Description: The 2020 edition of the Valuation Manual permits mortality data aggregation thereby enhancing credibility but also has accompanying requirements and addresses calculation of company experience rates.

Description: A compilation of reader responses is presented to a real life situation involving a business decision. This issue’s case study involved a recently promoted chief actuary receiving pressure to make a downward reserve adjustment at year end.

Description: In preparing claims reserves in the annual statement, health insurers and their opining actuaries will generally include a provision for adverse deviation (PAD) in their reserved amount in order to satisfy language in both in the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) Health Annual Statement Instructions and in Actuarial Standards of Practice. This article explores the total level of PAD (both implicit and explicit margin combined) included in the reported claims reserves by examining NAIC filing data from 2016 through 2022.