Description: This report provides highlights of a weekly survey of practices regarding the mitigation of the spread of COVID-19 in the U.S. during the second half of January 2021 along with comparisons to prior half-month time periods. The survey asks about the degree to which the respondents perceive that people in their community are following 21 common mitigation practices. The responses are separated by state and compared to state level statistics regarding the level of COVID-19 infections from the Johns Hopkins COVID database for the same time period.

Description: Climate change has the potential to wreak havoc on ecosystems worldwide. One anticipated repercussion is the change in suitable habitats of vectors, such as mosquitos and ticks, who can transmit serious and even life-threatening diseases to humans. In this report, we outline major vector-borne diseases, discuss their symptoms and treatment costs, and present the relevant research regarding their evolving spatial patterns due to climate change.

Description: The unprecedented losses associated with recent wildfires are yet another call to insurers to understand how climate change is impacting the landscape of fire hazards. In this report, to further advance understanding of relationship between fire hazard and climate change, for both academic and practitioner communities, we review emerging evidence showing that policies surrounding tree planting are increasingly important for fire hazard insurance. Furthermore, we discuss relevant risk factors and potential mechanisms when accounting for these policies.

Description: In health insurance marketplaces, prospective insured individuals and groups are able to choose from a range of available plans. This study uses health care encounter data to simulate the choices faced by health insurance shoppers under a variety of conditions and measures the simulated effect of increased consumer choice and consumer information on medical loss ratios and, as a consequence, insurer profitability.

Description: This report considers trends in public defined benefit plan maturity metrics, asset allocations and assumed rates of return among 139 state-based and large local defined benefit pension systems or plans in the United States from 2001 to 2018.

Description: This research project offers guidance and a model for actuaries to use when performing their professional services related to Medicaid (Title XIX) and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP or Title XXI) managed care capitation rate setting, including, but not limited to, their certification on behalf of a state in accordance with the requirements for actuarial soundness as set forth in law, federal regulation, and CMS guidance, as well as the actuary’s professional obligations under the Actuarial Standard of Practice (ASOP) 49 issued by the Actuarial Standards Board.

Description: The SOA Research Institute Catastrophe and Climate Strategic Research Program released a report that explores the shifting geography of Lyme Disease in the U.S. and beyond and some of the potential determinants of its spread. Lyme Disease is a well-known disease particularly in the eastern U.S., and it is also prevalent in other geographies. This report researches the complex relationship between climate variables and the spread of Lyme Disease in the United States.

Description: View The Impact of Disaster Events on Investments – Contagion Channels Perspective.

Description: The Survey of Emerging Risks has been successfully conducted in North America for 15 years, which provides a consistent report by tracking the opinions of risk managers on the emerging topics beyond the current business cycle with strategic plans over decades. For the first time the survey is also being specifically introduced in China and Greater Asia, with the aim of surveying the actuarial and risk management professionals' opinions on emerging risks in the local market. In relation to the Society of Actuaries, Greater Asia is defined as markets that participate in our Greater Asia Committee. These are additional areas outside of mainland China that include markets such as Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. The survey is sponsored by the Society of Actuaries (SOA) Research Institute and comprises both quantitative and qualitative questions in English and Chinese (Simplified). With a wide range of response options and allowing for anonymous comments, the survey results serve as a platform to share the risk views of local actuaries and risk managers in China and Greater Asia.

Description: The Society of Actuaries Research Institute commissioned this study to highlight the leading emerging technologies that may significantly affect the actuarial profession over a three-year horizon. This study will act as a guide and a resource for actuaries or potential employers to identify the prospective tools to enhance or expand actuarial work, for people collaborating with actuaries who may be affected by these technologies, and for leaders looking to enable teams employing actuaries through the introduction of these tools.