In supporting the passage of the Standard Valuation Law (SVL), the Academy wrote to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners that the proposed revisions would help consumers by establishing "a reserve system that recognizes all the benefits, guarantees, and funding associated with life insurance contracts and their risks." The Academy also said that applying principle-based reserving principles to the SVL would define a framework to "enable companies to price products with reserves more closely aligned to the assumed risks."

Discussing health care reform, the Academy's Senior Health Fellow Cori Uccello said that if premiums for high-risk individuals do not adequately reflect the costs associated with the coverage, low-risk individuals will pay higher premiums to compensate. Without an effective and enforceable mandate, these low-risk individuals may choose to drop coverage.

The Academy said that the cost of living for single retirees is about 40 percent higher than for couples in an article about retiring as a single. Cost of living is higher for singles because couples can share housing and other expenses.

James Hurley, who represented the Academy's Medical Professional Liability Subcommittee during an Oct. 8 congressional subcommittee hearing, was quoted from his testimony. Hurley said the language in H.R. 3596 may preclude the collection, aggregation and analysis of data across companies. He said that as a consequence entities would not have credible data in making loss cost determinations and may lead to reduced availability of medical liability coverage, fewer willing insurers, less vigorous competition among those that do write the coverage and higher costs to the consumer.

The Academy's Pension Practice Council Vice President Tom Terry was quoted from an August 2008 press conference advocating that the retirement age for Social Security be increased. Terry said Social Security is facing a demographic problem that demands a demographic solution.

The Academy's Senior Life Fellow Nancy Bennett was quoted from her presentation during an Enterprise Risk Management conference. Bennett said that another systemic failure is possible and that whatever regulatory changes are made should be risk-management based.

The Academy's Senior Health Fellow Cori Uccello explained that health insurance coverage for younger adults can be beneficial even though they are lower risk, on average, than older adults.

The Academy was cited for noting that efforts to increase access to health coverage through guaranteed issue and modified community rating rules—components of the various reform bills—typically result in high-risk individuals being the first to enroll. Thus efforts to draw in low-risk individuals through a mandate or other incentives are crucial in reducing adverse selection and keeping the system viable.

Academy Senior Pension Fellow Frank Todisco warned that retirees who collect early Social Security benefits could be forgetting about a key financial risk for recipients, "longevity risk, the risk of living too long."

Considerations detailed in an Academy letter to Congress, which included an actuarial analysis of the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports Act (CLASS Act) by a joint Academy/Society of Actuaries work group, were referenced in article exploring concerns with the proposed structure for a federal long-term care program.