Description: For establishing the ongoing adequacy of claim reserves for blocks of long-term care insurance, retro testing is a blunt tool, the results of which are not conclusive. Claim reserve retro tests should be reviewed by claim duration, include the impact of interest consistently, and include updated assumptions that can have an impact on claim termination rates or other factors. The new NAIC LTC Experience Reporting Forms estimated to arrive for reporting year 2008 will help modernize LTCI retro tests, providing additional accuracy and standardization. Actuaries should not wait for these forms, but rather ensure that any claim reserve analysis moves beyond a basic calendar year retro test.

Description: A dicussion of the Rate Classification Actuarial Standard of Practice, ASOP #12: its purpose, its scope, guidance, and examples.

Description: Updates on HPC activities, including new work groups for providing input to key players as health care reform moves on from the legislative phase into the regulatory phase, as well as ongoing activities of existing workgroups in financial reporting, long term care, stop loss, disease management, Medicare SUpplement, sovency, cancer claims experience, and risk adjustment.

Description: Recap of content contained in the October 2013 issue of the Health Watch newsletter.

Description: A new statistical approach is presented for calculation of Incurred But Not yet Paid, IBNP, claim amounts. It is based on two new variant methods, the Simple Projected Paid Lag method and the Regressed Projected Paid Lag method.

Description: The OCI-Solution of IASB’s IFRS 4 Phase II requires that interest expense for the Profit and Loss (P&L) calculation be based on a yield curve instead of a flat rate locked-in at policy issue. The article has a discussion of analysis of the impact from locking in the yield curve on the IFRS 4 profit pattern as well as general conclusions reached.

Description: Introduction to the topics of the issue; and anecdote regarding the value classical versus newer techniques.

Description: Matrix decomposition techniques are used to find main features of a dataset. These features can be used to describe the data or to find clusters of objects. The decompositions have problems when the matrices have missing data or are from different exposures. This article examines the issue and some papers dealing with it.

Description: Discussion of insolvency provision added to reinsurance agreements to insure the continuation of benefits during HMO insolvency, Issue No. 39.

Description: Article discusses what happends when an insurer fails, role of the guaranty association and what is an ideal insolvency. From Health Section News, August 2000, Issue No. 38.