Description: This paper develops a formal framework to model the behavior of individual and small group health insurance policies in a competitive market. In this framework, anti-selective lapse is not assumed, but arises as a result of rational consumers seeking the best value in a competitive market where the premium rates are restricted by law. The authors obtain a model that addresses a number of fundamental questions which have not been fully answered previously, including the effect of price-induced anti-selective lapse on the mix of insureds in a block and the optimal renewal price to maximize the aggregate profit of a block.

Description: The actuarial profession is faced with a problem of determining delta-ized reserves on a basis which will include appropriate provision for adverse deviations in mortality, lapses, interest rates, and expense rates. This paper describes briefly a method which could be used to solve this Followed by papers submitted by 2 authors problem in a flexible manner.

Description: A new approach to computing annual pension costs, based on an open-group projection of the participant population for a number of years, was described in detail in a paper published in the 1975 Transactions, entitled 'The Forecast Valuation Method for Pension Plans.' That paper described the operation of such a cost method at the initial valuation date. This paper discusses several alternative approaches to projection valuation methods and also describes how costs should be computed at valuation dates after the first one. In addition, the author illustrates projected contributions and asset buildups under both traditional [closed-group] cost methods and projected [open-group] cost methods, for a number of years under a variety of assumptions as to the growth rate of the participant group. Projection valuation methods have not been described heretofore in sufficient detail to make it possible for actuaries to use them on a recurring basis or for the Internal Revenue Service to make a determination as to the acceptability of such approaches for computing tax-deductible pension plan contributions. It is the hope of the author that this paper will fill both of those gaps. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1977, Vol. 29.

Description: Letter to the editor from Mr. Hilary L. Seal, Lausanne Federal Polytechnic School, appearing in the 1979 ARCH.

Description: Mortality Improvement Scale MP-2016 is an update to Mortality Improvement Scale MP-2015 that includes three additional years of historical U.S. population mortality data and modification of two input values designed to improve the model’s year-over-year financial stability. The page includes the updated Scale MP-2016, the accompanying Scale MP-2016 document, and an updated RPEC_2014_v2016 Model Implementation Tool for actuaries to create their own mortality improvement scales using RPEC’s model and the updated data set.

Description: In this paper, the authors develop a reserve method for future guaranteed life income payments under the settlement options within a life insurance policy. An approach for entering this information in the statutory statement is presented.

Description: This paper will use a sample example to examine the relationship between the pricing objective of ROI and the corporate profit measure of ROE. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1987, Vol. 39.

Description: This paper reviews and compares the Canadian and U.S. Social Security systems as to their adequacy, actuarial equity and progressiveness. It concludes that the Canadian system[s] provide larger minimum benefits and, thus, greater adequacy than the U. S. On the other hand, the analysis indicates more emphasis on actuarial equity in the U.S. system [in total] than in Canada. Finally, both systems are shown to be highly progressive in that lower-wage earners get larger benefits per dollar of contribution than do higher wage earners. The paper concludes by noting that while the systems in these two countries have remarkably different actuarial formulae for determining benefits, and remarkably different structures, that the benefits that result from the two systems are surprisingly similar. From Actuarial Research Clearing House 1999, Vol. 1.

Description: This is a final report for a research project to create reference material that addresses the methods and techniques for quantifying margins for uncertainty in actuarial assumptions under a Principle-based statutory accounting framework.

Description: This is a discussion of the paper, A Present Value Approach to Profit Margins and Dividends by Harwood Rosser. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1951, Vol. 3, No. 7.