Mary Bahna-Nolan submitted a statement to the NAIC's Special (EX) Committee for Race and Insurance, Workstream #4.

Academy volunteers presented at the National Council of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL) Annual Meeting during the Special Committee on Race in Insurance Underwriting’s session. Dorothy Andrews, chairperson of the Data Science and Analytics Committee, presented on behalf of the committee and provided an update on its ongoing work relevant to NCOIL’s examination of these issues. Casualty Vice President Lauren Cavanaugh presented on behalf of the Casualty Practice Council, and Mary Bahna-Nolan presented on the issue from a life perspective.

The Life Practice Council's Asset Adequacy Testing Task Force (AATTF) published a discussion paper titled, Asset Adequacy Testing Considerations for Year-End 2020, for the purposes of raising awareness and summarizing actuarial practices for life financial reporting actuaries involved with asset adequacy testing (AAT) and related activities in 2020’s extreme economic environment.

On December 2, 2020, Cori Uccello, the Academy’s Senior Health Fellow, presented on behalf of the Academy’s Health Equity Work Group (HEWG) at the National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ (NAIC’s) Special (EX) Committee on Race and Insurance, Workstream #5 meeting. Written comments by HEWG chairperson Annette James were also submitted to the special committee highlighting the HEWG’s efforts to facilitate solutions to address health disparities.

The Health Practice Council’s Health Equity Work Group  submitted comments to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) highlighting their efforts to facilitate solutions to address health disparities. 

The Life Practice Council's Vice President, Laura Hanson, presented an update of LPC activities to the Life Actuarial (A) Task Force (LATF) at the NAIC's 2020 Fall National Meeting. 

Lauren Cavanaugh, VP-Casualty, submitted written comments to the U.S. House Financial Services Committee regarding proposed legislation to provide federal government backing for coverage of future pandemic events under Business Interruption insurance. 

The Social Security Committee released an issue brief discussing the effects of immigration on the finances of the Social Security program.

The Health Practice Council’s Long-Term Care (LTC) Reform Subcommittee Task Force to Review ASOP No. 22 submitted comments to the Actuarial Standards Board on the second exposure draft of the proposed revision of ASOP No. 22, Statements of Actuarial Opinion Based on Asset Adequacy Analysis for Life Insurance, Annuity, or Health Insurance Reserves and Other Liabilities.

The Life Practice Council’s Task Force to Review ASOP No. 22 submitted comments to the Actuarial Standards Board on the exposure draft of ASOP No. 22, Statements of Actuarial Opinion Based on Asset Adequacy Analysis for Life Insurance, Annuity, or Health Insurance Reserves and Other Liabilities. 

The Social Security Committee published an issue brief on actuarial assumptions used by the Social Security Administration to make projections for and evaluations of Social Security’s financial condition.

The Financial Reporting Committee and Life Financial Reporting Committee submitted comments to the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) regarding indexing and modco embedded derivatives.

The Lifetime Income Risk Joint Committee submitted comments to the Department of Labor on an interim final regulation with request for comments regarding pension benefit statements and lifetime income illustrations.

The Life Practice Council’s Task Force to Review ASOP No. 2 submitted comments to the Actuarial Standards Board on the second exposure draft of the proposed revision of ASOP No. 2, Nonguaranteed Elements for Life Insurance and Annuity Products.

Academy Casualty Vice President Lauren Cavanaugh addressed the NAIC’s Special Committee on Race and Insurance, speaking to her prepared comments previously submitted, which covered actuarial guidance, disparate impact, and data quality. She recommended consideration of independent organizations to examine and certify third-party data for hidden biases, accuracy, and relevance. She also described for commissioners and regulators several actuarial standards of practice (ASOPs) relevant to actuarial practice in areas being looked at by the special committee.

The Individual and Small Group Markets Committee sent comments to the Center for Consumer Information & Insurance Oversight (CCIIO), expressing concerns on the claims data updates finalized in the 2021 Actuarial Value (AV) Calculator. The comments are for consideration in preparing the draft 2022 AV Calculator.

The Academy’s Casualty Practice Council (CPC) and Committee on Property and Liability Financial Reporting (COPLFR) presented an update on CPC and COPLFR activity to the NAIC’s Casualty Actuarial and Statistical Task Force (CASTF), including pandemic risk insurance, workers’ compensation, automobile insurance, and cyber risk, and gave a preview of December’s Seminar on Effective P/C Loss Reserve Opinions.

States have moved to develop their own laws given there is a lack of federal regulation of notice requirements to consumers in the event of cyber breaches. The purpose of this paper is to provide a systematic comparison of the existing regulations with respect to data breaches involving personally identifiable information across the states. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) Insurance Data Security Model Law is also examined.

The Academy’s Principle-Based Reserving (PBR) Analysis Templates Task Force published six templates to assist users when performing PBR analysis or preparing PBR Actuarial Reports required by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners Valuation Manual (VM-31). 

Actuarial Memorandum Practice Note Work Group of the American Academy of Actuaries’ Health Practice Council released the Actuarial Memorandum Practice Note. The purpose of this practice note is to provide information that can be useful for appointed actuaries dealing with the challenges of producing an Actuarial Memorandum in support of the Actuarial Opinion filed as part of the Health Annual Statement Blank (often referred to as the Health Blank or the Orange Blank). However, the concepts covered in this practice note could be useful for other situations requiring documentation for health business.