Description: Carlos Arocha, the 2022 Chair of the International Section Council, introduces the articles featured in the current newsletter issue. In addition, he highlights recent and planned activities undertaken by the section.

Description: The rules governing the framework of Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplaces continue to be refined at the state and federal level. The catalyst for such changes has been a desire to improve markets, which has been primarily informed by data and experience in the ACA's first decade. This session will feature a panel of consulting actuaries, a state policy advisor who has influenced ACA legislation, and an attorney deeply involved in ACA risk adjustment litigation. Discussion will include new federal proposals, efforts to strengthen enforcement of rating compliance, new actuarial insights from public data, and the anticipated future implications for ACA markets. By attending this session, you will be able to: • Understand what precipitated risk adjustment lawsuits and how proposed federal rules address these concerns. • Identify how state regulators are addressing premium misalignment between metal levels and shaping local policies. • Develop new insights on publicly available data. • Understand the implications these policy changes will have on the future of pricing health insurance benefits, consumer value and enrollment distributions in ACA marketplaces. • Understand the primary factors leading to ACA market success.

Description: On February 15, 2022, the Association Forum Health Care Collaborative, a collection of metropolitan Chicago based Healthcare associations, held its winter event. This virtual gathering featured two sessions titled: “Healthcare Policy Perspective” and “Megatrends and Tipping Points that will Define Success in the "New Normal".

Description: A summary of the recent SOA Product Development Section webinar, Challenging the Status Quo: Emerging LTC Product Designs. Summarizes discussions on how the LTC industry can overcome existing hurdles and evolve to meet consumer needs.

Description: The importance of exposure modelling from a climate analysis perspective.

Description: The direct and indirect effects of the pandemic have impacted many actuaries’ work since the spring of 2020. This article addresses three considerations actuaries should account for when using risk evaluation models which are focused on projecting remote, highly unlikely losses: model effectiveness, asset risk, and insurance (mortality and mortality) risk.

Description: In 2022, the Society of Actuaries (SOA) Research Institute Committee on Finance Research (CFR) of the Investment Section in collaboration with the SOA Research Institute Catastrophic and Climate Strategic Research Program, published a research report on the impact of disaster events on investments. The report, The Impact of Disaster Events on Investment-Contagion Channels Perspective, which explored this issue from the perspective of contagion channels, provided a framework for further investigation. As a next step, CFR is seeking essays on how the concepts in the report and related studies may be practically applied in specific situations and recent experiences.

Description: An overview of Electronic Health Records and how they will enhance risk assessment and automated underwriting in the US.