Description: As our industry rapidly adopts more advanced technologies, today's actuaries have more data and greater analytical capabilities than ever before. Nevertheless, these advancements come with their own set of challenges.Come explore the tools and techniques to optimize your processes and avoid common pitfalls so that you can get the most out of your experience studies.

Description: 2022 was a year of radical change for the annuity market as interest rates increased from historic lows. The rapid growth of RILA products stalled as FIA and MYGA products saw a significant increase in market share. The impacts of the higher rate environment are continuing to be realized in experience, in force management, product design and more. Learn more about the retail annuity market with a focus on the impacts of higher interest rates. Session materials will draw on experience studies, sales results, product changes, and more, which will examine how higher interest rates have altered the annuity market.At the conclusion of this session, you will understand recent trends in the annuity market, including emerging experience, inforce management actions, new product designs, and the impact of reinsurance.

Description: Actuaries are increasingly being asked to incorporate Economic Scenario Generators into their work. Whether it be a Risk Neutral model for pricing or a Real-World version for Economic Capital modelling, using these tools can help produce a much more robust analysis. Unfortunately, these models and their underpinnings are also very complicated, which can lead to confusion. Come watch the presenters try to demystify some of this. In particular, they will address the following questions: • What is the difference between Real-World and Risk Neutral scenarios? • When should I use one or the other? • How are these models calibrated? • What are some of the misconceptions about these models? At the conclusion of the session, attendees will be able to: • Explain the difference between Real-World and a Risk Neutral scenarios • Understand the appropriate usage of both • Identify some of the calibration questions that go into developing an appropriate set of scenarios • Avoid some of the common misconceptions about these scenarios

Description: This session series is sponsored by Hannover Re Session 1 - COVID-19: Past, Present and Future and Its Impact on Health Products COVID-19 has had an unprecedented impact on the health industry, forcing insurance companies and other risk-sharing entities to re-assess how to write and manage its business going forward. This first of two sessions in the special COVID-19 series will review the impact the pandemic has had on the development, pricing and risk management of health products. The speakers will review COVID-19 mortality and morbidity trends, share possible outlooks for the future of the virus, and analyze how COVID-19 has impacted the pricing strategies and risk management of health business across various markets (e.g., the ACA marketplace, Group Commercial and Medicare). By attending this session, you will be able to explain the latest COVID-19 trends in the US and globally and the resulting impact on mortality and morbidity experience. Attendees will develop a clearer understanding of how the pandemic has impacted the pricing and risk management of health products.

Description: Behavioral economics research has shown that small details can have a large impact on how a person behaves. As life insurance continues its evolution into the digital domain, life insurers now have an almost infinite number of ways to tweak their product offering, positioning, and delivery to the end consumer. Behavioral science is becoming increasingly more important to optimize these product design decisions and improve outcomes for both insurers and their customers. Discover a brief overview of key behavioral economic concepts and dive into two SOA research projects that are exploring how behavioral economic techniques can be used in different parts of the life insurance value chain. First, you'll start before a policy is even sold, by exploring how behavioral economics, through techniques such as the messenger effect, can be used to increase consumers' comprehension of policies and life insurance's value. Second, you'll look at how underwriting question design can impact applicant behavior and lead to higher quality application data. At the conclusion, you'll enjoy having a better understanding of how behavioral economic techniques can be applied in a life insurance context.

Description: Have you heard of Prospect Theory, the Nobel-winning concept from psychologists Kahneman and Tversky, which is the inspiration for much of behavioral economics? Come examine this concept that focuses on how people sometimes make irrational and logically inconsistent decisions depending on the framing of the question. You'll also explore how Prospect Theory applies in the world of insurance and how it offers an explanation for why selling retirement income products is more challenging than selling life insurance. Leave this session with ideas on how to design and market retirement income products that are likely to be more successful. The presentation will be largely based upon this paper: https://www.soa.org/sections/joint-risk-mgmt/joint-risk-mgmt-newsletter/2023/february/rm-2023-02-reynolds/

Description: This session will present results of the most recent SOA/LIMRA studies of variable and fixed-indexed annuity policyholder behavior including withdrawal behavior, guaranteed living benefit elections and surrender activity. Conducted annually since 2006, a discussion on the results of these studies show how they have changed over time, as well as areas where the analysis will need to change or expand. After that, the presenters will focus on dynamic lapse for hot money businesses, which is an important topic for fixed deferred annuity. Key takeaways from this area will include an understanding how to differentiate between hot money and warm money, the different formulas used in the industry, and how to adjust an asset portfolio to protect against the risks associated with hot money businesses.

Description: Given the rise in interest rates during 2022, explore the implications of increasing rates on FA and FIA business by looking at industry experience for FA and FIA products for 2022 compared to earlier years. Additionally, come walk through partial withdrawals, GLWB utilization, mortality and what to expect as interest rate volatility continues. You'll also discover how direct writers and reinsurers are handing the in-force management aspects of these products in the uncertain and volatile economic periods. Key learning outcomes include: - Understand the impact of rising rates on dynamic lapse for FA and FIA products - Explanation ofin-force management actions that are being taken in the current interest rate environment - Be informed of current trends in GLWB utilization

Description: Many drugs, like the immunologic drugs used to treat inflammatory and oncologic conditions, are FDA-authorized to treat more than one condition. Given different conditions have varying clinical outcomes and costs, it is likely the same drug provides a range of value across multiple conditions. However, such drugs have traditionally had a single list price and corresponding payer net cost. Indication-based pricing and benefit design (IBPBD) is intended to address the variable clinical and economic value for the same drug across multiple treatment indications. As this trend continues to evolve, the determination of drug value by treatment indication will create risks and/or opportunities in pharmacy benefit design, ultimately impacting pharmacy PMPM forecasting and incurred costs. Learn from faculty as they: Provide the business context for IBPBD. Describe varying structural approaches. Discuss the market conditions that can motivate or demotivate payers. Explore operational barriers. Recommend a role for actuaries. To bring the discussion to life, a case study will be reviewed. By attending the session, you will be able to: • Describe the meaning of Indication-Based Drug Pricing and Benefit Design (IDPBD). • Understand the risks and opportunities with IBPBD. • Articulate the advantages and disadvantages of distinguishing the value of a drug by treatment indications.

Description: Actuaries are increasingly being asked to incorporate Economic Scenario Generators into their work. Whether it be a Risk Neutral model for pricing or a Real-World version for Economic Capital modelling, using these tools can help produce a much more robust analysis. Unfortunately, these models and their underpinnings are also very complicated, which can lead to confusion. The presenters in this session will try to demystify some of this. In particular, they will address the following questions: • What is the difference between Real-World and Risk Neutral scenarios? • When should I use one or the other? • How are these models calibrated? • What are some of the misconceptions about these models?