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 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: Critical illness insurance is a popular supplemental health insurance product in the U.S. market. This article discusses how carriers have recently sought to add value by expanded the benefits offered in their critical illness products. Specifically, the article discusses the consumer need and development considerations of adding benefits for autism Spectrum Disorder, Mental health disorders, Specified Disease Coverage, and enhance Cancer Coverage to a critical illness contract.

Description: This article identifies why insurance innovations take so much effort and digs deeper into the underlying causes. It shows and explains the importance of taking an efficient, tactical, and intentional approach when innovating to avoid over-building and over-investing.

Description: Mental health, suppoting policyholders

Description: This webcast will focus on recently published health research which examines the impacts of social determinants of health on oral health outcomes as well as on chronic kidney disease progression. Participants will gain insights on how different aspects of social determinants of health can impact how healthcare is delivered as well as the impact on health care costs.

Description: A discussion on technology improvements in establishing compliance with sections 7702 and 7702A. The Internal Revenue Code defines life insurance using actuarial tests that limit the investment in a life insurance contract as compared to the death benefit. Inadvertant failures of the actuarial tests can be uncovered by testing in order to enable remediation.

Description: I present my thoughts on the importance for the section to collaborate with other sections and what the section is doing to collaborate.

Description: I present my thoughts for the upcoming year. We are currently doing our planning and I am sharing with the readers the different topics we plan to cover during the year through session during SOA's meetings, webcasts, and our newsletter Taxing Time. We will also be on the watch for what in happening in the industry.

Description: Discussion of the challenges actuaries face in selecting an interest rate for the purpose of calculating Withdrawal Liability for a Multiemployer pension fund in the US. Recent court cases are referenced.