Description: This article gives the highlights of the 88-page report including detailed assumptions for products including universal life with secondary guarantees (ULSG), cash accumulation universal life (CashAccum), current assumption universal life (CAUL), indexed universal life (IUL) and variable universal life (VUL). The 29 companies and 83 products represented in the report allow for an interesting perspective on premium persistency assumptions used in pricing, cash flow testing (CFT) and generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP)/international financial reporting standard (IFRS) functions. This article covers some general results and ULSG-specific results.

Description: Article compares HMOs to other one stop non-health corporations that have gone away and states still in existance only due to forced government regulation, Issue No. 39.

Description: Changes in CMS requirements for 2011 Medicare Part D plans aimed at reducing confusion surrounding the PDP selection process by making plan differences more visible to seniors. Carriers have responded by making the most significant changes in plan offerings since the program's inception, which is expected to result in membership shifts.

Description: The article describes the changes to payment structures as of 1/1/2017 and their influence to Medicare Supplement that will be happening as of 1/1/2020.

Description: Adaptive Risk Management harnesses social intelligence to identify emerging risks. We have entered an age of disruption where exponential technologies are transforming every industry. The ability to pivot in a rapidly evolving ecosystem is essential. Centralized “predict and control” paradigms will increasingly fail as complex interactions drive phase transitions. Successful organizations will harness social intelligence to “sense and respond” to giant waves of change. Maps amplify intelligence to help us navigate challenging terrain. Maps play a central role in all command centres, enabling rapid risk identification with a shared visual language. Interactive financial network maps allow analysts to explore and diagnose systemic fragilities, and mitigate critical vulnerabilities. Dynamic financial maps can also build visual intuition to detect escalating risk patterns. After observing early warning signals, analysts can apply network analytics to estimate likely second order effects. This allows organizations to proactively manage emerging risk before tipping points are crossed.

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

Description: Insurance Regulation in Spain In response to the 1995 Ordinance on the Supervision of Private Insurers, the Direccion General de Seguros DGS has proposed a sweeping new set of regulations. These regulations replace the 1985 and 1986 regulations their amendments and are intended bring Spanish regulation and practice line with the European Community EC directives. This article reviews some key aspects of the new Spanish regulation and discusses possible responses by the insurance market.

Description: Discussion of the introduction of the Euro and its impact on European cooperation and its impact on the ability of the United States and its currency to dominate the world's political and financial system.

Description: An interview with a health insurance expatriate actuary working in Brazil, discussing his experiences and the health insurance market in Brazil

Description: In the past, we have seen changes to regulations which have been perceived to negatively impact pensions. However, during the euro crisis, we have seen governments undertake austerity measures which dramatically reduce pension benefits in a way never seen before in Europe, at times even going as far as to confiscate pension assets in order to fill government coffers.