Description: The last decade or more has proven that premium rate increases are necessary to maintain the integrity of most blocks of LTCi policies. Along with those rate increases, carriers have offered and regulators have approved an evolving menu of rate increase mitigation options for policyholders that do not wish to pay the increased rate. Recently, carriers and regulators have become more and more innovative in the rate increase mitigation options that they have presented to regulators. This article will discuss both the common and creative options that carriers are offering their insureds in the event of rate increases, including policy buys out, adjustments to coverage levels, and enhanced non-forfeiture options.

Description: Commentary on practical observations resulting from constructing and running Economic Capital models. Possible standardization of assumptions and result interpretation are morphing even though use of E.C. models has now been around for years.

Description: This article is the first installment of a three-part series that aims to provide an overview of ESGs and will focus on the general motivation for stochastic modeling, its advantages and its limitations. Future articles will further break down the key factors of ESGs and the application of these factors to better understand the Academy Interest Rate Generator (AIRG).

Description: This story won the Predictive Analytics and Futurism Section prize for most novel prediction forming the basis for the narrative in the 2019 Actuarial Speculative Fiction contest.

Description: The author discusses the importance of branding yourself and provides ideas to assist you in that process.

Description: This report describes and demonstrates a method to understand reputational risk that an insurance company can apply to the unique circumstances of the insurance firm. This method applies a policy-capturing survey with scenario analysis to generate insight into reputational risk from the perspective of a variety of stakeholders. Also included is instruction for spreadsheet-based query and reporting to facilitate the use of the information in the risk management function.

Description: Briefly reviews the history of Information Technology, IT, in the life insurance business. It then talks about the emerging trends in IT management and the impact they likely will have on the work of the life insurance actuary.

Description: Explore the use of conjoint analysis to understand what employees say they want and/or need in a retirement plan in newly released research material sponsored by the SOA’s Retirement Section. Retirement plans of the past were defined as a benefit or a defined contribution in nature with their attendant features. As today’s hybrid plan designs consider features of the two historical archetypes, this research methodology identifies which features of a retirement program are most important to employees. This research, coming from the SOA’s Aging and Retirement Strategic Research program, includes a tool for testing preferences for different combinations of features by different demographic groups (age, income, gender, race/ethnicity, etc.) By attending the webcast, you will be able to understand: What conjoint analysis is and how it works. Which features of retirement programs are most important to employees. How to use a tool to compare the importance of features for different demographic groups. How to use a tool to compare the level of acceptance of different retirement packages for various demographic groups. Come look at alternative plan designs (either inside or outside of what is possible today) to better understand how employees in different situations are likely to respond to the design combinations.

Description: "Issues surrounding end-of-life and palliative care are not well understood and there is little research in the actuarial literature. From an actuarial perspective, however, end-of-life is important because of the significant cost to the healthcare system. Ian Duncan will discuss some of his research on the financial implications of end-of-life care, as well as the outcomes of a palliative care program. Dr. Matzo is an engaging personality with decades of experience in gerontology and palliative nursing, including training and teaching professionals in the field. Dr. Matzo focuses on educating the public on the importance and benefits of palliative care and hospice (care given in the final six months of life). In this session on “Palliative Care Public Education,” Dr. Matzo will give us an overview of the benefits of palliative care and how this knowledge empowers the individual to make important decisions about their healthcare options. Attendees will have the opportunity to discuss the role that the actuarial profession may play in this area."

Description: "Weighted compositional data analysis for modeling and forecasting life-table death counts – Han Lin Shang, Ph.D., Professor of Business Analytics and Director of Research at the Department of Actuarial Studies and Business Analytics at Macquarie Business School, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia, Steven Haberman, PhD, Bayes Business School, City University of London, UK Compensation Effect of Mortality as a Challenge to Life Extension – Natalia S. Gavrilova, Ph.D., Leonid A. Gavrilov, Ph.D. Academic Research Centers, NORC at the University of Chicago"