From the Academy President: Special State of the Union Message
February 5, 2019
Dear Academy Colleague:
Tonight’s State of the Union address is an important annual event that signals the convening of the new congressional session in Washington, D.C., with its attendant debates on public policy options across the spectrum of issues—and of particular interest to actuaries, financial security issues and public programs that potentially affect millions of Americans. The Academy has a long-established, well-respected track record of effectively working with policymakers on a nonpartisan basis to provide objective, actuarially informed analysis of insurance, pension, and other financial security and risk issues.
You can be assured that, as the U.S. profession’s voice on public policy, the Academy is already hard at work in 2019 ensuring that public policymakers and regulators at both the federal and the state levels are aware of and have the benefit of actuarial perspectives on the issues on which our profession can provide relevant expertise, such as health insurance reforms, insurance regulation, retirement security, and extreme events and climate risk—among many, many others. We recently contacted all members of the new 116th Congress, state insurance commissioners, and state legislators who chair insurance committees, to remind them of—and to introduce newcomers to—the many ways in which the Academy contributes objective expertise to the development of sound public policy. Planning is well underway for Academy-arranged meetings between our volunteers and congressional and federal agency offices next month and later this spring to discuss health and pension policy issues. And Academy representatives, as we have for many years, will again this year work with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners and the National Council of Insurance Legislators to get the best possible outcomes on their model regulations and laws and to be available to assist the states in their own considerations of public policies affecting insurance regulation and retirement security.
As you watch tonight’s State of the Union address, here’s just a select list of the issues that the Academy has worked on since the last such presidential address and which have laid the groundwork for proposals that could receive attention on Capitol Hill and from the Trump administration this year:
For a fuller summary of significant regulatory and legislative developments in 2018 at the state, federal, and international levels, please see the Academy 2018 public policy year-in-review alert we sent to members a few weeks ago.
To advance the Academy’s mission, throughout 2019 the Academy will continue to robustly engage policymakers and regulators at all levels, and provide highly regarded written actuarial analyses, on financial security and risk issues. We hope you will join us along the way as we offer public policy forums such as webinars to keep you abreast of emerging developments and provide us input. Many of these efforts could culminate in the focused presentation and discussion of practice-specific and cross-practice issues offered at the Academy’s Annual Meeting and Public Policy Forum in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 5–6. We hope you’ll save the date and plan to join us this fall.
Sincerely,
Shawna Ackerman
President, American Academy of Actuaries
Dear Academy Colleague:
Tonight’s State of the Union address is an important annual event that signals the convening of the new congressional session in Washington, D.C., with its attendant debates on public policy options across the spectrum of issues—and of particular interest to actuaries, financial security issues and public programs that potentially affect millions of Americans. The Academy has a long-established, well-respected track record of effectively working with policymakers on a nonpartisan basis to provide objective, actuarially informed analysis of insurance, pension, and other financial security and risk issues.You can be assured that, as the U.S. profession’s voice on public policy, the Academy is already hard at work in 2019 ensuring that public policymakers and regulators at both the federal and the state levels are aware of and have the benefit of actuarial perspectives on the issues on which our profession can provide relevant expertise, such as health insurance reforms, insurance regulation, retirement security, and extreme events and climate risk—among many, many others. We recently contacted all members of the new 116th Congress, state insurance commissioners, and state legislators who chair insurance committees, to remind them of—and to introduce newcomers to—the many ways in which the Academy contributes objective expertise to the development of sound public policy. Planning is well underway for Academy-arranged meetings between our volunteers and congressional and federal agency offices next month and later this spring to discuss health and pension policy issues. And Academy representatives, as we have for many years, will again this year work with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners and the National Council of Insurance Legislators to get the best possible outcomes on their model regulations and laws and to be available to assist the states in their own considerations of public policies affecting insurance regulation and retirement security.
As you watch tonight’s State of the Union address, here’s just a select list of the issues that the Academy has worked on since the last such presidential address and which have laid the groundwork for proposals that could receive attention on Capitol Hill and from the Trump administration this year:
- The rising costs of health care services and prescription drugs and how to address them. In March 2018, the Academy hosted a Hill briefing on the analysis contained in its issue brief, Prescription Drug Spending in the U.S. Health Care System: An Actuarial Perspective. In fall 2018, the Academy released research on the potential cost savings for health care services that could be realized through reference pricing.
- The risks to multiemployer pension plans, their beneficiaries, plan sponsors, and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, and the policy options available to financially stabilize plans and the system. In 2018, the Academy testified before the Joint Select Committee on Solvency of Multiemployer Pension Plans, and provided extensive answers to follow-up questions from the committee. The Academy’s Pension Practice Council continues in its efforts to help address the system’s challenges.
- The financial condition and sustainability of Social Security and Medicare based on the 2018 trustees’ reports.
- The expansion of association health plans; short-term, limited-duration insurance; and health reimbursement arrangements; and how these and other regulatory or legislative changes could affect risk pools, coverage, premiums, and health insurance markets.
- The need to modernize the country’s retirement system and provide lifetime income options for the country’s aging population. If new legislation or regulations to improve retirement security are considered, the Academy can explain the available options in the context of the increasingly defined-contribution dominated retirement system, including lifetime income options.
- The financial challenges facing the National Flood Insurance Program, and specific insurance market, technological, and other developments that Congress should take into account as it considers reauthorizing the program beyond May 31.
- Climate trends, on which the user-friendly Actuaries Climate Index® provides objective information. The Actuaries Climate Risk Index, a second index correlating climate risks to economic losses and other impacts, is under development with release planned for later this year.
- Insurer solvency and domestic and international insurance regulation.
For a fuller summary of significant regulatory and legislative developments in 2018 at the state, federal, and international levels, please see the Academy 2018 public policy year-in-review alert we sent to members a few weeks ago.
To advance the Academy’s mission, throughout 2019 the Academy will continue to robustly engage policymakers and regulators at all levels, and provide highly regarded written actuarial analyses, on financial security and risk issues. We hope you will join us along the way as we offer public policy forums such as webinars to keep you abreast of emerging developments and provide us input. Many of these efforts could culminate in the focused presentation and discussion of practice-specific and cross-practice issues offered at the Academy’s Annual Meeting and Public Policy Forum in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 5–6. We hope you’ll save the date and plan to join us this fall.
Sincerely,
Shawna Ackerman
President, American Academy of Actuaries
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