).

One topic discussed during the meeting was how to continue to encourage efforts to create a more diverse profession in North America. As part of that conversation, the Academy screened its new short video, “A Great Career for a Man?,” which highlights the career paths taken by some of the women who have served or are serving in Academy leadership positions. It features several female presidents of the Academy, including Immediate Past President Mary D. Miller. The movie was very well received and is now featured on the Academy’s Newsroom page.

April Actuarial Update Released

  • The April issue of Actuarial Update was released earlier today. Read more about the Academy’s officer nominations, the new issue paper that explores the first year of experience of the Affordable Care Act’s risk adjustment program, the “look in the mirror” test regarding actuarial qualifications, and much more.

Wildsmith Highlights Professionalism in IAA Newsletter

  • A column by Academy President Tom Wildsmith is featured in the April newsletter of the International Actuarial Association. In “Meet the American Academy of Actuaries,” Wildsmith lays out the framework of professionalism that is central to the Academy’s charge as the national association for actuaries in the United States.

From the ASB

  • Reminder: Comments are due by tomorrow for two exposure drafts from the Actuarial Standards Board: Property/Casualty Ratemaking, and a revision to Actuarial Standard of Practice No. 5, Incurred Health and Disability Claims.

Public Policy Activities

  • The Pension Committee submitted comments to the Internal Revenue Service regarding the proposed regulations for nondiscrimination relief for closed defined benefit plans.

  • The LTC Reform Subcommittee submitted a comment letter for the Maryland Insurance Administration’s Public Hearing on Long-Term Care Insurance.

  • The Pension Practice Council submitted comments to the Department of Defense questioning how personal discount rates will be used to calculate lump-sum payments from military pensions under the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016.

  • The Casualty Practice Council and the P/C Extreme Events Committee sent a letter to the U.S. House of Representatives on HR 2901, The Flood Insurance Market Parity and Modernization Act, concerning expansion of the role of private insurers in the flood insurance marketplace.

  • The SVL Interest Rate Modernization Work Group submitted comments to the NAIC's VM-22 Subgroup of the Life Actuarial Task Force (LATF) responding to questions related to statutory regulations regarding the determination of statutory valuation interest rates.

  • The Life Reserves Work Group submitted comments to LATF on currently exposed amendment proposal forms on net premium reserves and term and universal life insurance with secondary guarantees.

  • The Pension Accounting Committee submitted comments to the Financial Accounting Standards Board on its exposure draft on changes to the disclosure requirements for defined benefit plans.

  • The Pension Committee released the practice note exposure draft, Selecting Investment Return Assumptions Based on Anticipated Future Experience. The comment deadline for this exposure draft is June 27.

Alerts

  • The U.S. House of Representatives yesterday passed by a vote of 234-183 a joint resolution, H.J. Res. 88, which would block the recently released Department of Labor final rule pertaining to definition of fiduciary/conflict of interest from taking effect. Read the full alert here.

  • The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the proposed rule implementing the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA), which permanently eliminated the sustainable growth rate formula and replaced it with a new payment system. Read the full alert here.

  • The U.S. House of Representatives passed by a vote of 419-0 the Flood Insurance Market Parity and Modernization Act to expand the availability of private flood insurance coverage to consumers. Read the full alert here.

  • CMS released the final Medicaid managed care rule, which affects both Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Read the full alert here.

  • How to Subscribe to Member Alerts: Subscribers to the Academy’s alerts are notified by email when a new alert is posted in their area(s) of interest. The alerts focus on five areas: casualty, health, life, pension, and cross-practice issues. Academy members may subscribe to any or all of them after signing in to the member section of the website.

Upcoming Events

  • Second ‘PBR Boot Camp’ Planned for September: A repeat presentation of the Academy’s inaugural “PBR Boot Camp: Basic Training and Beyond for Principle-Based Reserving Implementation,” will be held in September. Registration for the inaugural seminar, June 6-8 in Chicago, has reached capacity, but a wait list is available for prospective attendees. The Academy will release more information on the September event as it becomes available, and those on the waitlist will receive advance, priority notification when registration is open. If you would like to be put on the waitlist, please contact Public Policy Senior Administrative Assistant Leiloni Hayward at 202-223-8196, or hayward@actuary.org.

  • Register now for November’s LHQ Seminar: The popular 2016 Life and Health Qualifications Seminar will be held Nov. 13-17 in Arlington, Va. (metropolitan Washington, D.C.). Space is limited and routinely is filled early; click here for program information and to register.

In the News

  • Benefitslink.com posted several newly released public policy items from the Academy, including: the Pension Accounting Committee’s comments to the Financial Accounting Standards Board on its exposure draft on changes to the disclosure requirements for defined benefit plans; the Pension Committee’s exposure draft, Selecting Investment Return Assumptions Based on Anticipated Future Experience; and the Risk Sharing Subcommittee’s letter to CMS with comments on its recent discussion paper, HHS-Operated Risk Adjustment Methodology.

  • Discussion of an Academy proposal related to capital requirement models for life and annuity products using longevity risk factors at the NAIC 2016 Spring National Meeting was reported in a law firm’s newsletter.

  • The Health Practice Council’s issue paper on the ACA risk adjustment program is highlighted in the Talix blog post, “Risk Adjustment for Insurers: New Report Highlights Importance of Accurate Coding.”

  • The Academy Risk Sharing Subcommittee’s presentation on risk adjustment at the NAIC Spring 2016 National Meeting is discussed in a CHIRblog post of the Georgetown University Health Policy Institute’s Center on Health Insurance Reforms.

  • A subscriber only Bloomberg BNA story quotes the Casualty Practice Council’s letter (noted above) to the U.S. House of Representatives commenting on HR 2901, The Flood Insurance Market Parity and Modernization Act, concerning expansion of the role of private insurers in the flood insurance marketplace.

  • The Pension Practice Council’s comments to the Department of Defense questioning how personal discount rates will be used to calculate lump-sum payments from military pensions is cited in the BenefitsPro story, “Actuaries warn DOD about personal discount rates.”

  • The Academy has been named an Association Media and Publishing’s 2016 Excel award winner in two categories. The Contingencies story, “Smoke & Mirrors: Marijuana Use and Life Underwriting,” is listed as an award winner for best magazine feature article, and Charting the Course, the hardcover book the Academy produced in conjunction with its 50th anniversary celebration last year, is listed as an award winner for general audience book.

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