The Variable Annuity Reserves and Capital Work Group submitted an amendment proposal to the NAIC’s Life Actuarial Task Force (LATF) to update the reference to the required minimum distribution (RMD) age in the VM-21 Standard Projection Amount pursuant to enactment of the federal Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act.

The ASOP No. 6 Practice Note Work Group released their practice note, ASOP No. 6—Development of Age-Specific Retiree Health Cost Assumptions, Including Applications to Pooled and Non-Pooled Health Plans, to provide information on valuing retiree health benefit plans. 

The Social Security Committee released a monograph and an issue brief on individual equity and social adequacy as those principles apply to social security reform options. The monograph and issue brief compare three different Social Security reform proposals using individual equity and social adequacy, two of the important principles underlying the program and provide details on each of the proposals and examines the data used in the illustrations. 

The C1 Work Group submitted a letter to the NAIC's Life Risk-Based Capital (LRBC) Working Group, including an update to previously proposed base bond factors and companion portfolio adjustment formula to reflect corporate tax rates enacted by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 for the LRBC formula.

The C1 Work Group submitted comments to the NAIC's Life Risk-Based Capital (LRBC) Working Group on the exposed January 21, 2021 proposal to restate the capital requirements for real estate in the LRBC formula.

The Long-Term Care (LTC) Reform Subcommittee released their issue brief on regulatory options for LTC insurance innovation. This issue brief examines some National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) proposed options specific to regulatory changes, and discusses recommended changes with actuarial implications. 

Senior Casualty Fellow Rich Gibson presented at the Midwest Actuarial Forum’s Virtual Spring Meeting Webinar, giving an overview of recent property/casualty public policy developments.

The Academy’s Property and Casualty Risk-Based Capital Committee issued a report to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ (NAIC) Property and Casualty Risk-Based Capital (E) Working Group in which it presents indicated Line of Business Underwriting  Risk Factors for the P&C RBC Formula.

The ERM/ORSA Climate-Related Financial Disclosures Work Group submitted comments to the NAIC Climate and Resilience (EX) Task Force's Climate Risk Disclosure Workstream related to ongoing discussions and work on the Climate Risk Disclosure Survey. 

Academy Senior Health Fellow Cori Uccello presented at a “Medicare Solvency Projections and Potential Policy Solutions” webinar sponsored by the Alliance for Health Policy. She set the stage for the discussion by providing basic program information, covering Hospital Insurance (HI) and Supplementary Medical Insurance (SMI), the projected depletion of the HI trust fund, and noted that Medicare’s sustainability challenges go beyond solvency.

The Academy made three presentations  to the NAIC’s Casualty Actuarial and Statistical (C) Task Force (CASTF) webinar as part of CASTF’s “Book Club” series to facilitate regulator training and the sharing of expertise on predictive analytics on the topic of race and insurance. Academy presenters were Dorothy Andrews, chairperson of the Data Science and Analytics Committee (DSAC); Roosevelt Mosley, DSAC member and member of the Casualty Practice Council’s (CPC) Racial Equity Task Force; and Lauren Cavanaugh, CPC vice president.

The Health Solvency Subcommittee sent a comment letter in response to a request from the NAIC’s Health Risk-Based Capital (E) Working Group to further analyze the impact of incorporating investment income into the existing underwriting risk factors within the health risk-based capital formula.  

The Academy’s Cyber Risk Task Force sent a letter offering its assistance in relation to the challenges and opportunities present in the current system of regulating and overseeing responses to cyber breaches of personally identifiable information along with a copy of its report, Cyber Breach Reporting Requirements: An Analysis of Laws Across the United States, to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and the directors (or acting directors) of the Office of Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes; the Federal Insurance Office; the Office of Domestic Finance; and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Senior Casualty Fellow Rich Gibson participated in a virtual panel discussion Monday at the National Conference of State Legislatures’ Executive Committee Task Force on insurance regarding business interruption coverage. Gibson provided a perspective on actuarial considerations important to the success of any future public or private program designed to support coverage.

The Health Practice Council submitted a comment letter to the Department of the Treasury, the Department of Labor (DOL), and the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), on review of agency actions related to the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid, as put forward in a recent presidential executive order. The letter provides references to previous Academy comment letters to agencies regarding relevant proposed rules.

The Individual and Small Group Markets Committee and the Active Benefits Subcommittee submitted comments to the Department of the Treasury, the Department of Labor (DOL), and the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), on insurance and health plan coverage of COVID-19 testing, as put forward in a presidential executive order, Establishing the COVID-19 Pandemic Testing Board and Ensuring a Sustainable Public Health Workforce for COVID-19 and Other Biological Threats.

The Life Practice Council's Variable Annuity (VA) Reserves and Capital Work Group released an exposure draft of its VM-21 Practice Note Supplement, Implementation of Requirements for Principle-Based Reserves for Variable Annuities – 2021 Edition of VM-21. The comments on the exposure draft are due to the Academy by April 30, 2021, and can be sent to lifeanalyst@actuary.org. 

Academy President Tom Campbell sent a letter of recommendation to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for Annette James, chairperson of the Academy’s Health Equity Work Group, as a candidate for appointment to the COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force as put forward in a presidential executive order, Ensuring an Equitable Pandemic Response and Recovery.

The ERM/ORSA Climate Risk Disclosures Work Group Chair, Michelle Young, and Academy Assistant Director for Research, Steve Jackson, shared an update to the NAIC Climate Risk and Resiliency (EX) Task Force on the Climate Risk Disclosures Survey Analysis project.

The Long-Term Care Reform Subcommittee's COVID-19 Work Group released their issue brief on COVID-19’s potential short-term and long-term impacts on long-term care insurance (LTCI), focusing on key actuarial and economic assumptions impacting standalone LTCI policies. Read the news release.