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N E W S M O N T H L Y
Academy Membership a Key Element
NAIC Subgroup Refines Definition of “Qualified Actuary”
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URING A FEB. 5 TELECONFERENCE, state
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SEE JQA, PAGE 9
Academy Launches “Essential Elements” Series
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HE ACADEMY has developed a new series of con-
SOA officers removed from Academy board membership
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Beyond Solvency Focusing on the sustainability of financial security systems
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—Bill Rapp
New Members
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Welcome to the newest members of the Academy
Hill Testimony
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Academy explains ACA risk corridors
A C T U A R I E S
Board Action
care (LTC) financing. The brief, two-page document addresses criteria that should be considered in any reform of the LTC system, including sustainability, eligibility, affordability, coverage options, and compatibility with existing structures. Raising Social Security’s Retirement Age discusses the program’s long-term financial issues, the benefits of raising the retirement age, and how raising the program’s full retirement age would affect retirees. Future topics addressed in the “Essential Elements” series are expected to include: ➥ Means testing of Social Security; ➥ Medicare reform options; ➥ Medicare solvency; ➥ The National Flood Insurance Program; ➥ Pension funding policies; ➥ The Terrorism Risk Insurance Program. More information about release dates and upcoming papers in the series is available on the Academy’s website.
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cise and informative public policy papers designed to provide a quick, understandable overview of key public policy issues of interest to Academy members, policymakers, and the general public. Each paper in the “Essential Elements” series will provide a succinct analysis, supplemented by graphics, that allows the reader to quickly grasp an issue and its significance in the public debate. Topics in the series will reflect all areas of actuarial practice, including health, life, pension, and property/casualty issues. “With concise explanations and infographics, ‘Essential Elements’ is designed to boil down often complex content into plain and relevant terms for a broader audience that might be unfamiliar with or have limited knowledge of the subject matter,” said Academy President Tom Terry. One of the first papers in the series, Long-Term Care Financing, explores public policy options for long-term
A C A D E M Y
News You Can Use
A M E R I C A N
during which the subgroup settled on the language of the new definitions. The subgroup’s aim is definitions that are uniform across practice area and that address concerns raised by some regulators regarding discipline and other matters of qualification. In previous correspondence and meetings
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insurance regulators took the first formal step toward adoption of new definitions of “qualified actuary” for life, health, and property/casualty appointed actuaries who sign prescribed National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) Statements of Actuarial Opinion (SAO). While the new definitions contain significant changes, they will not take effect without additional approval by the NAIC, and they remain consistent with current definitions in one critical respect: They incorporate membership in the Academy as an essential feature. The NAIC’s current definitions recognize Academy membership as necessary for signing NAIC SAOs, and in a Feb. 3 letter to the NAIC’s Joint Qualified Actuary Subgroup, Academy President Tom Terry pointed out that being an MAAA continues to be “the foundational vital element” in defining the “qualified actuary.” PresidentElect Mary D. Miller and Past President Cecil Bykerk represented the Academy in the subgroup’s Feb. 5 open call,
Actuarial UPDATE
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