• Welcome: Tom Wildsmith, president, American Academy of Actuaries
• Presentation of the Robert J. Myers Public Service Award to Joan Weiss
• Speaker: Andy Slavitt, acting administrator, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)

Note: Breakfast available until 9 a.m.

• Moderator: Shawna Ackerman, vice president of the Academy’s Casualty Practice Council
• Speakers: Carolyn Kousky, fellow, Resources for the Future; David I. Maurstad, assistant administrator for federal insurance, Federal Emergency Management Agency
   

BREAKOUT SESSION: HEALTH
MACRA: Where We Are and Where We’re Going 
Federal A
The passage of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) last year and the publication of proposed rules earlier this year marked the end of the Medicare sustainable growth rate (SGR) methodology for updates to the physician fee schedule. The new law replaces the SGR with a new Merit-Based Incentive Payment System. This session will provide a highly informed look at MACRA’s goals, what it might mean for Medicare Advantage plans, and what the implications are for the broader delivery system.

• Moderator: Shari Westerfield, vice chairperson of the Academy’s Health Practice Council
• Speakers:  Former U.S. Rep. Allyson Y. Schwartz, president and CEO, Better Medicare Alliance; Member of Congress (2005-2015 for PA-13); Robert A. Berenson, institute fellow, Urban Institute; Molly MacHarris, program lead, Center for Clinical Standards and Quality, CMS

BREAKOUT SESSION: LIFE
Panel Discussion: Lessons From ORSA Implementation
Pan American
This panel discussion will dive into the lessons learned from Own Risk and Solvency Assessment (ORSA) implementation to date. Hear what regulators with ORSA oversight experience think makes a good ORSA presentation, what details they are looking for—and not looking for—and how they use ORSA reports. Panelists will share insights on what types of problems ORSAs have uncovered, reporting best practices, and the appropriate role of actuaries in informing and influencing the ORSA development process.

• Moderator: Jeff Schlinsog, vice president of the Academy’s Risk Management and Financial Reporting Committees
• Speakers: Rhonda K. Ahrens, life and health actuarial examiner, Nebraska Department of Insurance; Elisabetta Russo, NAIC

BREAKOUT SESSION: PENSION
Fixing the Retirement Stool: Reinforce or Reinvent?
Federal B
All three legs of the retirement stool need to be addressed—and the sooner, the better. This session will highlight some proposals that have been developed to strengthen retirement security, and explore the challenges and barriers to implementing change. Proposals touch on Social Security, evolving employer-based plans, and the movement to expand access to retirement vehicles to help the third leg of individual savings. Get a glimpse of what the retirement stool might look like for future generations of retirees.

• Moderator: Ted Goldman, Academy senior pension fellow
• Speakers: Steve Goss, chief actuary, Social Security Administration; Megan Gerry, vice president of compensation and benefits, Smithfield Foods; and John Scott, director of retirement savings, The Pew Charitable Trusts

• Annual Meeting & Presidential Transition: Join us in welcoming Bob Beuerlein as the new Academy president, and thanking Tom Wildsmith for his year of dedicated service.
• Keynote Speaker: Former Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, principal sponsor of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law

Note: Lunch available until 12:15 p.m.

Breakout Sessions

• Moderator: Rade Musulin, Member of the Academy’s Cyber Risk Task Force
• Speakers: Darin McMullen, national cyber product leader, Aon; Kevin McDonald, chief executive officer, Greystaff Group; Michael Newman, senior policy analyst at the Federal Insurance Office, Department of the Treasury

BREAKOUT SESSION: HEALTH
Rx Cost Growth: Controlling the Costs
Federal A
Prescription drugs are an important component when talking about addressing health care costs in the U.S. health care system. In recent years, spending for prescription drugs has contributed to accelerating overall health care spending growth, in part, to the expense associated with breakthrough therapy drugs. Hear from experts about what’s driving prescription drug prices and options for addressing that cost growth. 

• Moderator: Audrey Halvorson, chairperson of the Academy’s Health Care Delivery Committee
• Speakers: Gerard Anderson, PhD, professor of health policy and management, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health; Len Nichols, director, Center for Health Policy Research and Ethics, professor of health policy, George Mason University

BREAKOUT SESSION: LIFE
Panel Discussion: The Genetic/Data Mining Connection—Ethical Considerations of Life Underwriting 
Pan American
The growing availability of genetic testing information raises concerns over consumer antiselection for life insurance. On the flip side, what are the ethical limits of datamining to support the underwriting process? When should public policy outweigh considerations of risk analysis? This lively panel discussion will draw out and engage a variety of perspectives on the thorny ethical questions related to life underwriting in the age of ubiquitous data.

• Moderator: Randall Stevenson, chairperson of the Academy’s PBR Review Procedures Work Group
• Speakers: Stacy Gill, Executive Vice President, MIB; Leslie Jones, Consulting Actuary, RRC, former South Carolina Deputy Director & Chief Actuary; Brenda Cude, Professor and Undergraduate Coordinator, Department of Financial Planning, Housing and Consumer Economics at the University of Georgia

 
BREAKOUT SESSION: PENSION
Panel Discussion: What’s Next for Multiemployer Pension Plans?
Federal B
Get an insider’s look at retirement security for the 10 million participants currently covered by a multiemployer pension plan. While many of the 1,400 multiemployer plans are financially strong and healthy, a growing number have struggled to respond to a series of economic, demographic, and industry-specific challenges. Listen to an engaging discussion of the key factors facing multiemployer plans and what’s likely to happen next.

• Moderator: Josh Shapiro, Vice Chairperson of the Academy’s Multiemployer Plans Subcommittee
• Speakers: Alex Pollock, distinguished senior fellow, R Street Institute; Sandy Rich, Executive Director at New York City Board of Education Retirement System; Karen Friedman, executive vice president and policy director, Pension Rights Center; Kendra Kosko Isaacson, senior pensions counsel, Senate HELP Committee for Senator Patty Murray, Ranking Member

• Speakers: Laura Cali, administrator, insurance commissioner, and chief actuary, Oregon; Bob Beuerlein, Academy president-elect; Jim MacGinnitie, Academy senior casualty fellow; Catherine Murphy-Barron, Vice President, Academy’s Health Practice Council

• Presentation of the Jarvis Farley Service Award to Robert G. Meilander
• Speaker: W. Thomas Reeder Jr., Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) director

Note: Breakfast available until 8:45 a.m.

Breakout Sessions

• Moderator: Jim MacGinnitie, Academy senior casualty fellow
• Speakers: Harold Weston, clinical associate professor of risk management and insurance, Robinson College of Business, Georgia State University; Mike McKenney, State Regulator (Pennsylvania)

BREAKOUT SESSION: HEALTH
Update on ACA Implementation
Federal A
Hear from experts about the latest updates on regulatory changes related to rate filings, the Actuarial Value (AV) and Minimum Value (MV) calculators, and the risk-sharing mechanisms under the Affordable Care Act.

• Moderator: Catherine Murphy-Barron, vice president of the Academy’s Health Practice Council
• Speakers: Alfred A. Bingham, Jr., director, Office of Special Initiatives and Pricing, Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight (CCIIO), CMS; Brent Plemons, health insurance specialist, Oversight Group, CCIIO, CMS; Jeff Wu, associate deputy director for policy, CCIIO, CMS; Allison Yadsko, health insurance specialist, Issuer and Plan Policy Branch, CCIIO, CMS

BREAKOUT SESSION: LIFE
Panel Discussion: Framing Longevity Risk
Pan American

How well do federal and state regulatory frameworks account for longevity risk, and what are the latest efforts to improve them? From state-level regulatory work on pension risk transfers and insurance products to the Department of Labor’s approaches to consumer education and promotion of longevity solutions, the panelists will discuss the regulatory “lay of the land” and where it could be changed in relation to longevity risk. 
• Moderator: Noel Abkemeier, chairperson of the Academy’s Lifetime Income Risk Joint Task Force
• Speaker: Philip Barlow, Department of Insurance, Securities and Banking; Sylvester Schieber, Member of the Commission on Retirement Security and Personal Savings, Bipartisan Policy Center; Thomas Hindmarch, Employee Benefits Security Administration

BREAKOUT SESSION: PENSION
Retirement Goes Goldilocks: The DB’ing of DC Plans and the DC’ing of DB Plans
Federal B
The search continues for the perfect retirement solution—one that, as Goldilocks would say, is “just right.” This session will explore some of the new and interesting hybrid designs that are emerging both in the United States and globally. Learn about risk-sharing plan designs that come in a defined benefit wrapper but steal from the defined contribution playbook, and evolving defined contribution plan designs that try to take the best of defined benefit features. The discussion will cover design and regulatory considerations as well as the most appealing features of these new approaches.

• Moderator: Eric Keener, chairperson of the Academy’s PPC Forward Thinking Task Force
• Speakers: W. Paul McCrossan, Actuary and former Canadian Member of Parliament; Conrad Ferguson, Partner, Morneau Shepell; Stacy Schaus, Executive Vice President and Defined Contribution Practice Leader, PIMCO

• Presentation of the Outstanding Volunteerism Awards to Donna Claire, Barbara Klever, and Kathleen Odomirok
• Speaker: Keith Hall, director, Congressional Budget Office 

Note: Lunch available until 12:15 p.m.