The Casualty, Life, Health, Professionalism, and Financial Reporting Councils submitted comments to the NAIC’s Corporate Governance Working Group concerning the WG’s Proposed Responses to a Comparative Analysis of Existing U.S. Corporate Governance Requirements.

Speakers give an overview of Precept 13 and discuss how to consider applying it in a self-regulating profession. Several case studies are also included.

Register now and save $100 on your registration fee for the Life and Health Qualifications Seminar. This annual seminar is the primary source of instruction for actuaries who wish to be qualified to issue actuarial opinions for either the NAIC Life and A&H Annual Statement or the NAIC Health Annual Statement but may not have met the specific qualification requirements set forth in the U.S. Qualification Standards. Don’t miss it—registration is limited to only 100 attendees!

Regulators and other attendees at the NAIC summer meeting had an opportunity to talk one-on-one with representatives of the ASB, ABCD, COQ, and Council on Professionalism during a breakfast and office hours hosted by the Academy’s Council on Professionalism on Aug. 11. Topics of discussion included qualifications, use of “professional judgment” as provided in ASOPs, and the movement within the profession to risk-focused analysis. The breakfast also featured a slide presentation on professionalism.

Don’t miss the primary source of instruction for actuaries who wish to be qualified to issue actuarial opinions for either the NAIC Life and A&H Annual Statement or the NAIC Health Annual Statement. Register today if you have not met these specific knowledge requirements set forth in the U.S. Qualification Standards, intend to change practice areas (experienced FSAs or career ASAs), or need an excellent source of continuing education. Seats are limited!

Speakers present case studies and answer questions from the audience on the Actuarial Board for Counseling and Discipline’s Request for Guidance process.

The Health Practice Council and the Committee on Qualifications sent a letter to all state insurance commissioners and chairs of each state house and senate insurance committee regarding the appropriate definition of "Qualified Actuary" as it relates to the Affordable Care Act's rate review provision. Under the Affordable Care Act, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is authorized to determine whether health insurance rate increases filed with states are “unreasonable.” As of September 1, 2011 rate increases equal to or greater than 10 percent may be reviewed by states that have been determined by CMS to have an effective rate review program; otherwise, increases in excess of 10 percent will be reviewed by CMS to determine whether such rate increases are “unreasonable.” As a result, many states are in the process of drafting regulatory language that would create their own rate review program. In the past few months, an inconsistency in the definition of “qualified actuary” in some state regulations has come to the attention of the American Academy of Actuaries. The letter provides recommended language regarding the appropriate definition of qualified actuary as states move to implement the Affordable Care Act’s rate review provision.

Nominations for three different Academy awards are open. The Jarvis Farley Service Award is given to an Academy member who has made an extraordinary contribution to the profession through long-time service as an Academy volunteer. The Robert J. Myers Public Service Award recognizes extraordinary contribution to the public good through service to the government or in the public sphere. And, initiated last year, are the annual Awards for Outstanding Volunteerism to honor Academy volunteers who have made a single, noteworthy contribution above and beyond what is reasonably expected.

Presenters John Morris, Kenneth Quintilian, and Sheila Kalkunte provide a refresher on the U.S. Qualification Standards and answer questions from the attendees.

The Committee on Qualifications co-signed a second letter with the health practice council Vice President to the Arizona insurance director stressing its concern that their regulatory definition of “qualified actuary” for health premium rate actuarial certifications was inappropriate and suggested corrective language.

A valuable benefit of Academy membership is free and unlimited access to the Council on Professionalism’s entire—and growing—library of professionalism webinars, which date back to September 2007. Academy members can earn continuing education (CE) credits by listening to these pre-recorded webinars. These credits can be counted toward the annual required three hours of continuing education on professionalism topics, as detailed in the U.S. Qualification Standards (Section 2.2). Click here to see a list of professionalism webinars and to access the links for the recorded presentations and audio files. 

In this webinar, Council on Professionalism members Curtis Huntington and Godfrey Perrott discuss the International Actuarial Association and how its activities potentially affect U.S. actuaries. Presenters also discuss why actuaries should keep up with current international events and stay informed of proposed changes.

The Academy’s Committee on Qualifications sent a letter to the Society of Actuaries in response to their letter raising questions about the qualification requirements for actuaries to change areas of practice under Section 2.1 of the U.S. Qualification Standards.

This professionalism webinar provides both a primer and a refresher course on what the Code means to you as a practicing actuary. During the 90-minute webinar, Council on Professionalism members Kevin Dyke and Karen Smith and Academy Assistant General Counsel Sheila J. Kalkunte discuss the Code’s precepts, what constitutes a violation, and answered questions from participants.

Presenters discuss the actuarial profession’s responsibility to the public, as well as  Precept 1 of the Code of Professional Conduct, the state of the profession, and the key aspects of maintaining the profession's relevance.

The Academy's Council on Professionalism has published a discussion paper entitled Conflicts of Interest When Doing Volunteer Work. This paper is intended to assist current and future Academy volunteers in identifying and resolving potential conflict of interest issues that may arise when providing volunteer services to the Academy. This paper is also incorporated into the revised Academy conflict of interest policy.