Description: Society of Actuaries research efforts currently in development

Description: In this essay, we focus on the “Prospective Solvency Assessment” aspect of the NAIC’s ORSA. This places a spotlight on an insurer’s strategic decision making from a risk and capital management perspective. It requires those in senior management to describe actions they would take to address possible adverse changes in their risk and solvency position, i.e., what they would do to reduce risk, increase capital, and/or adjust the business strategy. We contend that by applying a slightly broader scope than the specific requirements of the NAIC’s ORSA, insurers can develop this into a valuable process to support risk-based decision making. In this essay, we initially consider how to determine which metrics to include in such a process and then discuss some important business requirements and practical challenges for implementing a calculation approach to support it. Part of the essay collection "Risk Metrics for Decision Making and ORSA"

Description: Findings from EY Insurance Risk Management Team's 2016 (annual) Insurance Chief Risk Officer Survey.

Description: An essay suggesting a health care financing system.

Description: The Health Section chairperson discusses the past year's activity, especially the Visions for the Future of the U.S. Health Care System essay contest, and an update on the Untapped Opportunities for Actuaries in Health initiative.

Description: Reviews Elmer R. Benedict's book entitled Protecting Retirement Against Inflation, which present a broad program for equitable sharing of the inflation burden. The kingpin is an income adjustment, utilizing income taxes, designed to restore the purchasing power of the retired, disabled and surviving spouses.

Description: Updates on the efforts of the Academy’s health practice council. its work groups and task forces, to educate health care policymakers on issues including health care reform, Medicare, loss ratios, premium review, reinsurance, benefit and eligibility changes, exchanges, and risk based capital.

Description: The pension and longevity risk transfer market is growing rapidly, with British-pioneered pension and longevity de-risking emerging outside of the UK and US, with over $270bn in transactions completed globally since 2007. Emerging markets include the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, France and Australia. This article describes the solutions available to plan sponsors who are looking to secure member benefits and achieve a lower risk future, and provides real-world examples of companies who have used innovative solutions to meet their unique needs.