Description: 2014 marked a new beginning for small group(SG) health insurance market ushered in with adjusted community rated products priced from a single risk pool. It was anticipated that the mandated pooling of the risk would result in higher rates, especially for healthier groups. It is the aim of this article to show whether that view bears out in the actual market rates and if it is higher, then by how much. The article provides a point in time(1st quarter 2025) comparison of premium rates under two segments of the small group market, namely Qualified Health Plans(QHP) available under the small group ACA market versus self-insured Multiple Employer Welfare Arrangements(MEWA) plans.

Description: Duration matching is a risk management strategy, commonly used in the insurance industry, where the duration (price sensitivity to a yield curve movement) of an asset portfolio is adjusted to be made equal to the duration of the liability. However, this approach has flaws. In this essay, I note some key failures of duration matching and offer a potential alternative.

Description: Lifetime pension pools convert a lump sum into lifelong income, periodically adjusting benefit payouts based on mortality and investment experience. Volatility-targeting strategies can enhance benefit stability by dynamically adjusting the investment portfolio’s exposure to risky assets in the context of these pools, demonstrating superior performance compared to traditional static asset allocation methods.

Description: In this article, the author describes the skills needed for the Chief Risk Officer and he offers why actuaries may, or may not, be best suited to fill the role.

Description: Profile of an actuary in a non-traditional actuarial role: focusing on medical cost and analysis, both retrospective and prospective.

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: When designing and pricing a healthcare product, it is not only important to know how to model frequency and severity, but it is essential to understand human behavior. Of course, the issue of anti-selection in medical insurance is well known as individuals know more about their health and prior expenditures than an insurer does. This type of behavior is certainly rational, and to be expected.

Description: Inspired by other financial savings products available to Canadians, this article describes a potential solution for financing future health expenses with the creation of a Registered Health Savings Account (RHSA). This solution has been thought on the basis of four premises : 1- Individual Accountability for Health Expenses; 2- Early Savings Leads to More Accumulation; 3-PreferredTax Treatment for Personal Health Savings; 4- Complementing current public and private health systems; Main elements of the RHSA are described (Contributions, Accumulation, Utilization of account, Management by financial institutions).RHSA'S expected balances and some other results under three scenarios (a person in good health, one in poor health, and one with unexpected death at age 45) are summarized in a table. Health expenses deducted yearly from RHSA's balance were estimated using total, per capita, provincial government health expenditures by age-band for Canada, in 2020, from the Canadian Institute of Heath Information’s (CIHI), which account for 71.8% of total expenditures, that is public + private. Thus 28.2% of total expenditures were used for private health expenditures, then forecasted to 2024 and projected using a 4% annual trend. Some objections to the solution explored were anticipated as well as some refutations to these objections.

Description: The article provides a summary of key issues presented at the 2023 U.S. Living to 100 Symposium focused on the interests of retirement professionals and retirees. It provides an overview of the subjects covered. The discussion focused on the well-being of retirees and the development of the retirement system. It is focused on late-in-life issues and having the best life possible during that period. It balances technical and lifestyle issues, with an emphasis on mortality and longevity trends and influences. Some of the topics discussed include the impact of COVID, climate, housing, and age-friendly communities. The Elder Tech Symposium was merged into Living to 100 and includes discussion of a variety of technology approaches to improve lives and simplify support. The symposium recognized that the decisions needed and concerns during retirement are different later in life, particularly as people decline.

Description: Our previous article, “Introduction of Cashflow Matching Strategic Asset Allocation (SAA) Framework,” introduced the concept and included a real-world case study that developed a liability-driven investment strategy for a single line of business (LOB) for a life insurer. This article expands the framework and the case study from a single LOB to simultaneously optimize asset allocation across multiple LOBs. It discusses how this multi-line SAA framework can enable an insurance company to efficiently tag its asset holdings to each LOB, identify opportunities in the public and private asset markets to enhance risk-adjusted returns, and develop a deeper understanding of the trade-off between the degree of cashflow matching and risk-adjusted returns across LOBs.