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Happy Thanksgiving—No Issue Next Week
This Week will not be published next week, and the Academy’s office will be closed next Thursday and Friday, Nov. 24–25, for the Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S. The Academy wishes all our members and their families who celebrate Thanksgiving a safe and happy holiday.
Sold-out LHQ Seminar Delivers Valuable CE
 The Academy hosted a successful Life and Health Qualifications Seminar, held Monday through Thursday in Arlington, Va. The sold-out event included sessions on professionalism, actuarial opinions, and interactive case-study breakout sessions that have long been highly valued by attendees. Attendees received required basic education and continuing education (CE) to be qualified to sign NAIC Life and Health annual statements of actuarial opinion, and a range of topics were discussed including principle-based reserving, risk adjustment data validation, and risk-based capital. Actuarial Standards Board (ASB) Chairperson and new Academy Secretary-Treasurer Darrell Knapp chaired the subcommittee that organized this year’s seminar.
2023 Membership Renewal—No Increase in Dues
Academy President Ken Kent sent an email message to Academy members this week asking members to renew for the coming year, and noted that after careful consideration, there will be no change in the member dues rate for 2023. In addition, the message shared several highlights from 2022 reflecting the Academy’s focus on service and member value. Members can conveniently renew their membership, review and update their contact information and actuarial credentials, and watch the lasted archived professionalism and public policy webinars, by logging in to the member section of the Academy website.
Register for Upcoming Health and Financial Reporting Webinars
Register now for the Academy’s upcoming health and financial reporting webinars, which will be held the week following Thanksgiving.
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In the Health Practice Council’s (HPC) “Considerations for Calculating Cost-Sharing Reduction Load Factors,” presenters will discuss cost-sharing reductions provided for under the Affordable Care Act. Joyce Bohl, Academy Board member and chairperson of the HPC’s Individual and Small Group Markets Committee, will moderate. Presenters will be Donna Novak, the committee’s vice chairperson, and Jason Karcher, chairperson of the committee’s Risk Sharing Subcommittee. The webinar is on Tuesday, Nov. 29, from noon to 1:30 p.m. EST. Register today.
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The Academy will host the third and last in a series of webinars offering insight on, and discussion of, the recently exposed long-duration targeted improvements (LTDI) practice note. A reminder that the deadline for comments on the Application of ASU 2018-12 to the Accounting for Long-Duration Contracts Under U.S. GAAP practice note has been extended to Dec. 9. CE credit is available for the webinar, which will be held on Wednesday, Nov. 30, from 12:30 to 2 p.m. EST. Register now
Pension Webinar Looks at Augmented Mortality Models
Lowman presenting at the webinar
The Academy hosted the webinar, “Discussion Brief: Actuarial Considerations When Using Augmented Mortality Models,” on Tuesday, in which presenters discussed the recently released discussion brief of the same name developed by the Pension Practice Council’s (PPC) Pension, Public Plans, and Multiemployer Plans committees. James Berberian and John Popiolek, both members of the work group that developed the discussion brief, presented. The webinar was moderated by Tom Lowman, who offered more insight into the discussion brief in The Retirement Report, published this week. Presenters gave examples of augmented mortality models, how they differ from traditional models, and offered keys to understanding the underlying data and testing for reasonableness. Slides and audio are available as a free member benefit.
Academy Member Joe LoCicero Appointed to PBGC Advisory Committee
Academy member Joe LoCicero is among four people appointed by President Biden to serve on the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation’s (PBGC) Advisory Committee, in which position he will represent the interests of the general public. LoCicero is a past member of the Academy’s Pension Committee. The experience and expertise of the seven-member committee representing the interests of labor, employers, and the general public advises the PBGC on investment policy and other matters related to its mission of protecting retirement security of more than 33 million U.S. workers, retirees, and beneficiaries in private-sector defined benefit pension plans.
PBGC Releases Annual Report—Also this week, the PBGC released its annual report for fiscal year 2022, examining the effectiveness of its multiemployer and single-employer insurance program. Read the Academy alert.
Two Weeks Left to Register for P/C Loss Reserve Opinions Seminar
There are two weeks left to lock in your spot for the Academy’s Seminar on Effective P/C Loss Reserve Opinions, to be held in Phoenix in early December. Designed for actuaries who prepare, or assist with preparing, annual statements of actuarial opinion on P/C loss reserves, the seminar will include a session on the use of reserve ranges, which count toward the new requirement on bias topics under the USQS. The seminar is Dec. 5–6 at the Marriott Phoenix Airport. Register today.
Academy Representatives Attend NCOIL Meeting
Academy Director of Public Policy Craig Hanna and Assistant Director of Public Policy Matthew Sonduck represented the Academy at this week’s National Council of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL) annual meeting in New Orleans. In addition to committee discussions on health, long-term care, property and casualty, and life insurance—as well as coordination of state and federal regulators and between NCOIL and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners—major topics in focus during the three-day meeting included wildfire risk impacts on insurance, data privacy, and hospital price transparency.
Professionalism Outreach: Academy Speakers Deliver Key Presentations from Coast to Coast
With a busy fall season of actuarial club meetings underway ahead of Thanksgiving, Academy volunteers provided essential professionalism education to actuaries across the country.
- Academy President Ken Kent guided attendees in a virtual session hosted Monday by the Middle Atlantic Actuarial Club in an exploration and case study discussion of the relationship of ethics and professionalism with a presentation on “Ethical Practice: Ethics in Our Work and Profession.”
- Also on Monday, Actuarial Standards Board (ASB) Vice Chairperson Kevin Dyke provided an overview of the ASB standards-setting process, and reviewed developments in actuarial standards of practice (ASOPs) with a special focus on casualty practice, in a session of the Casualty Actuaries of the Northwest’s virtual meeting.
- Academy President-Elect Lisa Slotznick gave a professionalism presentation on the 2022 U.S. Qualification Standards, and spoke about the Academy’s major activities at a dinner, as part of Tuesday’s meeting of the Actuaries Club of Philadelphia.
- Actuarial Board for Counseling and Discipline (ABCD) Chairperson David Driscoll kicked off the Actuarial Society of Greater New York’s meeting Wednesday in New York City with a professionalism general session providing an overview of the ABCD and its activities.
- Nancy Behrens, chairperson of the Academy’s Committee on Education, delivered a professionalism session on Thursday that included a deep dive into the Academy discussion paper, “Explaining Professionalism to Principals,” at a joint meeting of the Southeastern Actuaries Conference and the Actuaries’ Club of the Southwest in New Orleans.
Professionalism Speakers Bureau—The Academy provides qualified speakers to actuarial clubs and organizations to help members fulfill their professionalism continuing education requirements. For more information, visit the Academy website.
Recently Released
The latest issue of The Retirement Report includes a Q&A with Tom Lowman, a principal author of the Pension Practice Council’s recent discussion brief on augmented mortality models. Also in the issue: pension highlights from Academy Envision Tomorrow: 2022 Annual Meeting sessions; issue briefs covering Social Security, taxation, and annuities; a pension webinar that examined the Variable Annuities Plans practice note; and notes the Dec. 6 deadline is approaching for applications for the Joint Board for the Enrollment of Actuaries’ (JBEA) next term of its Advisory Committee on Actuarial Examinations, which will run from March 1, 2023, through Feb. 28, 2025.
Events Calendar
Coming Soon—Annual Meeting Supplement
Look for full coverage, including photos, of the Academy’s Envision Tomorrow: 2022 Annual Meeting, to be published in a supplement to the forthcoming November Actuarial Update.
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