Description: This article discusses considerations for statistical biases that may arise in LTC blocks due to historical benefit reductions. The article explores these biases in the context of experience studies and experience projections.

Description: The summary and introduction of an SOA research paper that explores valuable insights and recommendations for insurance companies considering entering the market of commercial long-term care insurance (LTCI) in the Asia-Pacific, based on individual health status.

Description: The article provides an overview of the federal tax treatment of long-term care insurance contracts, including a brief history of the tax treatment of long-term care insurance, the requirements that must be satisfied in order to be treated as qualified long-term care insurance under the Internal Revenue Code, and a brief discussion of qualified long-term care combination products and chronic and terminal illness accelerated death benefits offered under life insurance contracts.

Description: Duration matching is a risk management strategy, commonly used in the insurance industry, where the duration (price sensitivity to a yield curve movement) of an asset portfolio is adjusted to be made equal to the duration of the liability. However, this approach has flaws. In this essay, I note some key failures of duration matching and offer a potential alternative.

Description: The article discusses the recent final and proposed regulations published by the IRS and Treasury on the required minimum distribution rules for qualified plans, which implement changes made by SECURE 1.0 and SECURE 2.0. The article is intended to identify the important rules in the final regulations, provide a framework for determining how the rules apply to beneficiaries of qualified plans and IRAs, describe the key differences between the earlier 2022 proposed regulations and the final regulations, and it summarizes the SECURE 2.0 provisions contained in the new proposed regulations.

Description: The article examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on U.S. mortality trends, noting that despite a decrease in COVID-19 deaths due to better treatments and vaccinations, excess mortality persists, especially among younger adults due to accidental causes. It discusses the challenges of predicting future mortality trends, considering factors like medical advancements and societal changes. The article also highlights the potential of new medical technologies and AI to significantly improve health outcomes in the future. Overall, it underscores the complex interplay of various factors influencing mortality in the post-pandemic era.

Description: Article describes best practices for teaching a course module that involves multiple parameters. A good example is hypothesis testing which requires consideration of the parameters, sample-size, population distribution, known variance and has as consequences whether a normal or t distribution should be used or whether non parametric methods are used. The articles recommends use of the Prime Implicant Normal Form as a means of teaching. It shows the superiority of this method over other forms such as heuristics, complete rules, or graduated approaches.

Description: Sustainable operations under changes in accounting principles and solvency standards

Description: Interest Maintenance Reserve ("IMR") has become a hot topic recently due to rising interest rates, causing decreases or even negative IMR balances for some insurers. This article aims to exam some new questions facing financial reporting actuaries: - How should negative IMR be treated for statutory reporting? - What are the other actuarial implications of negative IMR? - What have regulators done and/or plan to do about negative IMR? - What are potential mitigants?

Description: This article provides an introduction to group supervision and group capital and its importance in today's increasingly global insurance market. Additionally, the article examines the various methods used in practice for calculating group capital and the factors that companies should consider as they develop their group capital management strategy.