Academy Letter to NAIC Addresses Diversity and Inclusion
Academy President D. Joeff Williams sent a letter on behalf of the Academy to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) offering comments to NAIC’s Special Committee on Race and Insurance. “It is of the utmost importance for all stakeholders to engage in a public discourse on race, diversity, and inclusion in the insurance sector,” the letter stated. “The Academy especially recognizes the need to acknowledge that there may be retrospective practices that could have a bearing on insurance-based disparities and to examine whether current practices perpetuate or exacerbate those disparities.” While noting the Academy fully shares the special committee’s goals to examine the issues in its charges and work streams, with the committee’s ambitious timeline to conclude its work by year-end, however, Williams wrote that it “may require more time to fully examine the range of issues involved.” He also cited the Academy’s new initiative to study health equity—including a Sept. 14 webinar on the topic—especially those health and health insurance systems in which actuaries are involved, to determine whether they contribute to health disparities.