By Noah Kirsch
Environmental, technological, demographic, and regulatory are just some of the changes impacting the actuarial world. The Academy’s 2026 practice council priorities show how they are prepared to respond and lead in this dynamic landscape.
America’s risk landscape continues to evolve rapidly. Among the challenges are climate volatility, which is transforming once-stable insurance markets; artificial intelligence (AI), which is rewriting the playbook for underwriting and claims handling; and an aging population, which is stretching the social safety net.
Meanwhile, fiscal debates have grown sharper in Washington, D.C., creating the potential for more regulatory and legislative changes that will further impact the actuarial landscape. This convergence of forces means that 2026 may not simply be a routine year for actuaries, but perhaps a test of how well the profession can anticipate and adapt to a rapidly evolving environment.
The Academy’s six practice councils have addressed that challenge while setting their 2026 priorities. Though each group has its own specific agenda—ranging from AI to insurance affordability to concerns about the longevity of Social Security—for some councils, their work this year will build on initiatives from 2025. Their leaders describe a common goal: ensuring that the Academy continues to inform policy objectively, serve the public and the U.S. actuarial profession, and maintain the public’s trust in an era of uncertainty. (Read “COPE Priorities” below to learn about the areas of focus for the Council on Professionalism and Education’s 2026 priorities.)
“There are a lot of opinions about different policies that are tinged with a political lens,” says Annette James, vice president of the Health Practice Council (HPC). “That’s why it’s so important for the Academy to have an apolitical, nonpartisan stance and provide just the facts.”
Common Ground
The largest point of overlap among the councils’ 2026 priorities is AI. That is no surprise, considering the technology’s rapid proliferation across industries and practice areas, and its potential to redefine the global economy.
According to PwC’s report, “2025 AI Business Predictions,” as of late 2024, almost half of technology leaders had integrated AI “into their companies’ core business strategy.” That number has likely grown.
Meanwhile, a 2025 analysis from McKinsey, “The state of AI: How organizations are rewiring to capture value,”notes that more firms are addressing potential risks associated with AI, including those related to cybersecurity, intellectual property infringement, and disseminating inaccurate information—showing that these are key issues for companies.
AI is a “super challenging area to say much about, because by the time you’re ready to say something, it’s changed,” says Susan Kent, vice president of the Casualty Practice Council (CPC).
The CPC is monitoring AI developments on a number of fronts, such as examining concerns about algorithmic bias as part of its Committee on Equity and Fairness. Insurance companies are using AI models in multiple areas, for instance, predicting which claims might be fraudulent or using machine learning to evaluate pictures of roofs to evaluate their condition. But properly implementing the technology will require prioritizing governance, Kent says.
From a regulatory perspective, state officials are closely studying how AI is being used for insurance underwriting and pricing—and the CPC plans to monitor any legal changes, Kent says. Meanwhile, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) has issued a bulletin, “Use of Artificial Intelligence Systems by Insurers,” on governance practices for insurance companies that use AI.
Jason Kehrberg, former vice president of the Life Practice Council (LPC), notes that in 2025, members prioritized changes driven by AI, particularly in reference to underwriting and risk classification. (Kirsten Pedersen took over as vice president in November.)
Kehrberg says the NAIC initiative regarding unfair discrimination and the use of third-party data is an area of focus for regulators, as well as the industry. The NAIC is developing a regulatory framework to address the potential for unfair discrimination arising from insurers’ use of third-party and models. He adds that, on a state level, Colorado has led the charge in attempting to regulate the application of AI to insurance. Additionally, the LPC will continue to pay close attention to potential regulatory shifts and offer feedback as appropriate.
The Risk Management and Financial Reporting Council (RMFRC) is continuing to prioritize AI in 2026 as well. Specifically, the Data Science and Analytics Committee anticipates publishing a paper on “model validation techniques,” says Bill Jones, vice president of the RMFRC. The Artificial Intelligence subcommittee will focus some of its efforts evaluating potential legislation and other ways AI could impact the industry.
In summary, Jones says, “AI is transforming all of our lives in many different ways.”
The RMFRC is simultaneously paying attention to other developments, too. For instance, the Behavioral Economics Work Group will release results of its survey on companies’ use of behavioral economics, while the Prudential Regulation Committee plans to review and comment on expected consultation papers by the International Association of Insurance Supervisors.
Addressing Affordability
As with AI, concerns about insurance affordability cut across sectors, and in some cases, intersect with other 2026 council priorities.
Jones notes, for instance, that data centers used to power AI platforms could potentially have environmental impacts or contribute to climate change, which, in turn, could intensify concerns about insurance affordability. The RMFRC’s Climate Change Joint Committee (CCJC)—a joint committee between RMFRC and the CPC—is working on other initiatives in that space, too, such as an analysis on legislative changes in Florida that will impact affordability in the homeowners market.
CCJC also plans to release an issue brief on insurance affordability, paying particular attention to climate events and the impact of climate change on affordability.
COPE Priorities
The Council on Professionalism and Education (COPE) includes representatives of all practice councils as well as additional Academy committees that relate directly to the professionalism and/or education needs of U.S. actuaries. COPE coordinates the Academy’s work on professionalism and education topics. The Actuarial Professionalism Liaison Committee (APLC), under COPE, comprises representatives from professionalism boards, such as the Actuarial Board for Counseling and Discipline and Actuarial Standards Board, as well as representatives from other U.S.-based actuarial organizations. The APLC provides a forum where representatives of the entire U.S. actuarial profession can discuss professionalism issues.
In 2026, the Committee on Education (COE) will continue to work closely with the Committee on Membership regarding the materials that support the new membership requirements. The requirements went into effect at the beginning of this year and require applicants to attest that they meet certain competencies.
As applicants go through the Competency Framework, they may identify required subjects for which they cannot attest to competency based on their current credential, their work experience, or other education. In these cases, the applicants should look first to Academy Learning for relevant materials to help them acquire this knowledge. The COE will use feedback from applicants, new members, and employers to continue building out U.S.-focused resources that will allow an applicant to meet the requirements of the Competency Framework.
COPE will also continue to support the availability of educational opportunities to assist current Academy members in achieving their continuing education and qualification requirements. Relevant content will include professionalism and bias topics as well as technical aspects of actuarial work and updates on changing U.S. laws and regulations. This material will be housed in Academy Learning, which allows all members to access learning opportunities, track continuing education, and assess their educational needs.
COPE will continue to support self-regulation through presentations, webinars, and papers. Some examples of its recent papers include Actuarial Professionalism Considerations for Generative AI and The Actuary’s Toolbox: Peer Review—How Can It Help?
In late 2025, the Disruptive Events Task Force presented a recommendation to the Academy Board for a new process for identifying and responding to potentially disruptive events. This recommendation was approved by the Board and the task force was dismissed with thanks. This new process will utilize the Cross-Practice Vice President group and will rely on the awareness and diligence of members to report potential disruptive events through a form available at actuary.org/potentiallydisruptive.
—Nancy Behrens, Vice President, Professionalism and Education
2025 COPE Accomplishments
- Developed educational materials to support applicants as they prepare to attest to the Competency Framework in accordance with the new membership requirements.
- Developed a process to identify and monitor potentially disruptive events.
- Provided five professionalism webinars, the Life and Health Qualifications Seminar, and numerous speakers for professionalism presentations.
James says HPC members selected affordability as one of their focus areas for 2026. They will also prioritize controlling health care costs and improving efficiency in health care spending.
In previous years, James says, the HPC selected specific health care areas to tackle and then built its list of priorities around those areas. This year, by contrast, the members began with broader themes—affordability being one of them—then developed an action plan to address those themes.
On a national level, rising health care premiums are a hot-button political issue. In the individual market, James says, the median premium has increased about 23% compared to 2025. At the same time, according to “Americans’ Challenges with Health Care Costs,” a report by KFF, “nearly half of adults say it is difficult to afford health care costs, including large shares of the uninsured, Black, and Hispanic adults, and those with lower incomes.”
The health care landscape is in flux on both the state and federal levels. “There’s a lot of legislative and regulatory activities … that would impact the health insurance markets, specifically the [Affordable Care Act] markets and Medicaid,” James says.
“The individual, small group, and Medicaid markets have been the focus of many of the recent federal health policy changes,” she continues. In 2026, the HPC will seek to provide actuarial guidance “on different policy options for regulators and policymakers related to the sustainability of those markets.” The council also plans to provide analyses on Medicare, employer-sponsored plans, long-term services, and other health care issues.
Insurance affordability and access is also a key issue for the CPC, Kent says. In addition to rising insurance costs, some companies have withdrawn “from challenging markets,” she says, leaving consumers with limited options.
Homeowners insurance is one area requiring special attention, which is the focus of the Homeowners Insurance Task Force, Kent explains. The California wildfires in early 2025 “really put a spotlight” on questions about access, “but I would say that’s not the only area where there’s been concern.”
Multiple factors, including climate change and more people living in high-rise areas, are exacerbating disasters on a number of fronts, Kent says, including the losses from wildfires and hurricanes. “There’s definitely been an increase in losses,” she notes. “That causes challenges for insurance companies, which causes challenges for actuaries in pricing for these risks, which then, in turn, causes challenges for policyholders who are having to pay for coverage that will potentially cover these higher losses.”
The CPC is also focused on other affordability problems, including auto insurance, and potential state and federal regulatory changes. “Most property/casualty insurance is regulated at the state level,” and therefore, state policies are often top of mind, Kent says. Still, the National Flood Insurance Program and the Terrorism Risk Insurance program “regularly come up for renewal or reform,” so the CPC will continue to keep “a close eye” on any changes.
Retirement Readiness
Many Americans are not adequately prepared for retirement, according to an October 2025 analysis by Vanguard titled “The state of retirement readiness in three charts.” The study found that less than half of the country is financially “on track to maintain their current lifestyles in retirement.” Among generations, baby boomers are the least prepared, with just 40% of those between ages 61 and 65 meeting that benchmark. Millennials and Gen Xers (ages 45 to 60) have slightly higher preparedness levels, while Gen Zers (ages 24 to 28) are actually the most ready, with 47% on track.
It makes sense, then, that the Retirement Practice Council (RPC) is paying close attention to social safety nets and employer retirement programs. Bruce Cadenhead, vice president of the RPC, says the council is monitoring the future of Social Security as one of its top priorities.
“As we get closer and closer to the point at which the Social Security trust fund gets exhausted … it’s certainly long overdue to get people more focused on that issue,” he says. “Under the current provisions, the money coming in will not be enough to pay out the benefits.” According to the 2025 annual report of the Social Security Board of Trustees, the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) trust fund is projected to be depleted in 2033.
2025 Highlights
Risk Management and Financial Reporting Council
- In response to industry developments, the Council submitted an agenda request to the FASB regarding accounting guidance for indexed annuities, ensuring actuarial input informs future financial reporting standards.
- The publication of the Climate Data: Actuarial Perspectives on Quality Challenges and Effective Risk Quantification policy paper emphasized the need for high-quality, granular, and consistent climate data to support actuarial modeling and risk quantification across insurance and financial sectors.
- Throughout the year, RMFRC led cross-practice work, including several comment letters to the NAIC addressing two key initiatives: the proposed AI Systems Evaluation Tool, advocating for regulatory consistency and principle-based flexibility; and the Request for Information on a Model Law for AI Use in Insurance, emphasizing transparency, fairness, and sound risk management in algorithmic decision-making.
Casualty Practice Council
- During the opinion season and in reaction to the immediate need, COPLFR created and published a supplement to the annual Practice Note on the Statements of Actuarial Opinion on Property and Casualty Loss Reserves to provide guidance through a Q&A on how to file subsequent event information due to the California wildfires.
- The Committee on Cyber Risk published two papers which were featured on an Actuary Voices podcast, an Actuarially Sound Blog, and a webinar during Cyber Awareness Month.
- The Council, with the RMFRC and the Research Committee, sent a comment letter to NOAA firmly requesting the reinstatement of the Billion Dollar Disaster Database, which was retired in spring of 2025. The letter was then circulated to Congress and was cited in stories by multiple news agencies internationally.
Health Practice Council
- A cross-committee resource guide was created and will be updated regularly, exploring key policy and market factors that shape enrollment, risk pool composition, and premium trends across government programs and commercial health insurance markets for the under-65 markets.
- The final H2-Underwriting and Managed Care Credit report was delivered to the NAIC’s Health Risk-Based Capital (E) Working Group, updating the formula factor to account for the health insurance market shift toward managed care.
- Several resources were updated on the state of long-term care insurance in light of changing and post-pandemic market dynamics.
Life Practice Council
- The inaugural Insurance Investment Summit was held in May, bringing together actuaries, insurance executives, and regulators to explore the rapidly transforming insurance asset management landscape.
- Working with the NAIC’s Life Actuarial (A) Task Force, several LPC committees led the NAIC’s efforts to codify principle-based reserving for non-variable annuities (including fixed-indexed, payout, and indexed annuities) in section 22 of the NAIC’s Valuation Manual. As of August, LATF has adopted the final draft of VM-22, which will be mandatory on Jan. 1, 2026.
- LPC committees have provided revisions and support to the NAIC’s Life RBC (E) Task Force on C3 instructions and alignment, as well as providing a presentation and recommendations on updated CLO factor modeling to the RBC Investment Risk and Evaluation (E) Working Group.
Retirement Practice Council
- The council published a series of papers focused on the Social Security program, including public sector workers who aren’t covered by the program, the significance of the trust fund, the relationship of the program on federal government deficits and debt and the impact of the program on the financially disadvantaged.
- It held a symposium, Actuarial Perspectives and Solutions for Strengthening the U.S. Retirement System, to discuss the future of retirement security with a focus on actionable, actuarially informed solutions with federal policymakers, leading retirement experts, and Academy volunteers.
- The council published deliverables informing public policy and advancing the profession, including Retirement and Gig Workers, Improving Spousal Retirement Plan Protections, Decumulation Strategies: Creating Lifetime Income from Defined Contribution Plans, and Gain/Loss Analysis for Pension Plans.
Currently, Cadenhead observes, many Americans appear unaware of the implications of the dwindling reserves, though he expects there will “come a point at which politicians will have no choice but to focus on it.”
“We want to do whatever we can to raise the profile of this issue, as time is of the essence,” he adds.
There are several other issues on the RPC’s radar. One area worth a close look, he says, is why premiums paid to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) are so high.
“Those premiums have become very expensive to the point where they are an impediment to companies being willing to sponsor defined benefit plans,” Cadenhead says. This is a key concern for the RPC, he continues, because even if other impediments to offering defined benefit plans are addressed—“such as designs that more effectively manage sponsors’ financial risk, and reforms to the accounting and funding rules that address those designs”—high premiums will still dissuade employers from offering their employees these plans.
This is noteworthy, Cadenhead says, given that the PBGC is currently operating with a large surplus. “They have more money than they will need to pay all of their expected claims, possibly without even collecting any future premiums,” he says. Cadenhead adds that this situation merits examination, as it may raise questions about how it aligns with aspects of PBGC’s stated mission, such as keeping premiums “at the lowest level consistent with carrying out its obligations.”
Additionally, Cadenhead says there are new innovations in employer-sponsored plans that may create savings opportunities for more Americans. Given the stark numbers about retirement preparedness, this could be a critical development.
Cadenhead cites “risk-sharing designs” as one example. As more companies shy away from defined benefit plans, these programs are structured so that “the benefit varies depending on the assets performance,” he explains. Therefore, “if assets perform poorly, the sponsor is not necessarily on the hook for additional contributions to make up that shortfall.” That reduces risk for employers, while still allowing for longevity risk pooling that “can still be a win for everybody by ensuring that retirees have an income that will last a lifetime.”
Tackling Complexity
The LPC plans to prioritize multiple regulatory topics in 2026. One of its initiatives, “investments, complex assets, and risk-based capital developments” is based on a trend that LPC members observed, Kehrberg says—namely, more new and complex asset classes are being used to back reserves on life and annuity insurance products.
Traditionally, Kehrberg notes, many insurers focused on simpler assets like corporate bonds to back their products. Now, financial instruments like collateralized loan obligations are increasingly in the mix. Some of these assets are privately sold, he adds, and therefore may not be rated by the likes of Moody’s or S&P.
As a result, he says, in May 2025, the Academy held its inaugural Insurance Investment Summit in New York “to bring actuaries, insurance executives, and asset managers together to better understand the risks involved of using these types of assets in the highly regulated insurance industry.” The event will return in 2026, with plans to amplify its message and encourage greater engagement between nonactuaries and the actuaries who add value and insight to this area.
The LPC is also continuing to focus on cross-border reinsurance in 2026. “There has been an ongoing and increasing trend for life insurance companies to reinsure asset-intensive products offshore,” Kehrberg says, such as fixed index annuities.
Many insurance firms have opted to reinsure their business in places like Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, and Barbados, he says. Those moves are perfectly legal, but they have drawn attention from regulators who are examining risks associated with that practice.
“Once the money is in Bermuda, it can be potentially more difficult to get that money back, especially in, let’s say, systemic events,” Kehrberg says. He clarifies that regulators aren’t necessarily calling for cross-border reinsurance to end, but they are scrutinizing it to ensure “that policyholders are still adequately protected here in the U.S.” In other words, if a reinsurer in Bermuda fails, American officials want to be confident that claims will still get paid.
Regulators recently introduced Actuarial Guideline 55 “to help ensure these transactions continue to result in adequate claims paying ability,” Kehrberg says. The guideline requires additional disclosures on certain reinsurance contracts to ensure life insurance companies still have adequate reserves after transferring risk to a reinsurer.
Educating the Public
In a splintered world, one of the best avenues for the Academy to influence the national conversation is to inform members, policymakers, and the general public about the impact of policy changes. Health care policies, as one example, have shifted dramatically in the past year alone, and the HPC plans to devote significant attention to educating the public about the sustainability of Medicaid and the individual and small-group markets.
“Policymakers need to understand these markets and the impact that policies may have on the long-term sustainability and stability of those markets,” James says.
The HPC created a resource guide on health insurance market dynamics in 2025, which features links to webinars and other resources. Collectively, these efforts are designed to promote well-informed discourse. In 2026, the council will continue to expand the resource and leverage it as a starting point for engagement with regulators, industry and trade groups, and consumer advocates.
Jones echoes that point, adding that the RMFRC has taken a “novel approach” to educating members. One of its committees, the Enterprise Risk Management/Own Risk and Solvency Assessment Committee, launched a podcast series in 2025 to generate conversation about risk management. It will continue that series in 2026 and other committees and councils are looking to follow their lead.
The information ecosystem is difficult to break through, but with creativity, actuaries can seek to capture an audience. For example, the Academy’s Social Security Challenge is an animation that lets users explore decisions for maintaining Social Security’s financial health for generations to come. Similarly, the Actuaries Longevity Illustrator, developed by the Academy and the Society of Actuaries, is an online tool that helps users plan for a crucial aspect of retirement.
Informing Policy
Washington is perhaps even more polarized than the country at large. To maintain credibility, the Academy must retain its neutral political stance, several council leaders say.
“I think that we are very aware this year, maybe more than other years, how important it is to be unbiased, objective, and provide fact-based information,” James says. “There’s quite a bit of disinformation, and for people who do not focus on, say, health care, there could be a lot of misunderstanding of the impacts of different policies.”
James highlighted the HPC’s work last year in preparing comment letters to Congress, which offered lawmakers an actuarial perspective as they contemplated potential legislative changes.
In addition to helping officials understand the ramifications of policy tweaks, the HPC’s work also helped illustrate the interconnectedness of health insurance markets, she says. (Other parts of the actuarial field are similarly intertwined.)
The ripple effect of changes to health care policy could play out in many ways in 2026 and beyond. The under-65 population, for instance, gets health care from different sources—mainly employer-sponsored insurance, Medicaid, and the individual market. Tweaks to subsidies or the employer mandate “can affect who can access premium tax credit or subsidies in the individual market,” she says. Moreover, she says, policy changes could impact the “viability of hospitals, particularly in the rural areas, and the cost of care for everyone.”
“All of these different elements that we usually think of as separate from each other are actually very highly interconnected,” James summarizes. “We felt it was important for us to emphasize that as policymakers consider policies.” In 2026, the HPC will continue to advise officials on the effect of proposed changes, including developments that occur in late 2025 and beyond.
LPC’s Kehrberg makes a similar point as James. When lawmakers propose potential changes to actuarial regulations, the council attempts to provide input early on, in an effort to offer independent and objective feedback, he says. Then, once rules are finalized, it releases issue briefs, practice notes, and related webinars to help actuaries understand the changes and what they might mean for actuarial practice moving forward.
James adds that preparing for regulatory overhaul has benefits beyond influencing policy; it also ensures that councils are up to date on forthcoming changes and able to be agile when regulations shift. “What we found in 2025 is that we were able to react very quickly to policy proposals because we already had done quite a bit of work … and we could put together comment letters fairly quickly, referencing past issue briefs and other publications.”
Given the changing health policy landscape, this kind of agility is an important priority, James says.
“It obviously continues to be such a dynamic world that we live in,” Jones concurs. For actuaries who are approaching issues from a nonpartisan perspective, maintaining relationships with lawmakers, visiting Capitol Hill, and developing networks within regulatory bodies will be critical to retaining influence, he says.
The RMFRC plans to have several committees involved in this year’s Capitol Hill visits, he adds. “Probably now more than ever, it’s important to have that seat at the table.”
Noah Kirsch is a freelance writer for Contingencies.