The Annuity Reserves Work Group gave an update on the VM-23 proposed timeline to the Life Actuarial (A) Task Force at the NAIC Spring 2019 National Meeting. 

The SVL Interest Rate Modernization Work Group gave an update to the Life Actuarial (A) Task Force at the NAIC Spring 2019 National Meeting. 

The Life Reserves Work Group gave a presentation on the PBR treatment for individually underwritten group insurance to the Life Actuarial (A) Task Force. 

The Medicare Subcommittee sent a comment letter to the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Inspector General on a proposed rule on safe harbor protection for rebates involving prescription pharmaceuticals and the creation of new safe harbor protections.

The PBR Review Procedures Work Group released an exposure draft of a practice note: Common Practices of Examining Actuaries Involved in Statutory Financial Solvency Examinations of Life and Health Insurers, Including Considerations for Principle-Based Reserves. Comments are due to the Academy on Monday, July 1, 2019. 

The Academy responded in writing to questions from the House Subcommittee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions as a follow-up to the panel’s March 7 hearing, “The Cost of Inaction: Why Congress Must Address the Multiemployer Pension Crisis,” at which Josh Shapiro, the Academy’s vice president, pension, testified.

The Academy’s senior casualty fellow, Rich Gibson, gave a presentation on the Actuaries Climate Index at Tulane University’s conference on environmental law.

The Academy's senior casualty fellow, Rich Gibson, presented testimony on predictive modeling at a hearing on automobile insurance held by the District of Columbia's Department of Insurance, Securities and Banking.

The Life Practice Council sent a letter to the Life Actuarial (A) Task Force addressing concerns that the NAIC is moving in a direction that would deviate from a principle-based approach for life insurance. 

The Premium Review Work Group sent comments on the recently released final Unified Rate Review Template (URRT) and Instructions.

The Life Illustrations Work Group submitted a comment letter to the NAIC's IUL Illustration (A) Subgroup, addressing questions raised regarding the illustrations of Indexed Universal Life (IUL) products under Actuarial Guideline 49. 

Academy Pension Vice President Josh Shapiro testified March 7 before the House Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions, providing written and oral testimony with a nonpartisan, objective, actuarial focus on the increasing financial risks facing some multiemployer plans and the PBGC’s multiemployer program.

Proposals to expand access to public health insurance plans are being put forward as a way to supplement efforts to strengthen insurance markets under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) or to replace the ACA marketplaces and/or other health insurance programs altogether. Goals of these proposals vary and include increasing access to affordable coverage, exerting downward pressure on provider prices, increasing plan availability, and reducing the number of uninsured. This issue paper from the American Academy of Actuaries Health Practice Council briefly outlines four approaches aiming to achieve such goals and highlights the key design elements that would need to be specified for an approach to be fully evaluated and implemented. Read the news release.

The Pension Practice Council published a practice note providing information on current and emerging practices in the selection of investment return assumptions based on anticipated future experience. 

The Medicaid and Long-Term Care Insurance Work Group published an issue brief exploring the potential for catastrophic long-term care costs as a major financial risk especially facing older Americans and to help clarify the options currently available for dealing with it.

The Lifetime Income Risk Joint Committee, Retirement System Assessment and Policy Committee and Social Security Committee submitted a comment letter to the Bipartisan Policy Center on its 2016 Report of the Commission on Retirement Security and Personal Savings.

The Pension Committee published a practice note discussing the valuation of lump sum benefits for financial accounting purposes. 

The Life Reserves Work Group submitted a comment letter to the Life Actuarial (A) Task Force regarding exposed APF 2019-04, which seeks to provide clarification for expense allowance formulas for universal life with secondary guarantee (ULSG).

The RBC Tax Reform Work Group submitted a comment letter to the NAIC Life Risk-Based Capital Working Group on their exposed guidance document on the Interpretation of 2018 Life Risk-Based Capital Results.

The Life Experience Committee sent a comment letter to the Life Actuarial (A) Task Force to address questions that were raised during the NAIC Fall 2018 National Meeting regarding the current process used to develop the AG38 and VM-20 annual mortality improvement scale recommendations.