Description: Reinsurance has been available for VA Guarantees for over 20 years. During that time, the reinsurance market for VA Guarantees has undergone frequent and sometimes violent transformations. Where does the market stand today? What forms and structures of reinsurance are available? Which VA Guarantee designs and features are easier to reinsure? Is reinsurance offered on both newly issued policies as well as in force/legacy books, and which vintages are difficult to reinsure? In an age of sophisticated hedging programs, what role does a reinsurer play in helping a VA writer manage this highly volatile risk? In this session, we will hear from a reinsurer that is actively writing new VA Guarantee reinsurance treaties in the U.S. and around the world, and from a VA writer that has successfully partnered with a reinsurer to enhance its VA product offering.

Description: The U.S. health care industry has gone through a dramatic change during the past several years. The business model has moved from a risk selection model to a risk management model. People can shop online for their health care coverage. Everyone is welcome! Annual and lifetime dollar limits, underwriting and the pre-existing conditions exclusion are all in the history book now. Facing the challenges of the post-reform era, many health insurance carriers began using big data analytics on all aspects of their decision-making processes. The goal is to be able to compete on analytics in this quickly changing environment. However, becoming an analytics competitor is not easy. It requires the belief from the leadership and a group of dedicated analytical professionals to solve emergent business problems that existing strategies cannot address in an evolving market. These problems include marketing for acquisition and retention, coding accuracy, revenue growth, health care disparity, payment integrity, quality of care, health care cost reduction and, ultimately, personalized care management. In this section, audience will learn a basic understanding of the role of predictive analytics in US Healthcare marketplace.

Description: The article summarizes implications of rising interest rates on U.S. GAAP and statutory financial reporting for life insurers, highlighting potential tailwinds from steady increases and headwinds from sharp increases. We further provide insights into how insurers can leverage ALM programs and interest rate risk hedging practices to favorably position themselves in a rising rate environment

Description: There are two key trends in the preneed and final expense insurance market, the first being small independently held preneed insurance companies presenting attractive acquisitional benefits and secondly, changing consumer attitudes may drive increased final expense activity in the future.

Description: "Living to 100 in the time of COVID-19: A Study of Late –Life Mortality Trajectories, Leonid A. Gavrilov, Ph.D., Natalia S. Gavrilova, Ph.D., Academic Research Centers, NORC at the University of Chicago Swedish Mortality Does Not Decelerate in Recent Cohorts, or Does it? – Roland Rau, Ph. D., Professor, University of Rostock & Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany; Marcus Ebeling, Ph.D., Karin Modig, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Anders Ahlbom, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm Sweden; Kai Kaufhold, Aktuar DAV, Ad Res Advanced Reinsurance Services GmbH, Cologne, Germany; Annika Ziegler, Lukas Stake, Hochschule Koblenz & Ad Res, Germany"

Description: The presentation will outline the different possibilities insurance companies have to hedge their equity risk for the various products.

Description: This paper applies the research in Prospect Theory of Kahneman and Tversky to explain why sales of annuities lag sales of life insurance products. The author theorizes that life insurance is easier to sell because customers perceive themselves to be in the domain of losses, while potential annuity customers perceive themselves to be in the domain of gains. Kahneman and Tversky showed us that people are mostly risk averse in the domain of gains and risk seeking in the domain of losses. Purchase of an annuity or life product is a risky investment. Customers will find it easier to take the risk in the life insurance domain of losses than the annuity domain of gains. The author then proposes a hybrid life annuity product that might address both mortality and longevity risk in one product that would allow both products to be more competitive than stand-alone products.

Description: An interview with Michelle Richter-Gordon which provides a look at how DC participants feel about their financial security in retirement and suggests how retirement professionals can improve the financial security of retirees during the decumulation phase.

Description: Mental health, suppoting policyholders

Description: The August/September 2015 edition of The Actuary magazine—the Society of Actuaries’ flagship publication.