Description: State and local pension plans provide their stakeholders with a great deal of information. However, that information is typically not presented in a user-friendly way. Summary documents often fail to give their readers a clear and comprehensive picture of a plan's finances. The premise of the SOA Project described in this article is that there is a need for concise summary reviews of a plan's operations. The Project's mandate included the preparation of two sample reviews of two different state systems that might serve as models, but not rigid templates for reviews prepared by plan management. This article describes and compares the two reviews and their accompanying dashboards, and also addresses the Project's broader goals. The article emphasizes that it is not the exact shape or format of a summary review that matters, but how effectively it conveys the current state and prospects of a plan's finances.

Description: Assesses the impact of ACA on public financing of all health and disability benefits - Medicare, Medicaid, Exchanges

Description: This article provides an overview of the key provisions and impacts of the Affordable Care Act's Cadillac Plan Excise Tax.

Description: Discusses effect of allowing companies to sell health insurance policy in any state, if approved in one state, without requiring approval in any other state.

Description: Summary of recent activity in the social insurance and public finance section and invitation to volunteers.

Description: This article reviews studies find that the mortality gap has significantly reduced – though not eliminated – the overall progressivity of Social Security.

Description: Summary of recent activity in the social insurance and public finance section and invitation to volunteers.

Description: The article discusses the sustainability of the ACA individual market from a public entitlement standpoint. A key point of measuring sustainability is the reliance on market forces rather than federal budget constraints. The article explains why an actuarial viewpoint of sustainability is necessary to a greater extent than other public assistance and social insurance programs. The article challenges actuaries to be a bold, objective voice in a space that is full of opinionated but often uninformed viewpoints.

Description: Brief description of articles contained in the newsletter.

Description: Our society has made promises with respect to retirement, care of the aging baby boom generation, and debt repayment that in total cannot be met. We will need to break some of these promises.