Editor’s note: Due to the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, the Academy will not publish This Week next week. The next issue will be published on Friday, Dec. 2.
Health Care ‘Actuarial Challenge’ Deadline Extended Through Wednesday
Due to strong interest in the health care “Actuarial Challenge,” the deadline for acceptance of preformed teams to participate has been extended through next Wednesday, Nov. 23. (The Challenge will not be able to accept individual registrants to create teams.) The Challenge currently has 20 registered teams that are beginning to work on their initial papers outlining proposed changes to the individual health insurance market; these papers are due on Friday, Dec. 9. The Academy is helping to promote the Challenge, which is being conducted by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in conjunction with Milliman. Visit the Actuarial Challenge website for more information.
LHQ Seminar Draws Capacity Crowd
Almost 100 people attended the Academy’s Life and Health Qualifications Seminar this week in Arlington, Va. Now in its 16th year, the seminar is considered the most efficient way for actuaries to acquire required basic education and continuing education (CE) to be qualified to sign statements of actuarial opinion (SAOs) for NAIC Life and Health annual statements, and a popular way to earn CE credits under the U.S. Qualification Standards for those who already have the basic education needed to issue SAOs.
In addition to lectures with Q&A sessions, attendees worked on case studies, including one led by Joeff Williams, the Academy’s vice president of professionalism. Williams and seminar faculty members worked together for more than nine months to prepare the curriculum in order to ensure that attendees receive up-to-date and expertly delivered information to prepare them for the LHQ examination.
The webinar was moderated by Ellen Kleinstuber, chairperson of the Academy’s Pension Committee. The presenters were Bruce Cadenhead, vice chairperson of the Pension Committee; Tim Geddes, vice chairperson of the Pension Practice Council; and Jerry Mingione, a member of the Pension Committee. Slides and audio are available free of charge to members on the Academy’s webinar page.
Upcoming Events
Today—Registration Closes for P/C Loss Seminar: Just a few seats remain for the 2016 Seminar on Effective P/C Loss Reserve Opinions, to be held Dec. 6–7 in Chicago. Registration ends today, Friday, Nov. 18, and limited space remains in the room block, which is being held open through Monday, Nov. 28. This two-day seminar will enhance your expertise on the latest regulations and standards and will include reviews of actuarial qualification standards and interactive case studies. Register today.
New—Professionalism Webinar on ASOP No. 41: Join the Academy on Dec. 21 from noon to 1:30 p.m. EST for the professionalism webinar, “Can You Hear Me Now? Actuarial Communications Under ASOP No. 41.” The webinar will feature Actuarial Board for Counseling and Discipline (ABCD) members Jan Carstens and Rick Block, who will discuss Actuarial Standard of Practice (ASOP) No. 41, Actuarial Communications, through the lens of their ABCD experience. Using case studies and examples based on requests for guidance and cases submitted to the ABCD, they will discuss documentation and communication in environments that have prompted actuaries to seek counseling and provide guidance on how to apply this ASOP, which is likely to touch nearly every assignment an actuary works on. Register today.
See our website for a listing of all Academy events.
Alerts
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. released its Fiscal Year 2016 Annual Report, which shows that the multiemployer program’s deficit rose to $58.8 billion from $52.3 billion in FY 2015.
Subscribe to Member Alerts: Subscribers to the Academy’s alerts are notified by email when a new alert is posted in their area(s) of interest. The alerts are available in five areas of focus: casualty, health, life, pension, and cross-practice issues. Academy members may subscribe to any or all of them free of charge as a member service after signing in to the member section of the website.
Public Policy Activities
The Stop Loss Factors Work Groupsent a report to the NAIC Health Risk-Based Capital (RBC) Working Group (E) reviewing the RBC formulas currently used for medical excess of loss business.
The AG 43/C-3 Phase II Work Groupsubmitted comments to the Variable Annuities Issues (E) Working Group on the exposed proposal to revise Actuarial Guideline 43 (AG 43) and C-3 Phase II.
Pension Practice Council Vice President Bill Hallmark represented the Academy at a daylong expert panel convened by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) on the state of retirement in America. The purpose of the panel discussion was to help inform a GAO report likely to be issued in the first half of next year.
Academy Senior Life Fellow Nancy Bennett made a presentation to the National Conference of Insurance Legislators National Meeting that provides an update and background on the implementation of principle-based reserving.
In the News
In a Fox Business story, Senior Pension Fellow Ted Goldman discussed planning for retirement around longevity as a spectrum of possible outcomes rather than one number, while citing the Actuaries Longevity Illustrator, developed by the Academy and the Society of Actuaries, as a useful tool to help people understand longevity risk. The story was also published by Yahoo Finance.
A Health Payer Intelligence story about plans for the 115th Congress to take up legislation to privatize Medicare quoted Michael Thompson, chairperson of the Medicare Subcommittee, on the options available to policymakers for ensuring Medicare Part A’s long-term sustainability.
C-SPAN3 will rebroadcast Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. Director Tom Reeder’s plenary address from the Academy’s Annual Meeting and Public Policy Forum tonight (Friday, Nov. 18) at 7:10 p.m. EST. Reeder discussed the financial picture for single employer and multiemployer defined benefit pension plans. The video is also available on C-SPAN’s website.
Note: Some links in this email go to external websites and may require registration. The Academy is not responsible for the content of these websites. Links may expire.
PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO THIS EMAIL. THIS EMAIL ADDRESS IS NOT MONITORED.
If you would like more information or to contact the Academy, please visit us at www.actuary.org/content/about-us
1850 M Street NW • Suite 300 • Washington, DC 20036 • 202.223.8196 • www.actuary.org
Copyright 2016 American Academy of Actuaries. All rights reserved.