Insurance Awareness Day: A Moment to Learn More About Actuaries 

By Ted Gotsch 

Policy Content and Publications Manager 

June 28 is National Insurance Awareness Day, an apt time to reflect on how insurance safety nets support protections for our homes, our health, our families, and our financial futures. Dig a little deeper, and you’ll find that behind every policy and premium is a lesser-known profession with a key and specialized role—actuaries. 

Academy members know their work has real, everyday consequences for insurance consumers. Actuaries measure and manage risk, using data and financial modeling to help ensure insurance programs are on solid financial footing. If insurance is a promise to provide support when things go wrong, actuaries are the ones who make sure that changing risks and financial, demographic, economic, and other conditions and factors are taken account of before that promise is made. 

A recent Contingencies article by Academy Social Security Committee Chairperson Sam Gutterman goes in-depth into increasing insurance literacy, a key step to a broader public understanding of how insurance works and why it is important. It also discusses the vital role actuaries can play in closing the insurance illiteracy gap through better product design, targeted education, and informed policy solutions. 

In the public sector, insurance is a critical tool for advancing broad policy goals such as economic resilience, access to health care, disaster recovery, and financial security in retirement. Actuarial insights help shape markets, stabilize systems, and assess long-term trends in programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. Their expertise is also crucial in evaluating the financial implications of new and proposed policies or regulatory changes. 

A recent example of the Academy’s work in this area is the June 3 comment letter sent by the Health Practice Council’s (HPC’s) Individual and Small Group Markets Committee to Senate leadership as it develops their budget reconciliation legislation. The comments focused on provisions within H.R. 1, The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, that would make changes to the individual health insurance market. 

The comments have sparked conversations with congressional staff and have been reviewed and used by other stakeholders as the downstream impacts of the proposed language are discussed. That reflects the mission and intent of the Academy’s public policy charge—to inform and help those making policy decisions understand the various levers that might be pulled and potential consequences of doing so.   

Meanwhile, when a flood or wildfire destroys homes, or medical and pharmacy costs rise, actuaries have already been running the scenarios, helping insurers and government programs prepare for and absorb the costs of such events. And as we face new and emerging risks, like cybersecurity threats or the financial challenges facing an aging population, actuaries are adapting their models to help policymakers understand what’s coming and what’s financially at stake. 

The Committee on Property and Liability Financial Reporting (COPLFR) recently addressed such issues in an FAQ addressing the Los Angeles wildfires earlier this year. The Supplement to the 2024 COPLFR Practice Note—LA Wildfires offered a list of questions and associated responses for an appointed actuary’s consideration when providing statements of actuarial opinion for companies materially impacted by such events, whether directly or indirectly. 

But actuaries’ work isn’t just technical—it’s strategic. They help guide decisions with detailed, standards-guided analysis of ever-changing risks and financial conditions, including whether systems can be expected to remain solvent over time. In recent years, the HPC’s Health Equity Committee has sought to address equity and access challenges, focusing on more inclusive insurance design and identifying disparities in how risk is measured and priced. 

Public insurance programs rely on actuarial analysis to plan for the future. Actuaries bring the analytical discipline needed to inform sound policy decisions. The Academy’s role is not to advocate for particular policies, but to ensure that any path forward is based on realistic assumptions and grounded projections. 

So, this National Insurance Awareness Day, we take a moment to consider the unseen architecture behind insurance and the professionals who buttress it with actuarial expertise. Actuaries don’t just analyze numbers—they are essential to keeping insurance viable and the protections it offers available to consumers. Their work is essential to the future of insurance in an increasingly complex and uncertain world.  

Learn more about our volunteers’ actuarial insights on these topics and more at the Policy Forum.