Description: The Special Financial Assistance (SFA) program included in the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) will provide grants to some of the more troubled multiemployer plans. While this is a welcomed relief for many multiemployer plans facing insolvency, plenty of challenges remain in the implementation of the funds and ability to maintain solvency after the SFA funds are fully utilized. Explore the challenges and opportunities from the pension relief provisions.

Description: Following her first 100 days as the CMS Administrator, Chiquita Brooks-LaSure released her six strategic pillars for the agency. The Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services (CMCS) followed these pillars and laid out their priorities for states under the Biden-Harris administration. With these priorities established, recent 1115 submissions from several large states, including California, Massachusetts and New Jersey, may give insight to how CMS will operationalize their vision under this program authority. This session will include presentation from state policy staff who have led recent 1115 waiver proposals. By attending the session, you will be able to: • Demonstrate understanding of the current administration’s strategic priorities for State Medicaid & CHIP programs. • Identify trends in recent 1115 waiver submissions.

Description: This session will be centered around the roles and responsibilities of a valuation actuary. Learn the best practices of health actuaries, along with technical considerations and professionalism issues surrounding the calculation and reporting of health liabilities and reserves. This session will focus on key actuarial liability and reserve provisions, including Claims Unpaid and Premium Deficiency Reserves. In this session, explore new ideas about calculation methods and the importance of the underlying assumptions. You will also learn best practices and practical applications concerning reserve calculation discuss best practices regarding the preparation of an actuarial memorandum supporting a Health Annual Statement. This will include key considerations from the American Academy of Actuaries' Practice Note about documenting and supporting the actuarial calculations. The discussion will also present views and considerations from both the insurer's and the regulator's perspectives.

Description: Climate change will lead to an increase in the frequency and severity of many weather-related hazards. In turn, these hazards will impact health outcomes for individuals. Explore examples of this connection with a climate scientist, including how the increase in wildfire severity in the western U.S. is expected to drive a 40% increase in organic carbon aerosols by 2050 and howheat stress will impact vulnerable populations and workers in non-air-conditioned environments. Investigating these relationships will increase literacy on disproportionate impacts of climate change-related health outcomes. Presenters will illustrate the disproportionate impacts by geographically analyzing climate change signals and comparing them with socioeconomic data. Last but not least, you will learn about the evolution in both voluntary and required disclosures for payors and the landscape of why understanding climate risk is relevant for many payors.

Description: Since the Affordable Care Act implemented minimum loss ratio provisions for health plans, several states have passed or at least considered minimum loss ratio regulation for dental plans. While such regulations are intended to improve insurer efficiency and promote value to consumers, they can have unintended negative consequences if the unique characteristics of the dental insurance market are not considered. Learn about this hot topic, including loss ratio basics, recent legislative activity in the dental loss ratio space, how dental differs from medical, and why those differences are critical to account for when trying to regulate loss ratios in that market.

Description: Data science is being used to create more algorithms used across a variety of applications, including underwriting and pricing. As data science gains traction, it is imperative that we as actuaries consider the ethical implications of use of these algorithms. This session will discuss techniques for evaluating whether your algorithms are inadvertently making biased decisions and considerations for ensuring that your algorithms minimize risk of making biased decisions. Learn to identify potential ethical issues with their algorithms and techniques to address them.

Description: Discover an update on recent developments affecting U.S. retirement plans, such as regulatory guidance, new legislative proposals, recent court cases and recent trends. Experienced pension actuaries will share their perspectives on these issues and the impact on plan sponsors.

Description: Panel of this session 57PD of the New York Annual Meeting provides a comprehensive overview and unique insight into various regulatory and compliance issues. From the Record of the Society of Actuaries, Vol. 24, No. 3.

Description: The Funds Rate Target and Interest Rates by Daniel L. Thornton from Risks and Rewards Newsletter, April 2000, Issue No. 34. The close relationship between short term rates and the Federal Reserve's target for funds rate has led many observers to conclude that the Federal Reserve has considerable ability to influence short-term rates.

Description: Read the June 2020 issue of Taxing Times published by the Taxation Section. Newsletters provide practical information for the working actuary, articles on trends that impact sections and news about section activities.