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: S&P reissued a second Request for Comment (RFC) in May 2023 that proposed changes to their insurer capital adequacy methodology and assumptions, and suggested these proposed changes may become effective at the end of 2023. This paper is to highlight the notable changes between the current capital model criteria and the proposed model. We also discuss major changes from the first RFC and the second RFC, as well as several key items that still require enhanced guidance and clarification. Our analysis is based on information gathered from S&P's public comments, conversations with industry participants, and publications released by S&P Global as of July 2023 when this paper was written. Most U.S. life insurers are rated by S&P using their U.S. Life Statutory Capital model, while other insurers use the GAAP/IFRS Capital Model. Statutory financials will remain the starting point for U.S. life insurers under the proposed model, however there will be additional adjustments made to these numbers in an effort to create consistency and comparability with other accounting and solvency regimes.

Description: The SOA Research Institute has executed research for over twenty years on some repeating themes and topics. The reports build on each other and add content. This article summarizes and discusses a summary report on long-term care, caregiving and housing linked to long-term care and caregiving.

Description: This article describes several uses of pension surplus assets and makes a case for maintaining and growing a surplus.

Description: Read this Chairperson's Corner for the March 2024 issue of International News to learn more about planned meetings and upcoming events.

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: "Can you answer the question 'what are the chances we will lose more than $1 million next year?' without saying 'it depends'? If you miss a projection, can you quantify the chances that the miss was due to random variation vs. an incorrect projection? ten in as presenters demonstrate how to answer these questions and others using total risk analysis. Total risk analysis includes quantifying both the random variation risk and the projection risk associated with actuarial functions like pricing and reserving. After attending this session, you will be able to describe total risk analysis, apply total risk analysis to many actuarial functions."

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"

Description: In this presentation, actuaries and data scientists from Cleveland Clinic and Milliman discuss the development of a sepsis prediction model using machine learning. Presented with a unique challenge of handling massive amounts of data for near real-time risk scoring, the team took their model development to the cloud and delivered a product in less than a week through a unique virtual engagement.

Description: ReMark's Global Consumer Study delivers 10 key insights to empower customers. Insurers can design products that meet customers' needs and enhance client experiences and add significant value to their business. At the same time with new products being launched seemingly continuously, it is important to take a step back and assess risk throughout the product management cycle.