The Health Practice International Committee (HPIC) released the International Health Care Funding Report. This report is the first iteration of a project is intended to be an illustration of international models of health care funding, and reflects the state of 36 health funding systems from around the world as of December 31, 2019. This report is a joint effort of volunteers of the American Academy of Actuaries Health Practice International Committee (HPIC), the International Actuarial Association Health Section (IAAHS), and the Society of Actuaries (SOA) International Section.

The Pension Committee published an issue brief detailing Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) single-employer premiums and considering their impact on pension plan sponsorship.

The Academy's Tax Work Group released a white paper outlining the most significant changes in the taxation of life insurance companies that were made by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA).

The Pension Committee released an exposure draft of a practice note providing background and ideas about how a pension actuary might comply with ASOP No. 56, Modeling. Please send comments to the pension policy analyst of the American Academy of Actuaries at pensionanalyst@actuary.org by January 31, 2021.

The Academy has released a new Essential Elements paper: “Wildfire Risk in the United States.” The paper discusses where and when wildfires occur, the rising property/casualty costs from wildfire damage, the importance of wildfire modeling, and ways to address wildfire risk. Essential Elements, a series of concise and informative papers developed by the Academy, is designed to provide a quick and easy-to-understand overview of key public policy issues of interest to Academy members, policymakers, and the general public.

The Extreme Events and Property Lines Committee has updated its monograph on the National Flood Insurance Program and related issues, including new data from the 2019 hurricane season. 

The Financial Reporting Committee submitted comments to the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) regarding Long-Duration Contracts Implementation Issue 11AC (ceded reinsurance), to be included in the Audit and Accounting Guide: Life and Health Insurance Entities.

The Pension Committee published an issue brief considering the near-term and long-term effects of COVID-19 on pension plans, mortality, and other assumptions.

The Committee on Property and Liability Financial Reporting has issued a new public policy paper, An Overview for P/C Insurers' Audit Committees: Effective Use of Actuarial Loss Reserve Expertise. This document replaces an earlier publication on the same subject. 

C-2 Mortality Work Group presented an update to the NAIC's Life Risk-Based Capital (E) Working Group reviewing the C-2 overall approach and current risk-based capital (RBC) factors. 

The Committee on Property and Liability Financial Reporting has submitted comments to the NAIC's Actuarial Opinion Working Group, suggesting changes to the wording in the Financial Examiners Handbook.

The Long-Term Care (LTC) Valuation Work Group gave a presentation to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ (NAIC’s) LTC Actuarial (B) Working Group on the work group’s progress on the NAIC’s requests that the work group develop a replacement mortality table for LTC active life reserves, develop a replacement lapse table, and consider developing tables for valuation on total lives basis as well as active lives basis.

The Multiemployer Plans Committee submitted comments to the Internal Revenue Service about a proposed form for reporting the annual actuarial certification for multiemployer defined benefit plans.

The Academy C-3 Life and Annuities Work Group (C-3 WG) has a request from the NAIC Life Risk-Based Capital (E) Working Group (LRBC) to “Update the current C-3 Phase I or C-3 Phase II methodology to include Indexed Annuities.”

Steve Jackson, Academy Assistant Director for Research, shared an update on the Scalars Project to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) International Insurance Relations (G) Committee.

The Long-Term Care (LTC) Valuation Work Group gave a presentation to NAIC’s LTC Actuarial (B) Working Group as part of the NAIC Summer 2020 Virtual National Meeting.

The PBR Governance Work Group provided an update on Academy PBR Resources to the Life Actuarial (A) Task Force at the NAIC 2020 Summer National Meeting. 

The Life Experience Committee Mortality Improvement Subgroup presented an update on the 2020 Life MI Scale Recommendation to the Life Actuarial (A) Task Force during the NAIC 2020 Summer National Meeting. 

The Pension Committee published a practice note, ASOP No. 51: Risk Assessment in Practice, providing information to actuaries on current or emerging practices affected by ASOP No. 51, Assessment and Disclosure of Risk Associated with Measuring Pension Obligations and Determining Pension Plan Contributions.

The Academy's senior casualty fellow Rich Gibson submitted comments on the latest draft of the NAIC's proposed white paper on Regulatory Review of Predictive Models.