Description: This article is an update on the No Surprises Act, which is a U.S. Act aimed to reduce the risk that a person unexpectedly receives out of network charges for their health care visits. This is Part 2; Part 1 was featured in Health Watch's Sept 2024 issue.

Description: Description of US Social Security COLA effective December 2024 and other automatic adjustments effective for 2025

Description: Stakeholders in a specific state (Minnesota) were interviewed about the potential value -- and obstacles -- of a catastrophic backstop program to handle long term care (LTC) financing needs. The design would entail a payroll deduction which would produce a fund to pay LTC expenses once a deductible period (of 1 to 4 years, depending on income) was reached. This design was believed to encourage enrollees to cover the front end better than done today, whether by private insurance or other means.

Description: This newsletter provides a regulation outlook for the use of AI/ML in insurance industry, interpretations of regulatory expectations and what insurers should consider when managing risks associated with the development, implementation and use of AI/ML models/tools.

Description: Update on tax regulatory and legislative developments of relevance to life actuaries

Description: Small companies face numerous challenges and opportunities when developing supplemental health insurance products. This is particularly true because of the competitive nature of these products and the innovations happening in the supplemental health market. This article explores the challenges regarding rating, the volatile regulatory environment, product flexibility, and distribution. In addition, the article identifies competitive advantages that small companies may have in the supplemental health market.

Description: This article talks about assets and liabilities as they related to Sarbanes-Oxley legislation. From Small Talk Newsletter, November 2005, Issue No. 25.

Description: Author reported on sessions she attended at September 2009 NAIC meeting, including much information on the Valuation Manual.

Description: In this article the author argues that a falling currency is a symptom of a country’s economic problems and discusses Canada’s experience through late 1997, and concludes that the government’s fiscal and monetary policies were not the long term answer to the problem.

Description: A discussion of the contents of this issue of smalltalk including regulatory issues that impact insurance and smaller insurance companies. Also discussed are two major regulatory issues, health care reform and financial regulatory reform.