Actuarial Standards Board News

The ASB recently approved an exposure draft titled Determining Minimum Value and Actuarial Value under the Affordable Care Act. The actuarial standard of practice will apply to actuaries performing professional services with respect to calculating actuarial values and testing minimum value requirements in accordance with the Affordable Care Act and related regulations, specifically for purposes of (1) categorizing individual and small group health insurance plans into metal levels; (2) testing whether large employer-sponsored health insurance plans meet the federal minimum value requirements; or (3) making any required certifications. The comment deadline for the exposure draft is May 1, 2015 and can be viewed under the "Current Exposure Drafts" tab.

The ASB recently adopted a final revision of ASOP No. 35, Selection of Demographic and Other Noneconomic Assumptions for Measuring Pension Obligations, during its September meeting.Significant modifications from the current version of the ASOP include making the guidelines for a reasonable assumption consistent with the guidelines contained in ASOP No. 27, Selection of Economic Assumptions for Measuring Pension Obligations, and revising the guidance in the ASOP to require disclosure of rationale for assumption selection. The standard will be effective for any actuarial work product with a measurement date on or after June 30, 2015. Earlier adoption of the standard is encouraged. The final revision of ASOP No. 35 can be viewed in the "Soon-to-be Effective ASOPs" section under the "Standards of Practice" tab.

The next regularly scheduled meeting of the ASB will be held March 3–4, 2015, at the Academy offices in Washington, D.C.

The ASB recently approved a revision of ASOP No. 38 for exposure, now titled Catastrophe Modeling (for All Practice Areas). The proposed revision will apply to actuaries in all practice areas performing professional services when selecting or using catastrophe models, whether or not they are proprietary in nature.

Comments are being sought on various areas of the ASOP including, Whether it's clear that the proposed revised ASOP applies to all practice areas; whether the inclusion of other perils such as "terrorist acts and pandemics" in the definition of "Catastrophe Model," is appropriate; and whether the proposed revised ASOP is flexible enough to allow for new developments in practice. The comment deadline for the exposure draft is December 30, 2013.

The ASB recently approved an exposure draft of a revision of ASOP No. 8 now titled Regulatory Filings for Health Benefits, Health Insurance, and Entities Providing Health Benefits. Due to the significant number of changes in the rate filing and rate review process due to the Affordable Care Act, revisions to the current ASOP No. 8, Regulatory Filings for Health Plan Entities, were needed as the current ASOP No. 8 did not provide adequate guidance in the current environment.

Revisions to ASOP No. 8 will give guidance to actuaries that must prepare rate filings under more rigorous state and federal requirements for filing health insurance premium rate increases. It also provides further guidance to actuaries reviewing regulatory filings either as peer reviewers or as regulatory actuaries. The comment deadline for the exposure draft is October 15, 2013 and can be viewed under the tab “Exposure Drafts.”