Read the latest issue of This Week—the Academy's end-of-week digital newsletter, compiling a week’s worth of news, updates, and media coverage in one convenient, easy-to-use publication. (January 10, 2014)
Senior Pension Fellow Don Fuerst sent a letter to members of the U.S. House of Representatives regarding their request to make Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) consistent with the pension funding rules in the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21). Read the news release. (January 08, 2014)
Read about technical comments the Rate Review Practice Note Work Group submitted to the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight on the Unified Rate Review Template, the Health Practice Council’s response to a proposed federal rule on benefit and payment parameters for 2015, a proposed methodology from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for determining federal assistance to states establishing a Basic Health Plan, and Academy work and experts in the news. (January 08, 2014)
In a Jan. 6 letter to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ (NAIC) Joint Qualified Actuary subgroup, American Academy of Actuaries President Tom Terry provides comments on a uniform definition of “qualified actuary” for life, health, and property/casualty appointed actuaries signing prescribed NAIC Statements of Actuarial Opinion. The NAIC JQA Subgroup invited comments on a uniform definition, and the Academy’s response recommended a definition that achieves “one level of the uniformity” by reference to one credential: the MAAA. (January 07, 2014)
The Committee on Qualifications (COQ) responded on Jan. 3 to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ (NAIC) Joint Qualified Actuary Subgroup’s (JQA) request to submit comments regarding the definition of a “qualified actuary.” During the NAIC Fall Annual Meeting last month the three NAIC actuarial task forces gave the JQA the charge to “Recommend a uniform definition of ‘qualified actuary’ for life, health and property/casualty appointed actuaries signing prescribed NAIC Statements of Actuarial Opinion, identifying any differences that should remain between lines of business.” In response, the COQ recommended that any definition of a “qualified actuary” for signing NAIC Statements of Actuarial Opinion should include a reference to qualifications under the Qualification Standards for Actuaries Issuing Statements of Actuarial Opinion in the United States. (January 03, 2014)
Read the latest issue of This Week—the Academy's end-of-week digital newsletter, compiling a week’s worth of news, updates, and media coverage in one convenient, easy-to-use publication. (January 03, 2014)
The Rate Review Practice Note Work Group submitted technical comments to the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight (CCIIO) on a new proposed list of changes to the Unified Rate Review Template (URRT) for quarterly 2014 and annual 2015 filings. The letter also reiterates several other technical comments on the URRT and actuarial memorandum instructions. (January 03, 2014)
The Academy has released its annual year-end 2013 Legislative/Regulatory Review. This special alert provides members an overview of significant federal and state legislative and regulatory actions over the past year of interest to the U.S. actuarial profession. This overview also highlights the Academy's activities on those key issues and foreshadows areas of focus for the coming year. (January 03, 2014)
Read about international efforts to curb the societal costs of diabetes, how health care reform is affecting the employer disability insurance market, the possibilities of an actuarial role in the valuation of defined contribution pension plans, some fresh thinking on how to finance the cost of long-term care, and much more. (January 02, 2014)
The Committee on Property and Liability Financial Reporting released its 2013 practice note on statements of actuarial opinion on P&C loss reserves. (December 23, 2013)
The Academy’s professionalism breakfast on Dec. 15 at the fall meeting of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners was the setting for the Academy’s ongoing dialogue with regulators on professionalism topics. The breakfast provided both an open discussion forum for specific topics raised by regulators and a presentation led by Academy members and staff, followed by more informal meetings with regulators. Agenda items included Committee on Qualifications activities and the opportunity to develop Specific Qualification Standards; a call for regulator feedback on Specific Qualification Standards like PBR, ACA, etc.; release of the Academy’s Precept 13 discussion paper; and discussion of a series of regulator-only webinars on professionalism throughout 2014. (December 23, 2013)
Read the latest issue of This Week—the Academy’s end-of-week digital newsletter, compiling a week’s worth of news, updates, and media coverage in one convenient, easy-to-use publication. (December 20, 2013)
At the fall NAIC meeting, LATF requested assistance from the Academy’s Committee on Qualifications (COQ). John Morris, Chairperson of the COQ, accepted the two charges:
1) Recommend to the Principle-Based Reserving Implementation (EX) Task Force whether to require actuarial certification for each actuarial responsibility (e.g., NAIC staff, regulators, appointed actuaries, etc.) in PBR. Consider guidance developed by the Appointed Actuary (A/B/C) Subgroup of the actuarial task forces.
2) Determine whether specific continuing education requirements should be established for PBR actuaries and whether those should be regulatory requirements or actuarial professional requirements. (December 20, 2013)
Read about Academy efforts to educate members on their responsibilities to the profession, a December webinar on a Medicaid study, the new Academy membership director, personnel changes at the Actuarial Standards Board, what ASOPs can and cannot do, Academy activities at the NAIC meeting, the Up to Code webinar, and more. (December 20, 2013)
The Health Practice Council submitted a comment letter to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in response to the proposed rule regarding benefit and payment parameters for 2015. The letter represents input from three Academy work groups on issues associated with composite rating, proposed changes to the actuarial value calculator and methodology, and the three risk-sharing mechanisms. (December 20, 2013)
