In October 2021 the American Academy of Actuaries Health Equity Work Group issued a request for information (RFI) to solicit input to its work assessing whether and how health actuarial practices and methods affect health disparities. The comment/submission period has now been extended to February 15, 2022.

The Academy created the Health Equity Work Group with a goal of contributing to efforts to reduce health disparities and improve health equity among racial and ethnic minority populations and underserved or under-resourced communities through actuarial practice and to facilitate providing actuarial input into the public policy process.

Health actuaries often partner with other professionals in many different aspects of the health care and health insurance systems, including those related to administration, financing, and care management. The Health Equity Work Group has identified four areas in which health actuaries are involved that may affect health disparities, either by contributing to disparities or by mitigating disparities: health insurance benefit design, provider contracting and network development, premium pricing, and managing population risk. The work group is also exploring data collection issues. More information about their work and publications thus far is available here.

Learn more about the RFI here. The comment deadline is February 15, 2022. Comments should be submitted via email to healthequityRFI@actuary.org. Please include the phrase “HEWG Request for Information” in the subject line and do not password-protect any attachments. Comments may be sent via conventional mail to: Health Equity Work Group (HEWG), American Academy of Actuaries, 1850 M Street NW Suite 300, Washington, DC 20036.

The Pension Committee published an issue brief providing information to help the reader better understand the complexities involved in the measurement of life expectancy estimates.

The C-2 Longevity Risk Work Group submitted comments to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ Longevity Risk (A/E) Subgroup on reserve implications of expanding the scope of C-2 Longevity Risk-Based Capital requirements to include longevity reinsurance contracts in the proposed Principle-Based Reserving framework.

The Committee on Property and Liability Financial Reporting (COPLFR) released the practice note, Statements of Actuarial Opinion on P/C Loss Reserves (2021), which includes discussion regarding changes in the NAIC Annual Statement Instructions—Property/Casualty (NAIC Annual Statement Instructions) regarding the Actuarial Opinion, the Actuarial Opinion Summary, and Actuarial Report, as well as COVID-19 considerations.

The Academy sent a letter to the chairs of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ (NAIC’s) Life Actuarial (A) Task Force and Life Risk-Based Capital (E) Working Group indicating an “as-is” availability of its economic scenario generator, the Academy Interest Rate Generator (AIRG) for those regulators and interested parties wishing to modify the AIRG parameters as a basis for producing an updated model.

Senior Casualty Fellow Rich Gibson presented to the NAIC’s Property and Casualty Insurance (C) Committee on behalf of the Academy’s Automobile Insurance Committee to provide general and actuarial considerations on the topic of auto insurance refunds. 

The Workers' Compensation Committee released an issue brief on potential impacts to injured workers, employers and insurers involved in the opioid epidemic, and explores the effects on these stakeholders before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The Tax Work Group published their updated FAQs regarding certain insurance reserves held by insurance companies for the purpose of determining U.S. taxable income under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.

Former Life Vice President Laura Hanson presented an update of Life Practice Council activities to the Life Actuarial (A) Task Force at the National Association of Insurance Commissioners 2021 Virtual Fall National Meeting.

Casualty Practice Council (CPC) Vice Chairperson Dee Dee Mays and Committee on Property and Liability Financial Reporting (COPLFR) Chairperson Derek Freihaut presented to the NAIC’s Casualty Actuarial and Statistical (C) Task Force (CASTF) on behalf of the CPC and COPLFR on recent publications and future work products expected for release in early 2022.

The Life Underwriting and Risk Classification Work Group submitted comments to the NAIC’s Accelerated Underwriting (A) Working Group on its paper summarizing the output of the working group’s recommendations and assessment to understand the current state of the life insurance industry and its use of accelerated underwriting.

A Life Practice Council ad-hoc task force submitted comments to the NAIC’s Life Actuarial (A) Task Force (LATF) on a proposed actuarial guideline (AG) regarding asset adequacy testing.

Casualty Vice President Lauren Cavanaugh  presented to the NAIC’s Special Committee on Race and Insurance (SCORI) Workstream 3 (Property and Casualty) on behalf of the Academy’s Racial Equity Task Force (RETF) on the work RETF has completed and is currently doing; she also provided comments to SCORI Workstream 3 on proxy discrimination and disproportionate impact.

The Variable Annuity Reserves and Capital Work Group (VARCWG) submitted comments to LATF on amendment proposal form (APF) 2021-11 regarding the proposed assumption disclosure requirements in VM-31.

The Long-Term Care Valuation Work Group presented results of the Long-Term Care Insurance Mortality and Lapse Study to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) Health Actuarial (B) Task Force.

Academy Health Practice Council (HPC) Vice Chairperson, Barb Klever, provided an update on the 2021 HPC activities to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) Health Actuarial (B) Task Force.

The Risk Sharing Subcommittee submitted comments to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight (CCIIO) on the HHS-Operated Risk Adjustment Technical Paper on Possible Model Changes, exposed for comment on Oct. 26, 2021.

The Long-Term Care Valuation Work Group released a major report, the Long-Term Care Insurance Mortality and Lapse Study, as a result of a 2016 request from the NAIC’s Health Actuarial (B) Task Force regarding replacing the mortality and lapse bases for statutory minimum reserves. The study was completed jointly by the Academy and the Society of Actuaries Research Institute.

The Climate Change Joint Task Force sent comments to the U.S. Department of the Treasury and Federal Insurance Office's (FIO) request for information regarding FIO's future work related to the insurance sector and climate-related financial risks. 

The HEWG sent a comment letter to the NAIC’s Special (EX) Committee on Race and Insurance – Workstream 5 (Health) on the exposure draft of the Principles for Data Collection document. The revised draft was exposed on October 15, 2021, with comments due November 15.