By Geralyn Trujillo
Senior Director, Policy
(11/21/24)
The final months of the year are a time to tie up loose ends and look ahead, and that’s what the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) did at its Fall National Meeting in mid-November, bringing state regulators, industry representatives, consumer advocates, and the Academy to Denver to wrap up some projects, discuss priorities for 2025, and elect new leadership.
With the focus on the federal election results leading most of the news, the impact on state elections and the focus of the insurance commissioners in the new year is still to be seen. However, the work of the NAIC and of the Academy continues to move forward and we’ve seen several projects and collaborations make positive strides since the last national meeting in August, including:
- VM-22 Field Study: The actuarial task forces are usually the primary focus for Academy volunteers, leadership, and staff. This is made very clear within LATF, as you consider their agenda in Denver. One of the presentations from the Academy focused on the VM-22 field test, which is being done in collaboration with the NAIC, the American Council of Life Insurers, and EY. During the LATF meeting, some preliminary analysis was shared, with completion anticipated in early 2025.
- Life and Health Knowledge Statements: In late 2023, LATF asked the Academy to develop knowledge statements for appointed actuaries, qualified actuaries, and illustration actuaries in response to anticipated educational changes from the SOA. In 2024, Academy leadership, led by Darrell Knapp and Rhonda Ahrens, worked with other volunteers to develop these knowledge statements, as well as knowledge statements for health appointed actuaries. In Denver, the Academy presented the draft qualified actuary knowledge statements, responded to public comments submitted in response to the exposure of the life appointed actuary statements that were shared in August, and provided an update that the illustration actuary statements would be submitted before the end of the year. These materials were exposed for public comment by LATF, with comments due to the task force in January. On the health side, the Academy shared feedback on the public comments that were solicited on the health appointed actuary statements in October and committed to submitting a final draft by year-end. The Academy will submit formal comments to HATF in November and anticipates additional feedback from the regulators before the end-of-the-year.
- The Life, Health, and Casualty practice councils all provided updates on recent work and engagement to the actuarial task forces. This included reminders that the Life and Health Valuation Law Manual and the P/C Loss Reserve Law Manual would be available soon, as well as previews of the Academy’s planned 2025 events.
- Steve Jackson, the Academy’s Director of Research, provided an update to the Title Insurance Task Force on the current state of the title insurance research project that we were asked to undertake.
- Rich Gibson, the Academy’s senior casualty fellow, presented the P/C Committee on Equity and Fairness’ recent paper, “Insurance Fraud: Impacts on Premiums, Claim Costs, and the Public,” to the Antifraud (D) Task Force.
- On the professionalism side, the Actuary Standards Board, the Actuarial Board for Counseling and Discipline, and Committee on Qualifications provided verbal updates to the three actuarial task forces. A special Academy regulator-only luncheon was also held in Denver, giving regulators and key professionalism representatives the opportunity to discuss how the ASB and ABCD can offer resources and support as regulators balance their state role with their responsibilities as an actuary.
Connecticut Insurance Commissioner Andrew Mais gave an update on his year as NAIC President. Much as he shared at Envision Tomorrow, the Academy’s annual meeting held in October, his focus this year has been on “minding the gap” and acknowledging the opportunities where we can better address disparities in products, people, and insurance.
The fall national meeting ended with the annual election of NAIC leadership. In 2025, North Dakota Commissioner of Insurance Jon Godfread will lead the NAIC as President, with Virginia Bureau of Insurance Commissioner Scott White serving as the next President-Elect, Rhode Island’s Elizabeth Kelleher Dwyer as Vice-President, and Utah’s Jon Pike as Secretary/Treasurer. Other elections included the zone officers and, within the next few weeks, leadership for each of the committees and related working groups and task forces will be announced.
For more details on the meeting, be sure to check out the post-NAIC recap featuring Academy staff, which will be available starting Dec. 5.
