Health Practice Council Members Visit Capitol Hill
In their annual visit to Capitol Hill, more than 20 members of the Health Practice Council and Academy staff visited 40 congressional offices and government agencies Thursday and Friday to discuss health care costs, Affordable Care Act (ACA) implementation, and Medicare and Medicaid issues with federal policymakers and regulators. More coverage of the visit will be included in the upcoming March Actuarial Update.
Professionalism Outreach
Academy Immediate Past President Mary D. Miller spoke Friday to an audience of about 125 actuarial science students at Temple University’s Fox School of Business in Philadelphia. Miller discussed how actuarial professionalism is central to practice and to ensuring the public trust in the profession, and provided highlights of the Academy’s history and role in protecting and advancing professionalism.
HealthCheck Released
The March issue of HealthCheck covers the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ release of a final Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters for 2017, and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ release of several key documents and statements.
Two Webinars Next Week
Regulator-Only ORSA Webinar: This March 15 webinar will provide regulatory actuaries who are reviewing Own Risk and Solvency Assessment (ORSA) reports with background information on the enterprise risk management (ERM) process and what information might be included in an ORSA report. It will draw from the in-depth analysis provided by the public policy overview ORSA and the Regulator, which was released by the Academy’s ERM/ORSA Committee last month. Click here for more information and to register for this event.
Register Now: “Professionalism and the U.S. Qualification Standards” will feature experts from the Committee on Qualifications. Whether you have a question about specific qualification standards, statements of actuarial opinion, continuing education, or other topics related to qualifications, this engaging webinar will provide answers. Click here for more information or to register for this interactive March 17 webinar.
Upcoming Events
Register by March 18 for the best rates for the Academy’s ‘PBR Boot Camp’ Seminar. The Academy’s Life Practice Council will host “PBR Boot Camp—Basic Training and Beyond for Principle-Based Reserving Implementation,” an intensive, two-and-a-half-day seminar on principle-based reserving (PBR), June 6-8 in Chicago. With case studies and small group sessions, attendees will get a head start on understanding PBR before it takes effect, expected to occur in January 2017 for life insurers. Click here for registration and more information.
Enrolled Actuaries (EA) Meeting: The Academy and the Conference of Consulting Actuaries will again jointly host the annual Enrolled Actuaries Meeting, April 10-13, in Washington, D.C. The meeting will offer a variety of panels and workshops and cover a wide range of topics and issues relevant to EAs and other pension professionals, and an exhibit of products and services. Click here for more information and to register.
LHQ Seminar Set for November: Save the date for the 2016 Life and Health Qualifications Seminar, which will be held Nov. 13-17 in Arlington, Va., outside of Washington, D.C.
Public Policy
The ERM/ORSA Committee’s Risk Exposures Subgroup released a new practice note, Quantifying Risk Exposures for Own Risk and Solvency Assessment Reports.
The Role of the Actuary Subgroupsubmitted comments to the NAIC’s Life Actuarial (A) Task Force (LATF) on revisions to the Corporate Governance Guidance Appendix, Section VM-G, of the Valuation Manual applicable to qualified actuaries for clarification and consistency with the Standard Valuation Law.
In the News
An article in TheStreet used the Academy’s analysis of cost drivers of 2016 health insurance premiums to help frame a discussion of how consumers can reduce their health care costs. The story was widely published in other media outlets, including MSN Money and the Philadelphia Sun-Times.
An op-ed in the Kansas City Star discussed how the Academy’s work in developing the Actuaries Climate Index (ACI) will serve the public. It cited the Academy’s “Essential Elements” climate-change paper in highlighting property/casualty risks of extreme weather caused by climate change.
The Academy’s analysis of options for implementing the ACA’s reinsurance program was mentioned in a story in The Hill. During the public comment period on the proposed rules for the program in 2014, the Academy’s Risk-Sharing Work Group submitted its analysis to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services stating that “the proposed rule would provide more certainty that the reinsurance payments will be fully funded and may result in insurers more fully offsetting premiums by anticipated reinsurance payments.”
Academy Senior Property/Casualty Fellow Jim MacGinnitie provided insights on the continuing and future impact of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law on P/C actuaries and insurance supervision and regulation in the cover story of the March/April issue of Actuarial Review, the magazine of the Casualty Actuarial Society.
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