Description: LIMRA, Reinsurance Group of America (RGA), the Society of Actuaries (SOA) Research Institute, and TAI have collaborated on an ongoing effort to analyze the impact of COVID-19 on the individual life insurance industry’s mortality experience and share the emerging results with the insurance industry and the public. This report documents a high-level analysis of the claims that have been reported.

Description: The use of Risk Adjustment in Medicare Advantage (MA) has come under scrutiny due in part to a higher rate of increase of costs of its participating Health plans relative to traditional Medicare despite statutory requirements that reimbursement for these two programs must be actuarially equivalent.

Description: The Mortality Improvement Life Working Group released a recommendation for a set of improvement factors that vary by gender and attained age to be used in conjunction with the 2008 Valuation Basic table or the 2015 Valuation Basic table for AG-38 purposes.

Description: This report is a comprehensive survey of existing literature on mortality and race and ethnicity in the United States, examining disparities in mortality rates among different racial and ethnic groups. It explores factors influencing mortality differentials, including socioeconomic status, health care access, and other relevant aspects.

Description: Decentralized finance, or DeFi, is an emerging financial system powered by blockchain technology. This research report aims to introduce actuaries to DeFi and help them develop a solid understanding of DeFi. It will begin with addressing “what is DeFi?” by providing an introduction on blockchains and DeFi. It will then discuss in further detail the key characteristics, applications, opportunities, and risks of DeFi. After providing the foundation, this report will discuss the potential adoption of DeFi and its interaction with the current financial system (sometime referred to as traditional finance for contrast with DeFi), and the implications for practicing and aspiring actuaries. In addition, a glossary of terms used in DeFi and a brief history of the development of DeFi have been included in the appendix.

Description: This report is a discussion of the significant challenges involved in attempting to research with robust analysis the impact of disparities in health care access, cost and quality of care on financial wellness across racial, ethnic, socioeconomic and other demographic groups in the U.S. for reasons other than or in addition to income, wealth or employment status.

Description: The SOA Research Institute Aging and Retirement Strategic Research Program and Retirement Section are pleased to make available a research report that examines megatrends and potential paradigm shifts, and how they may impact the future of retirement and retirement plans, as well as the macro forces that will shape those trends.

Description: This study presents a comprehensive approach of real option analysis to climate adaptation policies aiming to mitigate flood risk. The framework focuses on pricing catastrophic risk in coastal regions, allowing for economic growth and uncertainty in the mean sea level rise.

Description: The SOA Research Institute along with the International Section, and the Social Insurance and Public Finance Section are pleased to make available a research report that compares international and domestic mandated paid family and medical leave programs. Special thanks to both Sections for their sponsorship of this effort.

Description: This study evaluates how integrating social determinants of health (SDOH) into Medicaid risk adjustment models impacts financial outcomes for ACOs/MCOs, offering foundational insights for policymakers and actuaries.