This Week, April 8 - 12, 2013

Actuaries Speak Out on President’s Proposed Budget

• Actuaries urge Congress and the administration to make program solvency a priority for Social Security and Medicare. These vital social insurance programs are among the highest public policy priorities for the Academy, in part because of their near-universal impact on U.S. retirees. Read the news release.

Academy Responds to Wall Street Journal Op-Ed

• Academy President Cecil Bykerk responds with a letter to the editors of The Wall Street Journal to an April 10 op-ed, “The Pension Rate-of-Return Fantasy,” regarding pension funding and expected rates of return.

New Public Policy Activities

• The Academy’s Casualty Practice Council, represented by Chairperson Mike Angelina, presented an actuarial perspective on insurance for acts of terrorism at the NAIC’s Center for Insurance Policy and Research brunch.
• The chairperson of the Academy’s Long-Term Care Valuation Work Group, Bob Yee provided a final recommendation on an LTC valuation table at the NAIC’s LTC Actuarial Working Group meeting.
• The Academy’s Individual Disability Table Work Group offered an update at the NAIC’s Spring National Meeting highlighting progress on the individual disability table and indicating specific tasks necessary to finish the updated table.
• The Academy’s senior health fellow, Cori Uccello submitted suggested language on actuarial value to the NAIC’s Consumer Information Subgroup for inclusion in a “frequently asked questions” document.
• The C1 Work Group made a presentation to the NAIC’s Risk-Based Capital Working Group on the development of factors for corporate bonds in the RBC formula.
• The Academy’s Medical Loss Ratio Work Group submitted comments to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on a proposed rule that requires issuers to offer a new type of individual health insurance policy covering contraceptive benefits. The comments focus only on the effect of the proposed rule on the MLR calculation.

Recent Events

• Minimum Value Calculator Webinar: The Academy hosted a webinar with representatives from the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight (CCIIO) to discuss and demonstrate the recently released minimum value calculator—an important component of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) implementation. More than 950 registered sites participated.

Opportunities to Learn

• April 18, Rate Review and Disclosure Webinar: Learn more about requirements related to the ACA rate review and disclosure provisions, specifically the final unified rate review template and actuarial memorandum. A representative from the CCIIO will be available to answer your questions.
• April 23, Post-NAIC Update/PBA Webinar: Receive updates on the activities of the NAIC’s Life Actuarial Task Force, PBR Implementation (EX) Task Force, Joint Qualified Actuary (A/B/C) Subgroup, and the Emerging Actuarial Issues (E) Working Group.
• June 4, Regulatory Issues for Small Insurance Companies Webinar: Join the Academy and the Society of Actuaries to gain a better understanding of regulators’ thoughts on a variety of topics, including how actuaries can adapt to the new risk-focused exams, whether PBR makes sense for most small companies, how ORSA will help and evolve, and many more!
• Nov. 11–14, Life and Health Qualifications Seminar: Expedite the basic education you will need to obtain health and life qualifications under Section 3 of the U.S. Qualification Standards. This seminar is the primary source of instruction to become qualified. Seats are limited!

News from the Actuarial Standards Board

• The ASB approved a second exposure draft of ASOP No. 6, Measuring Retiree Group Benefit Obligations, to provide clarity to disclosure requirements; redefine such terms as “funded status,” “pooled plans,” and “retiree group benefits program”; and to better coordinate with ASOP No. 4, Measuring Pension Obligations and Determining Pension Plan Costs or Contributions.

Newly Released

• April HealthCheck: Read about recent health care reform activities in the latest edition.

Actuaries in the News

• LifeHealthPro.com reported on the Academy’s new Long-Term Care Terminations Work Group, which was set up to help the NAIC analyze what will happen when policyholders terminate LTC insurance policies.
• Academy senior pension fellow Don Fuerst was cited in a subscription-only Bloomberg BNA article, “Push to Strengthen Multiemployer Plans Is Under Way on Capitol Hill,” which covered a session on the future of multiemployer plans at the recent Enrolled Actuaries Meeting. Fuerst said that basing “pension accounting standards on 25-year average bond rates would face almost certain opposition…” and that the Obama administration “is likely to remain focused on applying risk-based concepts in setting the pension insurance premiums that sponsors pay.”

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