Milliman insight from around the world

28 July 2022 - By Yelena Pelletier

Learn about approaches for managing contribution volatility, which can be a challenge for fully funded plans.

28 July 2022 - By Alexandre Boumezoued, David Baranes (IHS Markit, now a part of S&P Global)

This paper explores options available to address the challenge of deriving market-consistent but stable long-term volatility assumptions for valuation of liabilities.

28 July 2022 - By Harsha Mirchandani, Noah Champagne, Pamela M. Pelizzari

This article highlights considerations for providers interested in voluntary enhanced oncology model, which builds on concepts of a recently completed CMMI model designed to transform oncology care while reducing spending under Medicare fee-for-service.

28 July 2022 - By Richard L. Gordon, Rebecca A. Sielman

The public pensions funded ratio fell to 74.0% as of June 30, 2022 alongside a slump in June market causing a $262 billion drop in funded status.

26 July 2022 - By Melissa Huenefeldt

We discuss examples of wearable technology, the impact on workers’ compensation loss experience, how insurance carriers are reacting, and how your actuary can help determine whether wearables are appropriate for your business.

25 July 2022 - By Mary Leong, Ryan Cook

Estimated competitive retiree buyout cost, as a percentage of accounting liability, decreased by 30 bps from 98.6% to 98.3% during June

25 July 2022 - By Andrew Vega

Medical professional liability has been a profitable business line for the better part of two decades, but mounting obstacles present challenges going forward.

25 July 2022 - By Greg Dietzen, Matt Chamberlain

As P&C insurers face a greater number of natural disasters with a warming planet, catastrophic models can help the industry better understand climate risk

25 July 2022 - By Nina M. Lantz, Michael Caparoso, Aaron Shapiro

This issue of the Multiemployer Review shares key changes from the interim final rule and summarizes the final rule and other recent guidance for the special financial assistance program set up under the American Rescue Plan Act.

25 July 2022 - By Andrew Netter, Jonathan B. Glowacki

Rising rates continues to drive persistency increases, credit performance remains strong, reserve releases continue, ILN capital markets less attractive vs. reinsurance.

23 July 2022 - By Melissa Huenefeldt, Michael Paczolt

This article discusses how artificial intelligence and machine learning are used to gather comprehensive claims data from structured and unstructured data fields, solving complex problems and reducing total cost of risk.

22 July 2022 - By Michelle Klein, Kevin Pierce, Samantha D’Anna, Jake Klaisner

We examine key provisions of Senator Schumer and the Senate Finance Committee’s new Prescription Drug Pricing Reform language, and compare with the Build Back Better Act’s previous version.

21 July 2022 - By Jenica Ghorashi

This market recap covers a pattern of volatility and includes commentary on market risks, including the war with Ukraine and concerns about inflation.

21 July 2022 - By Noah Champagne, Cory Gusland, Chris Smith

This article summarizes notable changes related to program options, financial benchmark methodology, risk sharing, and attribution to the proposed Medicare Physician Fee Schedule.

20 July 2022 - By Zachary Ballweg, Brian Z. Brown, Paul Miskovich

While the cyber market improved significantly in 2021, increases to prior-year reserves may cause a drag on earnings, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine creates uncertainty.

20 July 2022 - By Joanne Tan, Aisling Barrett

EIOPA has published two sets of draft proposed Quantitative Reporting Templates to apply from 31 December 2022 and 2023.

19 July 2022 - By Clement Bonnet, Scott Chow, Wen Yee Lee

In this e-Alert, we share the set-up and benefits of sidecars and highlight key reasons why they could become an option for some lines of Asian life insurance.

19 July 2022 - By Joanne Buckle, Natasha Singhal

UK health insurers had strong positions at year-end 2021, with a weighted average SCR coverage ratio of 177%, though down from 198% a year earlier.

19 July 2022 - By Paul R. Houchens, Zach Hunt

We review the financial results of the commercial health insurance industry in 2020, with a focus on healthcare market changes and emerging trends.

17 July 2022 - By Robert Eaton

As the need for long-term care insurance becomes more apparent, innovation and technology are driving development of new tools and products.

15 July 2022 - By Yan Fridman, Karthik Yadatore

While VM-22 may alleviate certain causes of a surplus volatility, companies with significant indexed annuity exposure should review their financial projections.

15 July 2022 - By Derek Newton, Ian Penfold, Vidyut Vardhan

Our analysis of SFCRs in the U.K. and Gibraltar reveals operating margin at non-life insurers grew by 0.9% in 2021, while gross written premiums rose.

15 July 2022 - By Subhash Khanna, Shamit Gupta

With changes to reporting standards and regulatory regimes – plus a challenging economy – insurers reconsider the outsourcing of core actuarial functions

15 July 2022 - By Karen K. Rudolph

We summarize NAIC’s publication of expected changes for the 2023 Valuation Manual.

14 July 2022 - By Charles J. Clark, Abby Kendig

This is an update to the Milliman 2023 IRS limits forecast based on new data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

14 July 2022 - By Eric Buzby, Harsha Mirchandani, Jared Hirsch

Six important topics insurers should consider as they contemplate entering the Medicare Advantage market.

14 July 2022 - By Claire Booth, Neil Christy, Isabel Stansfield

We highlight the latest noteworthy items in the life insurance industry from various regulatory agencies for June 2022.

13 July 2022 - By Matt Berman, Kevin Pierce

We examine various Congressional proposals that would affect insulin, including potential impacts on stakeholders and downstream health equity implications.

13 July 2022 - By Timothy C. Vosicky

We analyze municipality workers' compensation costs from 240,000 nonzero claims from this type of insurance to help local governments benchmark their own risk.

13 July 2022 - By Karen K. Rudolph

Hear real-life experiences and get an “inside the company” look at the regulatory examination of PBR valuations, when Milliman’s Karen Rudolph sits down with Catherine Murphy from John Hancock and Sarah Theis from WoodmenLife.

11 July 2022 - By Samantha Tomicki, Harsha Mirchandani, Rebecca L. Johnson

Given the medical costs of nonfatal firearm injuries, healthcare stakeholders have an interest in supporting further research to mitigate firearm injury risk

11 July 2022 - By Eric J. Wunder, S. Andrew Kline

We look at the financial results for medical professional liability (MPL) insurers for the first quarter of 2022, as the country tries to emerge from COVID-19.

11 July 2022 - By Zorast Wadia, Charles J. Clark

The Milliman 100 PFI funded ratio decreased to 106.3% as asset declines from poor investment performance exceeded liability gains from continued discount rate increases

08 July 2022 - By Jeremy D. Palmer, Christopher T. Pettit, Ian M. McCulla, Cameron Kinnick

Uncertainty remains regarding COVID-19’s impact on Medicaid MCO financial performance, including the deferral of care, pent-up demand, and future claims.

08 July 2022 - By Eamonn Phelan

This briefing note discusses the guidelines put in place to assist firms on their journey to operational resilience as well as outlining the challenges which must be overcome in doing so.

08 July 2022 - By Daren Lockwood, Xiaohong Mo, Adam Schenck

Milliman reports 11 basis points decrease in Hedge Cost Index for VA guarantees in June

08 July 2022

In this Multiemployer Alert, we review the details of the final rule on the special financial assistance program established under the American Rescue Plan Act in 2021.

07 July 2022 - By Chris Giese, Allen J. Schmitz, Annie Gunnlaugsson, Kevin Brown

The second of a series of articles exploring actuarial considerations related to public long-term care programs using a social insurance framework.

06 July 2022 - By Prannoy Chaudhury

While 'sidecar' reinsurance vehicles have been a common structure in the U.S. property and casualty industry, their use has become more common in the life and annuity industry as well.

06 July 2022 - By David Burston, Jessica Hall, Stuart Reynolds, Isabel Stansfield

Despite its ease of calculation, capital generation and return⁠—measured as a change in eligible own funds⁠—may not be the most useful metric.

06 July 2022 - By Maarten Ruissaard, Joost Broens, Freek Zandbergen

Implications of the European Commission’s proposal for the Solvency II Directive.

06 July 2022 - By Gillian Tucker

We cover some of the practical issues companies experience when calculating the impact of transitioning to IFRS17 on their balance sheets.

06 July 2022 - By Josh Dobiac, Yang Jing, Shirley Z. Song

The introduction of IFRS 17 in 2023 will result in significant changes to the valuation of liabilities for most international insurance companies.

05 July 2022 - By Carl A. Friedrich, Michelle L Krysiak

Our comprehensive 2022 survey covers key issues in the markets for universal life, indexed universal life and variable universal life.

05 July 2022 - By Michael Daly, Hana Ghazali

Our latest survey of life insurers in Asia shows how riders have gained prominence in the past decade, providing insights on the opportunities and risks

29 June 2022 - By Garry Simmons

Survey: Since the pandemic began, 66% of employers report increased use of mental health resources offered through their benefits plan, and 62% indicate a significant spike in claim costs

29 June 2022 - By Richard L. Gordon, Rebecca A. Sielman

Public pensions funded ratio stays steady at 78.4% in May 2022

27 June 2022 - By Zorast Wadia

Rising interest rates and regulatory changes have helped raise funding levels of DB plans enough to make unfreezing them a sensible option for many sponsors.

27 June 2022 - By Ian Humphries, Katie M. Nelson

We review the M&A worldwide for life and health insurers in 2021, and an outlook for 2022 and beyond.

24 June 2022 - By Neil Dissanayake, Peter Lin, Nima Shahroozi

Our May review of the markets and Solvency II discount rates.

23 June 2022 - By Eric J. Wunder, Joe Michels

While few companies use the same firm for auditing and actuarial services, it makes sense for all to keep them separate rather than risk a fine or lawsuit.

23 June 2022 - By Mary Leong, Ryan Cook

Estimated competitive retiree buyout cost, as a percentage of accounting liability, increased by 90 bps from 97.7% to 98.6% during May

21 June 2022 - By Nicole Kappelhof, Maarten Ruissaard

We review EIOPA’s report, which focuses on the materiality of the insurance sector exposure to physical climate risks.

20 June 2022 - By Michael Paczolt, Juliet M. Spector

With medical expenses in workers’ compensation continuing to rise, data is the key to developing reliable frameworks to understand and benchmark the costs.

20 June 2022 - By Richard L. Gordon, Rebecca A. Sielman

Public plans shed a further $243 billion following $167 billion funded status drop in Q1 2022

16 June 2022 - By Charles J. Clark

With inflation at 40-year highs, the next revision of IRS limits for retirement plans will affect labor costs, talent recruitment and retention efforts in 2023.

16 June 2022 - By Joe Neary, Courtney Williamson

As an LTC benefit reduction option, coinsurance could allow for maximum coverage, reduce the impact of a rate increase and lower liability for the insurer.

15 June 2022 - By Farzana Ismail, Halim Gunawan, Richard W. Holloway

Life insurance in Indonesia: Our review of industry developments from the first quarter 2022.

14 June 2022 - By Andrew Provines

We discuss 3 claim types public-entity risk pools face: false arrest and wrongful convictions, land use violations, and civil rights violations and retaliation.

09 June 2022 - By David Kirk, Susan Melmed, Richard Taylor, Chris van der Merwe

In 2022, South African insurers have benefited from the state of disaster being lifted and ratings upgrades, but not all the news is positive.

09 June 2022 - By Claire Booth, Neil Christy, Lewis Duffy, Isabel Stansfield

We highlight the latest noteworthy items in the life insurance industry from various regulatory agencies.

07 June 2022 - By Zorast Wadia, Charles J. Clark

The Milliman 100 PFI funded ratio increased for the sixth consecutive month and settled at 107.0% at the end of May.

07 June 2022 - By Ginny Boggs, Jessica McDevitt, Jinnie Olson

Now is the time for plan sponsors to reacquaint themselves with the SECURE Act's DC plan lifetime income disclosure requirements as the deadline quickly approaches.

07 June 2022 - By Stuart Silverman, Justin Li, Chelsea Wang

Insurers need to understand the potential implications of an ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and consider appropriate changes in product, assumptions and capital.

07 June 2022 - By Aisling Barrett, Cormac Gleeson

The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (“EIOPA”) recently published its finalised reports on the revision of the Guidelines on Contract Boundaries, and the Guidelines on the Valuation of Technical Provisions.

06 June 2022 - By Farzana Ismail, Joshua Winata

OJK’s new regulation aims to protect policyholders and improve transparency in the unit-linked Indonesian life insurance market, but carriers have concerns

06 June 2022 - By Safder Jaffer, Muhammad Asad Irshad

A 2021 report of 29 insurance companies listed on the Saudi Stock Exchange Tadawul reveals the impact of COVID-19 restrictions and the economic rebound as pandemic pressures eased.

03 June 2022 - By Robert Eaton, Andrew H. Dalton

A rising magnitude and volume of rate increases have increased the prevalence of reduced benefit options, along with a focus on their value.

03 June 2022 - By Stephanie Scholz, Robert Eaton

Financing and designing acceleration-only riders in a consumer-friendly manner can help companies provide more LTCI coverage for the oncoming wave of retirees

03 June 2022 - By Daren Lockwood, Xiaohong Mo, Adam Schenck

The expected hedge cost for a hypothetical GLWB block (see Index Methodology) is estimated to be 146 bps as of the end of May 2022, down 2 basis points from the previous month, driven by a slight increase in long-term interest rates.

03 June 2022 - By Leighton A. Hunley, David Evans

Community leaders, policymakers, and business executives are increasingly asked if they are incorporating climate forecasts into their decision-making.

02 June 2022 - By Eamonn Phelan, Eamon Comerford, Alison Walsh

To optimise the use of capital under Solvency II, companies can turn to Board-approved future management actions, providing a highly tailored solution.

02 June 2022 - By Sinéad Clarke, Eamon Comerford

Amendments to EU regulations that take effect in August integrate sustainability risks and ESG considerations for the Solvency II risk management framework.

02 June 2022 - By Lauren Efferding

With greater participation of carriers and networks, the ACA individual marketplace is now a viable solution for employer health plans, especially with ICHRAs.

31 May 2022 - By Joanne Buckle, Alexander Krauskopf , Natasha Singhal

Using historical data in the U.K. and Germany to help medical insurers better understand the morbidity and mortality risks from climate change

31 May 2022 - By Neil Dissanayake, Peter Lin, Nima Shahroozi

Our April review of the markets and Solvency II discount rates.

31 May 2022 - By Paul R. Houchens, Liam Plunkitt

This report provides an analysis of the recently released 2020 Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) Scorecard.

26 May 2022 - By Mary Leong, Ryan Cook

Estimated competitive retiree buyout cost, as a percentage of accounting liability, decreased by 60 bps from 98.3% to 97.7% during April

26 May 2022 - By Nancy P. Watkins

A new pricing approach called Risk Rating 2.0 harnesses catastrophe models to help better understand flood risk.

25 May 2022 - By Neil Cantle

In the May issue of The Actuary, we examine how our increasingly interconnected world makes it challenging to predict future outcomes.

25 May 2022 - By Mike Gaal, Paul R. Houchens, David M. Liner, Annie Man, Andrew L. Naugle, Doug Norris

In 2022, the cost of healthcare for a hypothetical American family of four covered by an average employer-sponsored preferred provider organization (PPO) plan is $30,260, according to the Milliman Medical Index (MMI).

24 May 2022 - By Juliet M. Spector, Tim F. Kempen, Evan Pollock, Cade Dombrowski

An industry survey of assumptions and methodologies in the individual long-term care (LTC) market.

24 May 2022 - By Josh Dobiac, Clement Bonnet, Clara Yan (Robeco), Denis Resovac (Robeco)

As interest grows, insurance companies are framing new strategies and facing new challenges as they implement sustainable investing practices.

24 May 2022 - By Brian Colgan, Farzana Ismail

Insurers recognise opportunities in the Syariah market in Indonesia, but a majority still need to decide whether to spin-off or transfer portfolios

24 May 2022 - By Katherine A. Warren, Jeffrey T. Marzinsky, Zorast Wadia, Dominick Pizzano

Join us while we share insights and market outlook from the 2022 Milliman Pension Funding Study which looks at the funded status, P&L and balance sheet impact alongside the key economic assumptions of the largest US corporate sponsors of defined benefit plans.

24 May 2022 - By Chad C. Karls, Eric J. Wunder

For the medical professional liability (MPL) market, 2021 featured the return of a firming market and the expected associated rate increases

23 May 2022 - By Travis J. Grulkowski, Christine M. Fleming, Alex York, Sam Sager, Brekk Hayward, Joe Michels

Federal black lung claims differ from other workers’ comp due to multiple potential payers, complex adjudication, much longer reporting and payment lags.

23 May 2022 - By Libby Bunzli, Zachary Fohl, Christopher T. Pettit, Diane Sargent, Maureen Tressel Lewis

Five ways Medicaid MCOs can prepare for the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency

20 May 2022 - By Rebecca A. Sielman, Richard L. Gordon

Rocky markets cause $167 billion drop in funded status in the first quarter of 2022, leading to the public pensions’ funded ratio falling to 82.7%.

20 May 2022 - By Melody Craff, Will Fox

How do you go about transforming your processes into a system for transforming data into meaningful business insights?

19 May 2022 - By Paul L. Correia

My state recently mandated paid family and medical leave; should my company continue offering short-term disability?

18 May 2022 - By Andrew Provines, Karl Goring

Parametric policies, which pay based on the magnitude of an event, can bridge coverage gaps that are difficult to insure with a traditional indemnity policy.

18 May 2022 - By Charles J. Clark

With inflation at 40-year highs, the next revision of IRS limits for retirement plans will affect labor costs, talent recruitment and retention efforts in 2023.

17 May 2022 - By Charles J. Clark

Congress proposes building on the Secure Act of 2019, with a list of changes to U.S. tax-qualified retirement plans, including catch-up contributions.

17 May 2022 - By Aaron Shapiro, Rebecca Ross

We provide an overview of the requirements of Actuarial Standard of Practice No. 51, and then look at how it has been implemented with pension plans.

16 May 2022 - By Charles J. Clark, Karina Guerrero

If the SECURE 2.0 bill becomes pension law plan sponsors and governance boards will need to assess the impact of this mandatory eligibility change for their retirement programs.

16 May 2022 - By Charles J. Clark, Kara Tedesco

Our latest Benefit Alert discusses some of the details and complexities of a Congressional bill that aims to modify the Secure Act of 2019

13 May 2022 - By Paul R. Houchens, Penny Edlund, Libby Bunzli

A summary of available data sources that can assist state Medicaid agencies in evaluating health disparities and measuring progress toward health equity goals

13 May 2022 - By Stephen J. Koca, Leah Windt

The potential passage of California Assembly Bill 35, amending key provisions of the state’s Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act will have reverberations for years to come.

12 May 2022 - By Claire Booth, Neil Christy, Lewis Duffy, Isabel Stansfield

We highlight the latest noteworthy items in the life insurance industry from various regulatory agencies.

10 May 2022 - By Sarah Murray

When deciding whether or not to terminate a pension plan, the plan sponsor should consider the accounting effects of settling the plan’s obligations.

10 May 2022 - By Julie Cannaday, Nancy Kariel

Lump sum window: Engaging communications produce higher response rates

10 May 2022 - By Mary Leong, Jake Pringle

What are annuity placements and why do I keep hearing about pension risk transfers?

10 May 2022 - By Kerry Forrester, Rebecca A. Sielman

A step-by-step guide to charting your path to plan termination

10 May 2022 - By John Paul Augeri

Microsoft’s Vicky Nevin, head of international compensation and benefits, shares her benefits priorities and challenges for 2022, in this conversation with Milliman’s global EB leader John-Paul Augeri.

09 May 2022 - By Stephen R. DiCenso, Kathryn Kern

How a well-governed and structured insurer can build a lasting enterprise-risk-management framework to address climate change risk.

09 May 2022 - By Zorast Wadia, Charles J. Clark

Milliman 100 PFI: The funded ratio of the largest corporate defined-benefit pension plans increases to 106.7% despite a 4.66% loss in asset values

09 May 2022 - By Aisling Barrett, Alison Walsh

In 2021, Irish life insurers significantly grew premiums, improved solvency ratios, and increased use of the volatility adjustment.

06 May 2022 - By Daren Lockwood, Xiaohong Mo, Adam Schenck

The expected hedge cost for a hypothetical GLWB block (see Index Methodology) is estimated to be 148 bps as of the end of April 2022, down 20 basis points from the previous month, driven by an increase in long-term interest rates.

03 May 2022 - By Chris Smith, Adam Singleton, David C. Lewis, Brian Allen

Legislation requiring hospitals to publicly post data about negotiated prices for all hospital services unlocks significant potential opportunity for stakeholders working with healthcare strategy and analytics.

03 May 2022 - By Brian N. Anderson, Rebekah D. Bayram, Marc Guieb

We detail the latest on pharmacy news, trends, and insights, including items on the company and state levels, FDA approvals and launches, and clinical trials.

03 May 2022 - By Marcus Scheffer, Lennart Albertsen, Peter H. Sun, Neil Dissanayake, Chunpu Song, Sihong Zhu, Jessica Crowson, Kelly Yang

ESG investing returns have been comparable to the general market, showing how investing in the space is an opportunity, not a constraint

28 April 2022 - By Eric J. Wunder, Zachary A. Fischer

Medical professional liability specialty writers in 2021 fared better than many observers anticipated just 12 months ago.

28 April 2022 - By Zorast Wadia, Alan H. Perry, Charles J. Clark

The year-end 2021 funded ratio for the Milliman 100 companies settled at 96.3%, a large improvement from 2020’s funded ratio of 88.1%.

27 April 2022 - By Michael Paczolt

Claims systems typically do not capture accurate data on attorney representation. Using Milliman Nodal’s proprietary natural language processing (NLP) algorithm, we identified claims with references to plaintiff attorney representation in the adjuster notes.

27 April 2022 - By Florin Ginghina, John Jenkins, Russell Ward, Sihong Zhu

Interest in illiquid assets continues to grow in terms of increased breadth and quantity of investment, according to our 2021 survey of U.K. life insurers.

26 April 2022 - By Neil Dissanayake, Peter Lin, Nima Shahroozi

Our March review of the markets and Solvency II discount rates.

26 April 2022 - By Stuart Kliternick

While the Pension-Protection Act yield curve hasn’t shown signs of spiking, plans and participants still need to know of the negative impact of rising rates.

26 April 2022 - By Mary Leong, Ryan Cook

Estimated competitive retiree buyout cost, as a percentage of accounting liability, decreased by 60 bps from 98.9% to 98.3% during March.

26 April 2022 - By Yan Fridman, Zohair Motiwalla

We discuss key issues and questions to consider before a principle-based reserving framework for non-variable annuities is finalized.

26 April 2022 - By Mike Gaal, Erica Reijula, Erik Krisle

Recently released FAQ answers for the Transparency in Coverage Final Rules substantially impact the usability of information about healthcare prices available to consumers and other stakeholders.

26 April 2022 - By Jordan Cates, Chandler Bentley, Julia M. Friedman, Adam Barnhart

Lower premiums, richer supplemental benefits, and additional flexibility help drive enrollment gains in an increasingly competitive Medicare Advantage market.

22 April 2022 - By Bartosz Gaweda, Christoph Krischanitz, Rémi Bellina, Jeff Anderson, Joe Long, Noriyuki Kogo, Saiki Justin Makino, Scott Chow

As traditional insurers face competition from startups, they are well positioned to harness vast amounts of new data with the help of their actuarial teams.

22 April 2022 - By Julia M. Friedman, Michelle Klein, Ivan Yen

Do MAOs offering benefits that appear with a checkmark on the CMS’s Medicare Plan Finder end up attracting more beneficiaries?

22 April 2022 - By Melissa Huenefeldt

In the search for appropriate benchmarking figures, insurers need to ask the question: Who is my peer?

22 April 2022 - By Alison Counihan, Lalit Baveja

This paper examines implementation of value-based healthcare and how it can link to quality outcomes.

22 April 2022 - By Jenica Ghorashi

Markets pulled back over another volatile quarter, down across the board

20 April 2022 - By Michael J. Peatrowsky, Lee Townsend

Cash balance plans blend the features of a traditional defined benefit retirement structure with the look and feel of a 401(k)/profit-sharing plan.

20 April 2022 - By Robert Eaton, Curt M. Clingerman, Karen K. Rudolph, Deyu Zhou

This note serves to assist valuation actuaries setting reserves for combination products, supplementing the NAIC’s Valuation Manual

19 April 2022 - By Andrew Netter, Jonathan B. Glowacki

Year-end results reflect strong performance across the industry, IIF compositions analyzed, reserve releases begin, rising rates likely to drag on NIW in 2022

16 April 2022 - By AJ Ally, Matt Berman

We discuss three primary targets to reduce prescription drug costs in the U.S., with potentially substantial changes in pricing for Medicare Parts B and D.

12 April 2022 - By Brian N. Anderson, Rebekah D. Bayram, Marc Guieb

We detail the latest on pharmacy news, trends, and insights, including items on the company and state levels, FDA approvals and launches, and clinical trials.

11 April 2022 - By John Donohue

While the Secure 2.0 bill’s auto-enrollment feature would help people save for retirement, it would lead to significant administrative issues for many plans including Taft-Hartley plans.

08 April 2022 - By Claire Booth, Neil Christy, Lewis Duffy, Isabel Stansfield

We highlight the latest noteworthy items in the life insurance industry from EIOPA, FCA and ESAs.

07 April 2022 - By Daniel D. Skwire, Douglas W. Taylor, Paul L. Correia, Christin Kuretich

The latest Disability Newsletter covers an annual study on profitability, state-mandated Paid Family and Medical Leave programs, and more.

07 April 2022 - By Zorast Wadia, Charles J. Clark

Milliman 100 PFI: The funded ratio of the largest corporate defined-benefit pension plans rose to 105.2% as of March 31, up from 102.5% a month earlier

06 April 2022

Insurance industry impact and actionable steps for insurers to integrate climate risk assessment throughout their organisations.

05 April 2022 - By Daren Lockwood, Xiaohong Mo, Adam Schenck

The expected hedge cost for a hypothetical GLWB block (see Index Methodology) is estimated to be 168 bps as of the end of March 2022, down 13 basis points from the previous month, driven by an increase in long-term interest rates.

04 April 2022 - By Brian Colgan, Muhammad Ismail, Halim Gunawan, Richard W. Holloway

Life insurance in Indonesia: Our review of industry developments from the fourth quarter 2021

01 April 2022 - By Julia M. Friedman, Mary Yeh

In a competitive Medicare Advantage marketplace, MAOs can differentiate themselves by offering supplemental benefits such as D-SNPs.

01 April 2022 - By Julia M. Friedman, Mary Yeh

In a competitive Medicare Advantage marketplace, MAOs can differentiate themselves by offering supplemental benefits such as D-SNPs.

31 March 2022 - By Ryan Cook

We explore potential reasons for the surge in pension risk transfers, which rose 42% to around $38 billion in 2021.

31 March 2022 - By Trever Mertz

Second-generation legal e-billing systems have moved beyond the basic auditing function of their earlier counterparts and can now deliver actionable insights into legal spend and the allocation of defense resources.

30 March 2022 - By Victor Huang

How we use futures contracts to manufacture put-option payoffs rather than purchasing puts directly, a likely more cost-effective approach over the long-term.

29 March 2022 - By Ellyn Russo

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, influenza positivity rates have remained at the lowest levels documented in modern history

29 March 2022 - By Jason Karcher, Jordan Pettibon, Hanna Holzer

We estimate the financial impact of the federal requirement for employers and individual insurance plans to cover self-administered and self-read COVID-19 tests.

28 March 2022 - By David Byron, Noah Champagne, Brent Jensen, Colleen Norris

In the new REACH model, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation has made several program adjustments, building on existing concepts.

28 March 2022 - By Neil Dissanayake, Peter Lin, Nima Shahroozi

Our February review of the markets and Solvency II discount rates.

28 March 2022 - By Tony Dardis, William C. Hines, Su Meng Lee

Bermuda looks particularly attractive for life insurers as a choice of domicile, given the country’s favorable treatment of capital and taxation.

25 March 2022

The interest rate is perhaps the single most important assumption made to ensure a pension plan has enough money to pay promised benefits

24 March 2022 - By Kevin Pierce, Josh Collins

New research offers key takeaways for plans that might participate in the Part D Senior Savings Model, so they can evaluate how it aligns with their 2023 strategy.

24 March 2022 - By Mary Leong, Ryan Cook

Estimated competitive retiree buyout cost, as a percentage of accounting liability, decreased by 100 bps from 99.9% to 98.9% during February.

23 March 2022 - By Abby Hirshkowitz, Katie Barham

Review of benefits, rights, and features prior to plan termination is a wise course of action, given the complexities that come with the process.

23 March 2022 - By Nick Ortner, Kelly S. Backes

A primer on CMS’s Medicare Advantage model for hospice value-based insurance design, which first became available for contract year 2021.

23 March 2022 - By Ellyn Russo, David V. Williams

Expanding the utility and consistency of existing claims-coding processes may offer a low-effort, high-value return for health economics and outcomes research

23 March 2022 - By Brian Colgan, Muhammad Ismail, Halim Gunawan, Richard W. Holloway

Life insurance in Indonesia: Our review of industry developments from the third quarter of 2021

17 March 2022 - By Claire Booth, Neil Christy, Lewis Duffy, Isabel Stansfield

We highlight the latest noteworthy items in the life insurance industry from the European Supervisor Authorities, European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority and Financial Conduct Authority.

15 March 2022 - By Michael Paczolt

As the claims triage process experiences more complex pressures, advances in artificial intelligence are giving insurers rich data and actionable insights to efficiently allocate resources and lower claims costs.

14 March 2022 - By Farzana Ismail, Alex Bryant

We cover key changes in the Exposure Draft, with a focus on new requirements related to estate management and management of small or shrinking par funds.

14 March 2022 - By Julia M. Friedman, Mary Yeh

In 2022, Medicare Advantage rules allow plans to cover up to three packages of combo benefits.

14 March 2022 - By Mike A. Bergerson, Missy Gordon, John Hebig

Milliman completed a survey on premium rate increases for the long-term care (LTC) insurance industry.

14 March 2022 - By Timothy Paris

Milliman Variable Annuity Mortality Study shows mortality increases of 11% as a result of COVID-19 pandemic.

10 March 2022 - By Brian Colgan, Farzana Ismail

To have a well-considered strategy for a Syariah window, it is necessary to develop credible assumptions around new business volumes and expenses.

10 March 2022 - By Jonathan B. Glowacki, Judith-Anne Brelih

Mortgage originations declined during the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2021 compared to the third quarter (Q3) of 2021.

09 March 2022 - By Zorast Wadia, Charles J. Clark

Despite financial market declines, rising discount rates boosted corporate pension funded ratio to 102.4% in February, up from 100.9% a month earlier.

09 March 2022 - By Brent Jensen, Andy McBeth, Jeremy Hamilton, Matthew Hayes

Join us in a discussion of several areas of trend impacting bids in 2023.

07 March 2022 - By Phil Ellenberg, Shyam Kolli, Tushar Makhija, Greg Sgrosso

We analyze information from 374 Medicare Advantage organizations across 43 states, with the data revealing the majority of them profitable.

07 March 2022 - By Robert Bugg, Amy Nicholson, James Wilkie

We clarify the Financial Conduct Authority’s approach to the review of Part VII insurance business transfers.

07 March 2022 - By Christin Kuretich

Learn about five trends and creative approaches heading into 2022 for supplemental health benefits, on this episode of Critical Point.

04 March 2022 - By Alex York, Christine M. Fleming

One in 10 underground coal miners who worked for at least 25 years have black lung disease, according to National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

03 March 2022 - By Victor Huang

As inflation intimidates the markets, a futures-hedging strategy can provide better portfolio risk management, giving downside protection against market volatility.

03 March 2022 - By Cody Webb, Melody Craff, Molly Barth, Larry Baeder, Dale N. Skinner, Thomas Pu

Carbon dioxide poisoning found consistently among populations affected by four hurricanes points to how climate events can have other health effects.

03 March 2022 - By Daren Lockwood, Xiaohong Mo, Adam Schenck

The expected hedge cost for a hypothetical GLWB block (see Index Methodology) is estimated to be 181 bps as of the end of February 2022, down 9 basis points from the previous month, driven by an increase in long-term interest rates.

03 March 2022 - By Pang-Hsiang Chye, Renuka Subramaniam, Tharan Ganesan, Muhammad Hanif Saiful

Get the latest in the Non-Life Insurance market in Indonesia such as market performance, market news, and general Syariah Insurance.

02 March 2022 - By Adél Drew

Operational resilience is top of mind for U.K. regulators, appearing in Prudential Regulation Authority and Financial Conduct Authority business plans for 2022.

28 February 2022 - By Gillian Tucker

With the January 2023 effective date of IFRS 17 fast approaching, insurers and reinsurers turn their attention to comprehensive validation of models and results.

28 February 2022 - By Pang-Hsiang Chye, Tharan Ganesan

Get the latest in the Non-Life Insurance market in Indonesia such as market performance, market news, and general Syariah Insurance.

25 February 2022 - By Michael Mikhitarian, Timothy J. Herman

Annuity purchases offer one way of transferring the risks and responsibilities of a pension plan, but CFOs need to carefully consider the bidding process.

25 February 2022 - By Neil Dissanayake, Peter Lin, Nima Shahroozi

Our January review of the markets and Solvency II discount rates.

24 February 2022 - By Bruce R. Mitton

Defined benefit pension plans have fallen out of favor, but their lifetime obligations leave plan sponsors wondering if termination is the answer.

23 February 2022 - By Pat Ryan, Brent Jensen

This paper describes seven key considerations for each ACA carrier to keep in mind for success.

23 February 2022 - By Juliet M. Spector, Mike A. Bergerson, Robert Eaton, Andrew H. Dalton, Daniel A. Nitz, Allen J. Schmitz, Chris Giese, Jeff Anderson, John Hebig, Missy Gordon, Nicole Gaspar, Qiuwen Peng, Annie Gunnlaugsson

We review current projects in long-term care (LTC), such as LTC development in Asian market, Milliman LTC Advanced Risk Analytics, and upcoming studies.

23 February 2022 - By Mary Leong, Ryan Cook

Pension plan sponsors as of Jan. 31 saved 3.6 percentage points in annuity pricing using a competitive bidding when compared with the average industry buyout.

22 February 2022

We recap the trends in the LIBOR rates, SOFR trade and volume counts and those for other currencies for January in this final issue.

18 February 2022 - By Sinéad Clarke, Erin Moorhead

The Taskforce on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (“TCFD”) was established to develop recommendations for more effective climate-related disclosures.

17 February 2022 - By Tyler Armstrong, Robert Eaton, Randy Beams

This article discusses the pros and cons of a claim cost model versus an integrated first-principles model for use in modeling Hybrid Life and Health products.

17 February 2022 - By Milliman Employee Benefits Research Group

Listed are the key administrative dates and deadlines for 2022 for defined contribution retirement plans.

17 February 2022 - By Milliman Employee Benefits Research Group

Listed are the key administrative dates and deadlines for 2022 for multiemployer defined benefit plans.

16 February 2022 - By Chris Giese, Annie Gunnlaugsson, Evan Pollock

The onset of COVID-19 and attempts to control its spread, have introduced volatility into the long-term care insurance industry.

16 February 2022 - By Marcella Giorgou

We provide plan sponsors the latest information regarding the coverage requirements for OTC COVID-19 tests, based on recent FAQs issued by federal agencies.

16 February 2022 - By Hervé Andrès, Alexandre Boumezoued, Grzegorz Darkiewicz-Moniuszko, Rikiya Ino, Daren Lockwood, Fiona Ng, Russell Ward

Challenges for companies in the alternative asset space include building an internal model and accounting for regulatory treatment for capital set aside.

14 February 2022 - By Claire Booth, Neil Christy, Isabel Stansfield

We highlight the latest noteworthy items in the life insurance industry from the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority, Financial Conduct Authority and Prudent Regulation Authority.

14 February 2022 - By Ali M. Heinrich, Kali Schweitzer

We discuss the controversy around the new drug Aduhelm, Medicare stakeholder considerations and impacts, and implications of CMS proposed coverage.

14 February 2022 - By Nina M. Lantz, Rex Barker, Timothy L. Connor, William Wade

Aggregate funding levels for multiemployer pensions improved to 91% by year-end 2021, up from 88% a year earlier.

10 February 2022 - By Brian N. Anderson, Rebekah D. Bayram, Marc Guieb

We detail the latest on pharmacy news, trends, and insights.

10 February 2022 - By Melissa Huenefeldt

Understanding who is the data source—and the format and content of the tables and graphs—can prevent you from misinterpreting data analytics in risk management.

10 February 2022 - By Courtney R. White, Tracy A. Margiott, Sara Yi, Greg Sgrosso

What is the new frontier for Part D?

09 February 2022 - By David Stoddard, Michael Halford , Kathryn Elizabeth Mohr

The 2021 Milliman Multiemployer Health and Welfare Study analyzes various financial disclosures for plans nationwide.

08 February 2022 - By Cody Webb

The podcast explores the impact of hurricanes on the health of populations, as natural disasters grow more frequent due to climate change.

08 February 2022 - By Colin Finch

Risks such as COVID-19, climate change, cyberattacks, and evolving socioeconomic issues are not isolated to one side of a balance sheet, or one fiscal year.

08 February 2022 - By Zorast Wadia, Charles J. Clark

Milliman 100 PFI funded ratio rises to 101.4%

08 February 2022 - By Stephen R. DiCenso

New York domestic insurers need to focus on two specific action steps in the wake of guidance issued on managing the financial risks from climate change.

08 February 2022 - By Pang-Hsiang Chye, Ken Lim , Tananya Santipinyolert, Tarinee Sriboonchaichusakul

Overall premiums for non-life insurance rise 5.2% year over year, while net loss ratio increases in the third quarter to 69.65%, up from 54.28% third quarter 2020.

07 February 2022 - By John Hebig

To help companies obtain a better sense of the rate increase landscape, Milliman surveyed carriers about their recent LTC rate increase experiences.

04 February 2022 - By Daren Lockwood, Xiaohong Mo, Adam Schenck

Milliman reports 9 basis points decrease in Hedge Cost Index for VA guarantees in January.

04 February 2022 - By Olivier Mahieux, Romain de Harlez

With Solvency II reporting becoming routine for insurers, the Commissariat aux Assurances updates its annual actuarial reporting requirements for non-life insurance companies.

04 February 2022 - By Florin Ginghina, Jessica Crowson, Gibson Thuita

What does the PRA’s Life Insurance Stress Test cover and what will it mean for insurers?

04 February 2022 - By Karthik Tumuluru

This presentation reviews certain methods that can be used to factor in the structure of a company's IT system in the underwriting process.

03 February 2022 - By Shyam Kolli, Todd Wille

A primer for Medicare Advantage organizations in understanding the various files plans receive from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

02 February 2022 - By Somya Bansal, Joanne Buckle, Diana Dodu, Nathaniel Jacobson, Alexander Krauskopf , Monika Lis, Yunzi Xia, Rong Yi

Health insurance companies must adapt and innovate their product offerings to appeal to the expectations of freelancers and on-demand gig workers.

02 February 2022 - By Rong Yi

IT giants have started to partner up with traditional life insurers to offer mutual aid programs in the health insurance market in China.

01 February 2022 - By Nicholas Johnson, Annie Hallum, Nick Gipe

We offer key insight on the growing market of dual eligible special needs plans, which enroll beneficiaries who are both eligible for Medicare and Medicaid.

01 February 2022 - By Jill A. Bruckert, Annie Hallum, Davis Burge

We illustrate potential short-term and long-term savings opportunities, including fee-for-service and managed care.

28 January 2022 - By David D. Evans, Leighton A. Hunley, Brandon Katz (KatRisk LLC)

The U.S. residential real estate market likely has not fully accounted for the financial costs of flooding, with few homeowners having flood insurance.

28 January 2022 - By Cody Ball, Deana Bell, Samantha D’Anna, Tracy A. Margiott, Susan Silseth

A proposed change would require Medicare Part D plans to apply all price concessions they receive from a pharmacy network at the point of sale

28 January 2022 - By Stephen A. White, David Benbow

To provide more efficiency in delivering retirement benefits, we need a fresh look at the options available for delivering them.

28 January 2022 - By Lynn Yu

Learn how one plan sponsor found relief during the COVID-19 pandemic from new laws such as the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.

28 January 2022 - By Orlaith Lehane , Sinéad Clarke

We summarise the latest developments in Ireland and present some examples of how insurers can meet the expectations of the central bank.

27 January 2022 - By Robert Bugg, Amy Nicholson, Kelly Yang

We review the key amendments to the PRA’s Policy Statement 1/22 on insurance business transfers and consider the potential implications.

26 January 2022 - By Doug Rodgers, Katie Biese, Levani Kvariani, Nidhi Kushwah

Farmers who tap key risk management tools, such as dairy insurance, could see increased resiliency, sustainability and profitability.

24 January 2022 - By Olivier Mahieux, Romain de Harlez

Gross written premiums in our sample of Luxembourg-based life insurers decreased 20% in 2020.

24 January 2022 - By Milliman Employee Benefits Research Group

Key administrative dates and deadlines for calendar-year single-employer defined benefit plans subject to ERISA and the Internal Revenue Code.

21 January 2022 - By Jenica Ghorashi

We take a look at the S&P 500 Index, Russell 3000 Index, and others, along with the U.S. equity, non-U.S. equity, and U.S. fixed income.

21 January 2022 - By Neil Dissanayake, Peter Lin, Nima Shahroozi

Learn more on Solvency II discount rates, and the state of the local and global markets at month end.

21 January 2022 - By Mary Leong, Ryan Cook

Estimated competitive retiree buyout cost rose 60 basis points in December, to 99.9% of accounting liability .

21 January 2022 - By Joanne E. Fontana, Michael E. Weilant, David Bahlinger, Christin Kuretich, Ashlee Mouton Borcan, Darrell D. Spell

In December 2021, Milliman released its second Dental Survey Premium Report. This report represents 48 carriers and $37 billion of inforce premium.

21 January 2022 - By Robert Eaton, William G. Mehilos, David Bahlinger, Christin Kuretich, Ashlee Mouton Borcan, Darrell D. Spell, Michael E. Weilant

In October 2021, Milliman release its fourth Worksite Life Survey Premium Report. This report represents 20 carriers and $2.4 billion of inforce premium.

21 January 2022 - By Nathaniel Sandrowicz, David Bahlinger, Christin Kuretich, Ashlee Mouton Borcan, Darrell D. Spell, Michael E. Weilant

In December 2021, Milliman released its third Accident Insurance Survey Premium Report. This report represents 37 carriers and $3.4 billion of inforce premium.

21 January 2022 - By Ashlee Mouton Borcan, Jennifer O’Brien Howard, David Bahlinger, Christin Kuretich, Darrell D. Spell, Michael E. Weilant

In November 2021, Milliman released its third Critical Illness (CI) Survey Premium Report. This report represents 35 carriers and $2.2 billion of inforce premium.

21 January 2022 - By Ashlee Mouton Borcan, Jennifer O’Brien Howard, David Bahlinger, Christin Kuretich, Darrell D. Spell, Michael E. Weilant

In November 2021, Milliman released its fourth Hospital Indemnity (HI) Survey Premium Report. This report represents 33 carriers and $2.7 billion of inforce premium.

21 January 2022 - By Rebecca A. Sielman

Public pensions’ funded ratio rises to 85.5% in Q4, continuing its climb from lows in Q1 2020, with plans at their highest funding levels since 2016.

19 January 2022

We recap the main metrics for total liquidity for interest rate and overnight indexed swaps for December.

19 January 2022 - By Rosemary Maher

Life insurers are embracing the use of machine learning and artificial intelligence models and techniques in all areas of their business. We outline some of the use cases of these techniques in the life insurance industry.

19 January 2022 - By Rosemary Maher

We describe the economic backdrop of low interest rates and how low interest rates have affected areas such as product development, investment and asset and liability management strategies.

19 January 2022 - By Pauric Mullan, Patrick Meghen

A briefing note detailing Solvency II reporting deadlines in 2022 and the changes in the reporting framework relative to the previous year.

19 January 2022 - By Olivier Mahieux, Romain de Harlez, Sarah Huijzer

This briefing note looks at the year-end 2020 Solvency and Financial Condition Reports of a sample of non-life insurers based in Luxembourg.

19 January 2022 - By Maggie Alston, Brian Regan, Susan Silseth, Christopher Kunkel

Join our Milliman presenters for an overview of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and end-stage renal disease (ESRD) in the Medicare system.

18 January 2022 - By Adél Drew, Tatiana Egoshina, Jack Huffer

The simplistic nature of the standard formula for operational risk under Solvency II can lead to excessive capital requirements, so we offer another approach.

18 January 2022 - By Dominick Pizzano, Henrik Patel, Kenneth Barr

While key changes to deductions for compensation amounts won't take effect until 2027, publicly-held corporations need to plan for the changes now.

14 January 2022 - By Allen M. Klein, Alexandre Boumezoued, Amal Elfassihi

How to model the COVID-19 pandemic and forge a path to better risk insurance.

14 January 2022 - By Hervé Andrès, Alexandre Boumezoued

We describe a recent realistic modelling approach of equity volatility that offers advantages when using real world economic scenarios to analyze balance sheets.

14 January 2022 - By Sean Silva, Michael Halford

FAQs provide guidance to group health plans regarding coverage of OTC COVID-19 tests without participant cost sharing.

13 January 2022 - By Paul L. Correia

Insurers reported $19.1 billion in combined short-term disability and long-term disability in-force premium in 2020, an increase from $18.4 billion in 2019.

13 January 2022 - By Zohair Motiwalla

We highlight some of the challenges when incorporating negative interest rates into the modeling of the asset and liability sides of the balance sheet.

12 January 2022 - By Zorast Wadia, Charles J. Clark

Milliman 100 PFI funded ratio ends 2021 at 99.6%, the closest it’s been to full funding since 2008.

11 January 2022 - By Claire Booth, Neil Christy, Oliver Gillespie, Isabel Stansfield

We highlight the latest noteworthy items in the life insurance industry from the EIOPA, FCA and PRA.

10 January 2022 - By Jessica Gardner, Arthur Rains-McNally, Daniel Wade

We examine how various amortization methodologies react to the volatility inherent in investment markets.

10 January 2022 - By Kimberly W. Guerriero, Anne C. Kallfisch, Aaron C. Koch

Insurers with higher claim severities will face additional strains from recent disasters, leading to potentially sizable impacts on reserving and property rates.

07 January 2022

We present a roundup of the top 10 most-read articles on the Milliman Ireland website last year, such as the Solvency II 2020 Review by EIOPA

06 January 2022 - By Mary Leong

Church retirement plans may be exempt from certain requirements under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), possibly affecting how they balance core principles.

06 January 2022 - By Jake Pringle

This issue of the Bulletin explores benefit security and determining whether a plan is on track to pay retirement liabilities in defined benefit plans.

06 January 2022 - By Delbert Zamora

Explore the principle of benefit adequacy as part of total retirement income planning with church defined benefit plans.

06 January 2022 - By Aaron Shapiro

Looking at employee retirement, church defined benefit plans need to balance the core principles of benefit adequacy, equity, and security.

06 January 2022 - By Paul Sinnott, Michael Daly, Richard W. Holloway, Wing F. Wong, Chihong An, Wen Yee Lee, Stephen H. Conwill, Philip Jackson, Heerak Basu, Shamit Gupta

Most insurers in Asia have experienced steady growth in embedded value in the first half 2021.

05 January 2022 - By Daren Lockwood, Xiaohong Mo, Adam Schenck

Milliman reports 2 basis points decrease in Hedge Cost Index for VA guarantees in December.

05 January 2022

Our top 10 Insight articles list for 2021 shows how challenges like the pandemic and legislative changes have impacted our industries.

04 January 2022 - By Michael J. Peatrowsky, Joe Zienty

Annual contribution limits for retirement plans rise significantly in 2022, giving small business owners greater tax deferrals with DB and 401(k) pension plans.

04 January 2022 - By Carl A. Friedrich, Susan J. Saip

Our latest term-life insurance survey shows sales growing roughly 2% to $1.38 trillion in 2021 over 2020, with market share for term products fairly stable

03 January 2022 - By Neil Christy

The Prudential Regulation Authority proposed changes on Quantitative Reporting Templates, aiming to reduce the reporting burden for firms.

29 December 2021 - By Maarten Ruissaard, Maayke de Boer

On 10 December 2021 the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) published a consultation on the application guidance on running climate change materiality assessments and using climate change scenarios in the Own Risk and Solvency Assessment (ORSA).

27 December 2021 - By Ali LaRocco

We discuss three strategic questions for employers to ask when considering employees’ geographic access to dental providers.

27 December 2021 - By Donal McGinley, Joseph Sloan

Insurers can save time by generating automated actuarial reports using open-source tools such as Jupyter Notebook and Python.

23 December 2021 - By Raja Flores, Parth Patel, Naomi Alpert, Bruce S. Pyenson, Emanuela Taioli

The stage shift from later to earlier stage disease over the last decade was associated with improved mortality among people with lung cancer.

23 December 2021 - By Daniël van Dam, Raymond van Es, Jan Thiemen Postema

We need to start training models that reflect the world we want to live in.

23 December 2021 - By Neil Dissanayake, Peter Lin, Nima Shahroozi

In November, major equity indices and the euro fell, major bond indices were up, and risk-free rates for the euro declined.

23 December 2021 - By Neil Dissanayake, Peter Lin, Nima Shahroozi

In November, major equity indices and the euro fell, risk-free rates for the euro declined, while inflation rose.

23 December 2021 - By Neil Dissanayake, Peter Lin, Nima Shahroozi

In November, major equity indices and the pound fell, risk-free rates for the GBP and euro declined, while inflation rose

23 December 2021 - By Jason J. Petroske, Peter Fielek

We share best practices to maximize submissions for External Data Gathering Environment, a requirement under the Affordable Care Act.

23 December 2021 - By Adél Drew

Exponential growth for climate change could mean the work begin done now to reduce carbon emissions will have a lag before any change is seen.

22 December 2021 - By Kevin Pierce, Jake Klaisner, Alex Cires

The proposed changes to Medicare Part D as part of the Build Back Better Act would affect all parties involved with the program.

22 December 2021 - By Jake Klaisner, Kevin Pierce, Alex Cires

If the Build Back Better Act eventually passes the Senate in some form in 2022, it could potentially bring the largest changes to U.S. drug pricing in the history of Medicare

21 December 2021 - By Jenny Jin, Nathan Wilbanks

The study builds on the effort we began in 2014 to provide insights into variable annuity policyholder behavior.

21 December 2021 - By Kshitij Srivastava, Frank Fineis

Looking at utilization by variable annuity policyholders, we saw a decrease in GLWB withdrawal commencement rates, and withdrawal efficiency patterns unchanged

21 December 2021 - By Mary Leong, Ryan Cook

Estimated competitive retiree buyout cost rose 50 basis points to 99.9% of accounting liability in November.

20 December 2021 - By Kurt Lambrechts

Applying for IFRS 17 for the first time? Learn about the modified retrospective approach and the fair value approach.

20 December 2021 - By Andrew Netter, Jonathan B. Glowacki

Quarterly NIW composition reflects purchase market, forbearance exits continue, reserves established during 2Q and 3Q 2020 remain largely unchanged

17 December 2021 - By Jason Karcher, Andrew Bourg

Besides providers, the action affects health plans such as Medicare Advantage organizations and Part D plan sponsors, plus insurers, employers, and patients.

17 December 2021 - By Mohamed Benkhalfa, Eliott Pradat

This white paper exposes the challenges for insurers regarding cyber risks coverage.

16 December 2021 - By Stephen R. DiCenso

Examples of shifts in attitude toward climate change in the U.S. regulatory landscape.

16 December 2021 - By Brian Hartman, Courtney Larson, Christopher Kunkel, Cason Wight, Richard L. Warr

Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) affects many lives and has a large impact on health systems around the world.

16 December 2021

Our monthly report reviews 18 charts showing the main metrics for total liquidity for interest rate and overnight indexed swaps, and for those same categories by tenor.

16 December 2021 - By Neil Cantle

Regulators want insurance carriers to fold climate change into their risk management and reporting, and a top-down view can identify what matters.

16 December 2021

The MicroInsurance Centre at Milliman collaborated with five different programs to develop case studies about their journeys to building a viable climate risk insurance solution.

15 December 2021 - By Despina Pantelide, George Barrett, Veekash Badal

Reserving practice can be severely affected by operational issues, so achieving best practice should be a key consideration for all firms

15 December 2021 - By Abdal Chaudhry, Miruna Dudceac, Michael Leitschkis

Life insurance companies must produce a full risk distribution in Solvency II work to capture risk interdependencies in simulations for long-term liabilities.

15 December 2021 - By Robert Eaton

LTC actuaries want to consider that actuarial assumptions based on historical data reflect some level of labor demand and supply, and that immigration has played–and will play–an important role in this equation.

15 December 2021 - By Robert Eaton

Robert Eaton and Shawna Meyer describe the speakers and topics at this year’s Virtual LTC Medical Symposium.

14 December 2021 - By Jinnie Olson, Sam Elsherbeiny

Annuity contracts via insurance companies can offer retirement plans a way to mimic or even replace regular paychecks for retiring or laid off participants

10 December 2021 - By Chris Smith, Joseph Boschert, Mike Gaal, David C. Lewis

The hospital price transparency rule introduces new opportunities and competitive threats in the U.S. healthcare system.

10 December 2021 - By Claire Booth, Neil Christy, Oliver Gillespie, Isabel Stansfield

We highlight the latest noteworthy items in the life insurance industry from the EIOPA, including Solvency II data, along with actions by the FCA.

08 December 2021 - By Melissa Huenefeldt

Actuaries can help risk management professionals walk through various methodologies of allocating property and casualty insurance costs.

08 December 2021 - By Tyler Armstrong, Randy Beams, Robert Eaton

To maintain assumption integrity, actuaries use the modeling principle called conservation of mortality.

07 December 2021 - By Adél Drew

How BP’s recent closure of a few petrol stations led to a fuel crisis, and what we can learn from it in terms of risk management and operational resilience.

07 December 2021 - By Katie Torruco

In today’s hyper-competitive business environment, employers can benefit from dedicating resources to nurturing employee resilience in the workplace.

07 December 2021 - By Zorast Wadia, Charles J. Clark

Corporate pension funded ratio declines to 97.6% in November due to investment losses for Milliman Pension Funding Index.

06 December 2021 - By Sylvia Hagin, John Miller

What is the responsibility of an insurer in returning payments received from miscoded diagnoses?

06 December 2021 - By Allan L. Bittner

Retirement plan sponsors may have the option to pay for some plan-related expenses out of assets held in trust, but how they determine which ones?

06 December 2021 - By Robert L. Schmidt, Ellen Harrington

With the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' adjustments, employer benefits with retiree health programs will need to accommodate new limits.

06 December 2021 - By Robert Bugg, Claire Booth, Neil Christy, Florin Ginghina, Amy Nicholson, Isabel Stansfield, Jennifer van der Ree, Sarah Walker

We review the U.K. life insurance market, from Solvency II to climate change, to developments in various business themes.

02 December 2021 - By Robert L. Schmidt, Sean Silva, Kathryn Elizabeth Mohr

The No Surprises Act requires plan sponsors to comply with some of the most burdensome tasks since the Affordable Care Act.

02 December 2021 - By Sean Silva, Robert L. Schmidt

We detail the latest guidance on health insurance incentives and surcharges to encourage COVID-19 vaccinations, among other topics.

02 December 2021 - By Brian N. Anderson, Rebekah D. Bayram, Marc Guieb

We detail the latest on pharmacy news, trends, and insights, including FDA approvals of changes to COVID-19 vaccine administration

02 December 2021 - By Daren Lockwood, Xiaohong Mo, Adam Schenck

The expected hedge cost for a hypothetical GLWB block (see Index Methodology) is estimated to be 201 bps as of the end of November 2021, up 4 basis points from the previous month, driven by a decrease in long-term interest rates.

01 December 2021 - By Dave Neuman

Using data visualization software can improve the care and outcomes for populations living with chronic diseases, helping care teams catch problems early on.

01 December 2021 - By Pingni Eng, Erica Chan

As COP26 reminds us that climate change will impact the global financial system, insurers should now be thinking about stress testing and risk assessments.

30 November 2021 - By Neil De Beger

When considering risk management, a digital portfolio simulator shows how not all fund managers offering downside protection are equal.

30 November 2021 - By Jake Klaisner, Kevin Pierce, Alex Cires

We detail the significant changes from the Build Back Better Act affecting the Part D program and Medicare Part B drug reimbursement.

30 November 2021 - By Andrew B. Groth, Jonathan Riehl

Smart infrastructure systems and data platforms have the potential to make cities more efficient, requiring the development of novel risk management strategies.

30 November 2021 - By Jake Klaisner, Kevin Pierce, Alex Cires

We cover the Build Back Better Act’s provision for Medicare drug price negotiation, including Part B and Part D, benefit redesign, and other changes.

30 November 2021 - By Noah Champagne, Pamela M. Pelizzari, Sally Maraldo

The model was designed to test whether bundled, prospective, site-neutral, episode-based payments for radiation oncology services could lower Medicare expenditures while improving the quality of care.

30 November 2021 - By Eric J. Wunder, Nicholas S. Blaubach

Top-line revenue for our MPL composite grows at its fastest rate since the early 2000s, driven by more product diversification than by premium increases

30 November 2021 - By Samuel Burgess, Stuart Reynolds, Lyndsay Wrobel

We consider the impact of the pandemic to firms’ supplementary reporting metrics, and their level of Solvency II Own Funds and solvency positions.

30 November 2021 - By Alexandre Boumezoued, Leo Tondolo

Sensitivity testing with dependence has the potential for a wide range of applications in reporting, such as for Solvency II, IFRS 17, and balance sheet valuation.

30 November 2021 - By Matthew McIlvanna

The Volatility Adjustment (VA) is the most widely used Long-Term Guarantee measure under Solvency II.

30 November 2021 - By John Jenkins, Dilesh Patel

In the shift to IFRS 17, many insurance companies have turned to the fair value approach for older blocks of business when other methods can’t readily be used.

30 November 2021 - By Karen K. Rudolph

The guidance confirms that actuaries working with models have a responsibility to understand their aspects and limitations, for themselves and intended users.

29 November 2021 - By Pierre-Edouard Arrouy, Paul Bonnefoy, Alexandre Boumezoued, Yousra Cherkaoui Tangi, Grzegorz Darkiewicz-Moniuszko, Sophian Mehalla

We present a calibration technique for one complex risk neutral model, relying on neural networks and significantly reducing computational time.

29 November 2021 - By Fanny Pouget, Rémi Bellina, Mehdi Echchelh, Karol Maciejewski, Christoph Krischanitz, Bartosz Gaweda, Dominik Sznajder, Raymond van Es, Talex Diede, Kshitij Srivastava, Nathan Wilbanks, Michael Hoyer, Clement Bonnet

The emergence of data analytics and machine learning is providing insurers and reinsurers with new insights into how they drive and monitor their business.

29 November 2021 - By Neil Cantle, Abdal Chaudhry, Sinéad Clarke, Eamon Comerford, Neil Dissanayake, John Gakuya, Orlaith Lehane , Michael Leitschkis, Amy Nicholson, Sophie Smyth

Since climate change will impact insurers, we developed a useful guide to help carriers account for climate-related risks.

29 November 2021 - By Peter Thies, Rebecca Ross, Nicholas Carnaval

When it comes to pensions, how has COVID-19 affected the mortality assumptions for defined benefit plans?

29 November 2021 - By Neil Dissanayake, Nima Shahroozi , Grace Zhu

Since climate change will impact insurers, we developed a useful guide to help carriers account for climate-related risks.

29 November 2021 - By Neil Cantle, Abdal Chaudhry, Sinéad Clarke, John Gakuya, Orlaith Lehane , Michael Leitschkis, Amy Nicholson, Sophie Smyth

Since climate change will impact insurers, we developed a useful guide to help carriers account for climate-related risks.

29 November 2021 - By Robert W. Beal, Tasha S. Khan

Sales premiums for 2020 drop 5% to $381 million, largely attributable to COVID-19, our annual survey reveals.

24 November 2021 - By Sam Elsherbeiny

Individuals face the challenging decision of whether to contribute to their retirement plan offered via employee benefits, or pay down personal debt. Why not do both?

22 November 2021 - By Poojan Shah, Ram Kelkar, Brian J Olson

There are significant implications of the impending discontinuation of LIBOR and transition to SOFR for U.S. annuity liability valuations.

22 November 2021 - By Neil Dissanayake, Peter Lin, Nima Shahroozi

In October, most major equity indices rose, short-term British pound yields increased, and risk-free rates for the GBP and euro were up.

19 November 2021

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation released their Fiscal Year 2021 Annual Report, covering financial health, operations, and activities of single employer and multiemployer insurance programs.

19 November 2021 - By Jonathan B. Glowacki, Judith-Anne Brelih

As interest rates rose in the second quarter (Q2) of 2021, total mortgage originations declined.

18 November 2021 - By Ram Kelkar, Fiona Ng, Michelle Shen, James G. Stoltzfus

On average, we expect the C-1 amounts to increase in the range of 5% to 20%.

17 November 2021

We don’t know whether a market correction is around the corner, so plan sponsors should remind themselves the current good news won’t continue indefinitely.

17 November 2021 - By Robert Eaton, Tim Rozar

Learn what role trust plays in the digital world of insurance and how it has changed since the COVID-19 pandemic.

16 November 2021 - By Melissa Huenefeldt

Operational changes impact your company’s risk management, and actuaries can help you make the appropriate adjustments

15 November 2021 - By Charles J. Clark

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) extends IRS pension plan interest rate relief to 2030 and automatically extends certain compliance date deadlines for federally declared disasters.

15 November 2021 - By Spencer Marshall, Charlie Mills

We cover the key issues insurers and providers need to be thinking about in advance of Jan. 1, when the law takes effect

15 November 2021 - By Mary Leong, Ryan Cook

The index shows estimated retiree buyout cost as a percentage of accounting liability decreased in October to 102.5%, from 102.7%

12 November 2021

We recap the trends in volumes and trade counts for October.

12 November 2021 - By Chong Wen Ang, Pingni Eng, David Kong

Roughly two-thirds of respondents have already started their implementation projects.

12 November 2021 - By Joanne Buckle

By applying a systematic approach, health insurers can attempt to estimate the relative cost and mortality impact of different climate-related perils and their long-term impact.

12 November 2021 - By Joanne E. Fontana, Tory Carver, Rachel W. Madden

We detail key considerations for adding dental to Medicare Part B or as a separate offering.

11 November 2021 - By Dawilla Madsen, Dominick Pizzano

As Dec. 31 rapidly approaches, there is still time for plan sponsors to review and amend retirement plans.

10 November 2021 - By Dana Kernich

With end-of-year benefit enrollment periods rapidly approaching, here are a few takeaways that can help you reach your employees with critical information about benefit changes and timelines.

10 November 2021 - By Pingni Eng, Chong Wen Ang

Insurers have the benefit of a later IFRS 17 adoption date than other countries, but face technical implementation challenges specific to the market.

10 November 2021 - By Brent Jensen, Les Kartchner

How should employers evaluate opportunities as the number and variety of point solutions in the health and group benefits market continues to grow?

09 November 2021

Review 2022 cost-of-living adjustment figures for tax-qualified retirement plans and Social Security benefits.

09 November 2021 - By Neil Christy, Oliver Gillespie, Isabel Stansfield, James Wilkie

We highlight the latest noteworthy items from the EIOPA, ESAs, FCA, and PRA relevant to life insurance companies.

09 November 2021 - By Scott Chow, Clement Bonnet, Julian Man, Michael Daly

Understand fulfillment ratios and how the Milliman Fulfillment Ratio Index's reporting in 2020 compares to 2019.

08 November 2021 - By Claire Booth, Dana-Marie Dick, Adél Drew, Lewis Duffy, Amy Nicholson, James Wilkie

This primer summarises key points to consider in addressing climate-related financial risks and opportunities.

08 November 2021 - By Samantha D’Anna, Nolan S Kurtz

Understanding beneficiary characteristics helps key entities in the Part D program provide services that maximize value for the populations they serve.

08 November 2021 - By Penny Edlund

Design and implementation of new care models mean a major undertaking for many plans, yet optimizing their value could bring substantial rewards for MCOs.

08 November 2021 - By Noriyuki Kogo, Franck Ludwig, Takeshi Niwa, Russell Ward, Freek Zandbergen, Sihong Zhu

Learn why insurers need to have a well-thought-out prescription and they need to act on it.

08 November 2021 - By Jack M. Chmielewski, Daniel W. Colby

What impacts could a proposal in the Senate infrastructure bill have on the future of defined benefit plans?

08 November 2021 - By Sanjay Mohan

It’s almost a sure bet that the process of disruptive innovation will improve healthcare, as it has for so many other industries.

05 November 2021 - By Zorast Wadia, Charles J. Clark

Strong investment returns drive Milliman 100 PFI funded ratio to 98.1%.

05 November 2021 - By Neil Dissanayake

Considering a more holistic retirement planning approach accounts for potential shocks to regular expenses, including energy.

04 November 2021 - By David Koenig, Robert J. Pipich, Michael J. Polakowski

Deferred or avoided care in 2020 can cause lower risk scores and revenue in 2021, which needs to be considered when developing projections for 2023

03 November 2021 - By Brian A. Sweatman, Louisa Bonds

We cover the basics of capitation and explore some of the challenges that are unique to commercial health insurance lines of business.

01 November 2021 - By Matthew Smith, Brent Jensen, Colleen Norris, Jacob Anderson

We look at the available data for how ACOs have performed and evolved over time to better understand what MSSP features may be associated with financial success.

01 November 2021 - By Daren Lockwood, Xiaohong Mo, Adam Schenck

The expected hedge cost for a hypothetical GLWB block (see Index Methodology) is estimated to be 197 bps as of the end of October 2021, up 2 basis points from the previous month, driven by a decrease in long-term interest rates.

29 October 2021 - By Brian N. Anderson, Rebekah D. Bayram, Marc Guieb

Highlights include CVS Health and OptumRx announcement, White House action plan, and FDA authorizes COVID-19 booster doses.

26 October 2021 - By Wen Yee Lee, Alex Bryant, Shir Lynn Ong

This e-Alert reviews the position of participating funds in Singapore at the end of 2020, based on public information published in 2021.

26 October 2021 - By Mike A. Bergerson, Andrew H. Dalton, Andrew Duxbury, Robert Eaton, James G. Stoltzfus

The Society of Actuaries Research Institute retained Milliman, Inc. (Milliman) to conduct a survey on the impact of COVID-19 on long-term care (LTC) insurance mortality, voluntary lapse, and morbidity experience.

26 October 2021 - By Jim Mulshine, Bruce S. Pyenson

Making screening for lung cancer as common as those for breast and colorectal cancer would substantially reduce the death rate of the disease.

26 October 2021 - By Claire Booth, Adél Drew, Amy Nicholson, James Wilkie

With insurers being required to embed financial risks from climate change into their frameworks, we highlight recent updates and cover some key considerations.

25 October 2021 - By Rebecca A. Sielman, Richard L. Gordon

Surging market returns have lifted pension assets, resulting in an estimated aggregated funded ratio mid-year of 85.0%, up from 70.7% at the same point in 2020.

22 October 2021 - By Frederick (Fritz) Busch, Dustin J. Grzeskowiak

We outline key product considerations for those designing, developing, managing, or purchasing primary-care subscription-based products.

22 October 2021 - By Melissa Huenefeldt

We discuss why a carrier’s need for collateral can represent a large portion of an insured’s cash or revolving debt and how it works.

22 October 2021 - By Nina M. Lantz, Yutaro Seki , Aaron Shapiro

More on the finer points of ARP relief: We detail the recently issued guidance for defined benefit plans to consider going forward

22 October 2021 - By Mary Leong, Ryan Cook

With pension risk transfers on the rise, plan sponsors need to monitor the annuity buyout market when considering a plan termination or de-risking strategy.

21 October 2021 - By Neil Dissanayake, Peter Lin, Nima Shahroozi

September delivers some ups and downs: Equity and bond markets mostly fell, risk-free rates rose, UK inflation increased, and volatility notched upward.

20 October 2021 - By Jenica Ghorashi

Markets were mixed over the quarter as higher volatility returned, providing minimal results following strong performance in the first half of the year.

19 October 2021 - By Hana Ghazali, Derek Ling, Michael Daly

New developments give potential for Hong Kong insurers, although various challenges will need to be overcome.

18 October 2021 - By David Kirk, Avashni Rossouw, Ishkar Singh

Effective executives and boards are challenging their thinking and decisions as they manage the ongoing impact of the pandemic.

15 October 2021 - By Robert Eaton, Jennifer O’Brien Howard

Adding benefit riders to policies provides meaningful coverage for those who need it, and carriers usually can do so at a relatively low cost.

14 October 2021 - By Zorast Wadia, Charles J. Clark, Bret Linton

Here to discuss pension risk mitigation versus risk transfer are Zorast Wadia, a principal with Milliman, and Bret Linton, the Employee Benefits Practice director at Milliman.

14 October 2021 - By Brian Colgan, Chong Wen Ang, Philip Jackson

What challenges are insurers facing when implementing PSAK 74 for companies in Indonesia?

14 October 2021

Our monthly report reviews 20 charts showing the main metrics for total liquidity for interest rate and overnight indexed swaps, and for those same categories by tenor.

13 October 2021 - By Michael Paczolt

As analytics move increasingly into operations, we aim to demystify the topic and bring it easily within operational reach to claims professionals.

13 October 2021

IRS Notice 2021-57 was just released regarding the temporary relief provisions other than the special financial assistance program provided by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP).

12 October 2021 - By Joanne Buckle, Natasha Singhal

UK health insurers showed strong positions at year-end 2020, with a weighted average SCR coverage ratio of 198%, versus 178% in 2019.

11 October 2021 - By Jonathan B. Glowacki, Judith-Anne Brelih

Unlike 2007, a low inventory, higher costs for materials, and labor shortages now drive price appreciation, rather than loose underwriting and speculation.

11 October 2021 - By Zorast Wadia, Charles J. Clark

Asset losses and increased liabilities leave the Milliman 100 PFI funded ratio flat compared to August.

11 October 2021 - By Jonathan B. Glowacki

Evaluating a CRT transaction requires the ability to process large loan pools, the structure of the transaction, and outcomes over a range of possible outcomes

08 October 2021 - By David Kirk, Richard Taylor, Avashni Rossouw, Susan Melmed, Chris van der Merwe

Rollercoaster quarter included rioting that caused widespread damage and substantial claims, while some insurers announce mandatory vaccination plans.

08 October 2021 - By Chris Giese, Allen J. Schmitz, Kevin Brown, Annie Gunnlaugsson

First in a series of articles, we discuss the features of public long-term care programs and actuarial considerations surrounding them.

07 October 2021 - By Jill Van Den Bos, Shelley Moss

While some employers have started to charge the unvaccinated as much as $200 more in premium per member per month, we estimate a modest gap of about $9 to $46

07 October 2021 - By Neil Christy, Oliver Gillespie, Isabel Stansfield, James Wilkie

We cover the latest noteworthy items from the EIOPA, ESAs, EC, PRA and FCA relevant to life insurance companies.

07 October 2021 - By Brian Colgan, Halim Gunawan, Muhammad Ismail, Richard W. Holloway

Life in Indonesia: Our review of industry developments from the second quarter.

07 October 2021 - By Jamie Shooks

We highlight key metrics for risk managers and others to focus on when dealing with actuarial reports.

07 October 2021 - By Yuri Liu, Sheryl Hou, Guanjun Jiang

Actuaries can help design and improve programs to optimize performance and economic value by conducting scenario testing on program changes and other analyses.

04 October 2021 - By Dominick Pizzano, Henrik Patel, Kenneth Barr

We highlight key issues from the IRS’s latest revision of its audit guide for plans, including the agency’s strategy and how sponsors can prepare.

04 October 2021 - By Diana Dodu, Marcin Krzykowski

New proposed regulation towards liberalisation of the market could catalyze growth and improve profitability, particularly given the exit of a leading player.

04 October 2021 - By Kimberly W. Guerriero

For property insurers, increasing construction costs translate into evaluating the policy limits of their current policyholders and the need for higher reserves on open claims.

04 October 2021 - By Daren Lockwood, Xiaohong Mo, Adam Schenck

The expected hedge cost for a hypothetical GLWB block (see Index Methodology) is estimated to be 195 bps as of the end of September 2021, down 11 basis points from the previous month, driven by an increase in long-term interest rates.

01 October 2021 - By Christopher Clarke

We look at some of the major losses that have occurred since 2017 and why they have proved challenging to set reserves for, creating heightened uncertainty in the valuations of ILS funds.

01 October 2021 - By Nathan Redmond, Aisling Barrett

Following the Central Bank of Ireland’s recent publication of the Solvency and Financial Condition Reports (SFCRs) for insurers based in Ireland, we have produced our annual analysis of the key figures for life insurers at year-end 2020.

30 September 2021 - By Zorast Wadia, Richard J. Bottelli Jr.

By embracing the flexibility and customization options that come with hybrid plans, employers can create retirement incentives that meet their specific financial and human resources goals.

30 September 2021 - By Samuel Burgess, Neil Christy, Stuart Reynolds, William Smith , Isabel Stansfield

Average SCR coverage ratio was 223% at year-end 2020, down from 232% in 2019, but the European life insurance market remains well capitalised.

30 September 2021 - By Julia M. Friedman, Mary Yeh

We discuss five key takeaways from our analysis of optional supplemental benefits offered by Medicare Advantage Organizations over the last four years

30 September 2021 - By Rachel Soich

Action items include purchasing cyber insurance, thoroughly understanding D&O policies, and instituting cyber risk prevention and mitigation strategies.

30 September 2021 - By Joanne E. Fontana, Connie Tang

Monitoring the most popular dental benefits and determining why beneficiaries are switching plans will help MA organizations understand their consumers better.

29 September 2021 - By Marc Guieb

We cover the industry highlights, including news items, FDA approvals and launches, and clinical trials.

29 September 2021 - By Larry Baeder, David D. Evans

Utilizing available data, Milliman has developed a take-up rate model that can help private insurers better understand how to test their products, acquire new business, and grow their written premium.

29 September 2021 - By Courtney R. White

We cover the basics of offering employer group waiver plans (EGWPs) and the potential opportunities for health plans to enroll employer group retirees.

29 September 2021 - By Ken Lim , Tananya Santipinyolert, Tharan Ganesan

We explore how ASEAN countries have been gradually opening up their borders, along with the progress shown by insurers in the region to adapt to the evolving situation and its repercussions for the travel insurance products of tomorrow.

28 September 2021

Spencer Glendon, Founder of Probable Futures, joined Milliman’s Nancy Watkins for a dialogue focused on what business leaders, policymakers, and community organizations need to be doing now to address the growing impacts of climate change.

28 September 2021 - By Lalit Baveja

A duty of care beyond statistics and numbers is often the subject of focus when discussing workforce health.

28 September 2021 - By Lalit Baveja

Understand the influence that activities measured by wearable devices may have on overall levels of health, based on how significant the HRAs consider these activities to be.

27 September 2021 - By Eric P. Krafcheck

Insurers need to adapt to rising demand for transparency and accountability on how their business practices contribute to potential systemic societal inequities

27 September 2021 - By Jamie Shooks, David Bahlinger, Michael E. Weilant, Christin Kuretich, Stacy Koron

Insurers start to target pet insurance due to high growth and the perception that it remains an untapped market.

27 September 2021 - By Courtney R. White

We answer the question: How do recent trends in inflation impact healthcare?

27 September 2021 - By Ellyn Russo

Influenza cases dropped to historic lows in 2020. In this podcast episode, Milliman analyzes health insurance data to explore this health care trend and its implications.

23 September 2021

The 2020 fiscal year Projections Report forecasts the financial condition of the PBGC’s multiemployer insurance program over the next 10 years, and its 2020 Multiemployer Program Quinquennial Report (“5-Year Report”).

23 September 2021 - By Andrew Provines, Mary Ann McMahon

Learn more on whether single parent captive insurers themselves earn higher profits than other forms of insurance.

20 September 2021 - By Richard C. Frese

Social inflation has disrupted the economy and insurance industry, but how do we measure and mitigate the impact?

20 September 2021 - By Andrew Netter, Jonathan B. Glowacki

Historically high purchase volume drove strong NIW for the industry in 2Q 2021.

20 September 2021 - By Joel S. Chansky, Michael C. Meehan

We illustrate a captive insurance program using health insurance that a company provides to its employees.

17 September 2021 - By Zorast Wadia, Bret Linton

Given the greater flexibility and lower costs provided under ARPA’s provisions, plan sponsors should seize this moment to reevaluate and optimize their risk management strategies by considering the whole picture.

16 September 2021 - By Sean Silva, Kathryn Elizabeth Mohr

Learn more on the recently released FAQ and its potential effects on plan sponsors and participants.

16 September 2021 - By Andrew Provines, Stephen R. DiCenso

Review our estimates for future costs of the U.S. workers’ compensation system for vaccine injuries attributable to the employer mandates.

16 September 2021 - By Rong Yi, Wendy Liu

Learn how Diagnosis Related Groups could be a good solution for China's healthcare reform proposals as payment methodology.

16 September 2021 - By Hervé Andrès, Pierre-Edouard Arrouy, Paul Bonnefoy, Alexandre Boumezoued, Sophian Mehalla, Julien Vedani

Learn why the best economic scenario generator solution provides the choice of different methods and what challenges real world models pose.

16 September 2021

ESTR volumes way up, EURIBOR swaps more muted, and SONIA volumes well above GBP LIBOR swaps across all tenors.

15 September 2021 - By Erica Reijula, Adam Singleton, Joseph Boschert, Mike Gaal, David C. Lewis

Learn about challenges surrounding hospital price transparency data and if meaningful information exists.

15 September 2021 - By Neil Dissanayake, Peter Lin, Nima Shahroozi

Review this report recapping the state of the local and global markets at month end.

15 September 2021 - By Mary Leong, Ryan Cook

Estimated retiree buyout cost as a percentage of accounting liability decreased by 10 bps from 102.3% to 102.2% in August.

14 September 2021 - By Kathryn Rains-McNally, John M. Pickering

Recent changes in health plan and hospital transparency rules have potential to expand transparency to commercial market.

13 September 2021 - By Joel S. Chansky, Arlene M. Richardson

Understand the key provisions in the 2017 Federal Income Tax Legislation, and consider these strategies to optimize after-tax income.

10 September 2021 - By Derek Newton, Ian Penfold, Vidyut Vardhan

European non-life insurers saw an average solvency coverage ratio of 241% for year-end 2020, slightly down from 245% a year earlier.

10 September 2021 - By Neil Christy, Oliver Gillespie, Isabel Stansfield, James Wilkie

We cover the latest noteworthy items from the EIOPA and PRA in the UK, organized by agency and date.

09 September 2021 - By Zorast Wadia, Charles J. Clark

The Milliman 100 PFI funded ratio rose to 97.1 percent, ending two-month skid in funded status losses.

09 September 2021 - By Florin Ginghina, Lewis Duffy

Many companies will be keen to submit responses or at least understand the potential impact any changes to the Solvency II regime may have on balance sheets

08 September 2021 - By Hervé Andrès, Pierre-Edouard Arrouy, Alexandre Boumezoued, Eric Serant

We explore a new methodology to show lower equity shocks, since stock markets are mean-reverting and insurers hold equities for the long-term.

03 September 2021 - By Adel Cherchali, Abdal Chaudhry, Michael Leitschkis, Julien Vedani

Proxy models are not always easy to validate, so we present a useful framework to make LSMC troubleshooting more accurate.

03 September 2021 - By David Kirk

New regulations encourage innovation and transformation in South Africa’s insurance industry

02 September 2021 - By Daren Lockwood, Xiaohong Mo, Adam Schenck

The expected hedge cost for a hypothetical GLWB block (see Index Methodology) is estimated to be 206 bps as of the end of August 2021, up 2 basis points from the previous month, driven by a decrease in long-term interest rates.

02 September 2021 - By Durand Oliver

Risk may be rising, but investors still have time to review key lessons to avoid making the same mistakes that have destroyed portfolios in past crises.

01 September 2021 - By Eric J. Wunder, Sarah L. Rice

In the MPL market for the second quarter 2021, premium growth accelerates, net income improves and combine ratios fall.

01 September 2021

For this PULSE survey, we looked at employee financial well-being in the face of an enduring global pandemic.

01 September 2021 - By Susan Melmed, David Kirk

The Prudential Authority (PA) published in July the draft Prudential Standard on public disclosures for insurers (PDI) and related guidance notice (GN) for public comment.

31 August 2021 - By Marc Guieb

Pharmacy Briefing is a monthly summary of select U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approvals and launches, treatment guidelines and research updates, and other newsworthy events that have the potential to impact commercial drug utilization or costs.

31 August 2021 - By Eoin King, Ankur Jain

This paper covers a number of areas including how LACDT is calculated under the Solvency II regulations, how firms can justify an allowance for LACDT, the modelling of future taxable profits, the practical challenges in recognition of LACDT, amongst others.

30 August 2021 - By Ernst van Bruggen

Learn more on the proposed pension reform in the Netherlands, as we evaluate the accounting consequences for companies, reporting under the International Accounting Standards or under the U.S. Accounting Standards Codification.

25 August 2021 - By Paul Sinnott, Michael Daly, Richard W. Holloway, Wing F. Wong, Chihong An, Wen Yee Lee, Stephen H. Conwill

While gross written premium fell by 0.4%, embedded value grew by 13.2%.

25 August 2021 - By Priya Sharma, Neha Taneja

Buyer beware: Effective due diligence of targets demands a unique knowledge base of current market pricing and market views on potential transactions.

25 August 2021 - By Ryan Cook, Mary Leong

Estimated retiree buyout cost decreases a tad in July, by 10 basis points, to 102.3% of accounting liability.

24 August 2021 - By Robert Bachler, Mike Hamachek, Zach Hatzenbeler

Review results from Milliman's 2021 survey covering the employer stop-loss market.

24 August 2021 - By Carl X. Ashenbrenner, S. Andrew Kline

U.S. general aviation premium increased 33% over the last two years, and market profitability has been consistently negative over the last five.

23 August 2021 - By Neil Dissanayake, Peter Lin, Nima Shahroozi

Our snapshot for end of July: Equity markets mixed, credit markets bounce back, UK inflation up, and volatility on the rise.

20 August 2021 - By Peter Franken, Dominik Sznajder, Romain de Harlez, Floris Brull

This briefing note looks at the year-end 2020 Solvency and Financial Condition Reports (SFCRs) of selected non-life insurers based in the Netherlands

20 August 2021

The global pandemic has highlighted the importance of technology adoption for our workforce to connect and collaborate.

20 August 2021 - By Garry Simmons , Tammy McAllister, Ryan Hart

For this survey, we looked at how employers and plan sponsors are addressing plan funding as well as how they are adopting more focused provider network solutions to help participants make better and more informed healthcare decisions. Here’s how our survey played out.

20 August 2021 - By Charles J. Clark

These year-over-year increases for tax-qualified employee benefit retirement plans are expected to be greater than those that produced the 2021 IRS limits.

18 August 2021 - By Julie Cannaday, Nancy Kariel

We detail proven components of successful lump-sum window campaigns that result in a win-win for plan sponsors and participants.

18 August 2021 - By Joanne Buckle

Examine different facets of health insurance through an eco-friendly lens.

18 August 2021 - By Brian N. Anderson, David Cusick

Milliman’s Payment Integrity Tool and Mastercard’s AI Express Tool identified $239 million in healthcare fraud, waste and abuse.

17 August 2021 - By David Bahlinger, Stuart D. Rachlin

We surveyed 20 key players to gauge the impact of the pandemic on the industry, providing a benchmark for all on various elements of the business.

17 August 2021 - By Nina M. Lantz, Rex Barker, Timothy L. Connor, William Wade

The aggregate funded percentage for multiemployer plans is at its highest point since 2007, estimated to be 92% as of June 30, up from 88% at the end of 2020.

16 August 2021 - By Rong Yi

Despite slowdown in population growth, China’s commercial health insurance market still has a lot of room to grow for the foreseeable future.

13 August 2021 - By Charles J. Clark, Casey B. Baldwin

Milliman consultants help plan sponsors understand the IRS’ guidance under notice 2021-48 and how it will impact defined benefit pension plans.

10 August 2021 - By David P. Mirkin, Will Fox

Historically low MLRs give commercial insurers a unique opportunity to make targeted investments in quality improvement and efficiency measures.

09 August 2021 - By Andrew Gilchrist, Claire Booth, Kapil Relwani, Sahil Bhandari

Market participants have until Sept. 30 to submit comments on the FCA’s proposals regarding the disclosure documents they provide to retail investors post-Brexit.

09 August 2021 - By Neil Christy, Oliver Gillespie, Isabel Stansfield, James Wilkie

We chronicle the latest noteworthy items in the regulatory landscape for life insurance companies in the UK, organized by agency and date.

09 August 2021 - By Zorast Wadia, Charles J. Clark

The Milliman 100 PFI funded ratio continues its recent slide, to 95.8 percent in July, down from 97.1 percent in June, as lower interest rates increase liabilities

06 August 2021 - By Maarten Ruissaard, Kendall Carolissen

A more unified approach across Europe means certain insurers and supervisors need to adjust their approach to comply with the revised guidelines.

05 August 2021 - By Jonathan B. Glowacki, Judith-Anne Brelih

GSE mortgage default risk increases for first time since 2019, to 1.52% for loans originated in the first quarter, up from 1.38% in the fourth quarter 2020.

04 August 2021 - By Anders Larson, Mackenzie Egan, Robbie Richards, Cory Gusland

We analyzed recent MSSP results for ACOs, and found that drivers of recent success are quite different from our report in 2015, and in some cases the opposite.

04 August 2021 - By Lalit Baveja, Deepika Jain

We summarise different methodologies adopted by healthcare stakeholders to measure medication adherence, and offer some advancements in standardizing this critical metric.

03 August 2021 - By Mark Whatley, Juraidah Hussain

The number of accounts shows an even participation between the genders, but member balances for men are about 10% higher than those of women.

03 August 2021 - By Daren Lockwood, Xiaohong Mo, Adam Schenck

The expected hedge cost for a hypothetical GLWB block (see Index Methodology1) is estimated to be 204 bps as of the end of July 2021, up 7 basis points from the previous month, driven by a decrease in long-term interest rates.

02 August 2021 - By Robert L. Schmidt, Eric Walters

We present our latest numbers on how much healthcare will cost retirees going forward.

02 August 2021 - By Vanessa M. Vaag, Charles J. Clark

Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Notice 2021-48 has been released with compliance guidance under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) for single employer defined benefit (DB) pension plan sponsors and their U.S. tax-qualified retirement plan advisors.

02 August 2021 - By Richard C. Frese

As Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson and passengers make it to space, a new area of risk arises for the insurance industry.

30 July 2021 - By Charlie Howell, Kapil Relwani

We summarize recent guidance, which covers how insurers can harness the benefits of AI, address the risks it generates, and promote trust in its use.

30 July 2021 - By Leena Chakma Laloo, Lalit Baveja

With an urgent need to bring cost inflation into a sustainable range, we examine best practices in reducing spending, while maintaining or improving patient outcomes.

29 July 2021 - By Claire Booth, Neil Christy, Jessica Crowson, Lewis Duffy, Florin Ginghina, Ian Humphries, Stuart Reynolds, Sarah Walker, Sihong Zhu

While the PRA stresses QIS should not be viewed as policy proposals, firms should consider the impact the exercise could have on their balance sheets.

28 July 2021 - By Russell Ward, John Jenkins

We summarise key points from our engrossing and wide-ranging discussion with senior insurance investment professionals in July.

23 July 2021 - By Clement Bonnet, Brian Colgan, Michael Daly, Sharon Huang, Farzana Ismail, Philip Jackson, Sung Hoon Kim, Atsushi Okawa, Wing F. Wong

After a wave of new regulations for companies, this executive summary provides a high-level update to our last report from 2020.

23 July 2021 - By Nina M. Lantz, Yutaro Seki , Aaron Shapiro

Multiemployer Review: We cover the latest guidance issued in July.

23 July 2021 - By Neil Dissanayake, Peter Lin, Nima Shahroozi

Keeping you apprised: View snapshot on the local market and beyond.

23 July 2021 - By Jenica Ghorashi

Markets were up broadly over the quarter as the global economic recovery continued.

23 July 2021 - By Mary Leong, Ryan Cook

Average estimated retiree buyout increased in June to 102.4%, up from 102.0%, while the competitive pricing trend decreased to 100.0%, down from 99.7%

23 July 2021 - By Derek Newton, Ian Penfold, Marc Smillie

A comprehensive macro and micro view of the latest EU SFCRs for UK and Gibraltar carriers.

22 July 2021 - By Christin Kuretich

I’d like to examine the word "strategy" not as a buzzword, but as a guide. Taking a step back—what does strategy mean, anyway?

21 July 2021 - By Chris Beck, Blake Fleisher

Following AXA’s decision to scale back underwriting insurance that reimburses payments, we examine how companies can analyze whether to pay ransom themselves

21 July 2021 - By Neil Christy, John Jenkins, Stuart Reynolds

A time of transition: Considerations for the future regulatory landscape in the United Kingdom

21 July 2021 - By Rebecca A. Sielman

Funded status soars to 82.6%, up from 79%, buoyed by strong market returns, with deficit falling below $1 trillion for the first time for this Milliman index.

19 July 2021 - By Brian Fomby

The right approach will result in better use of the team and technology, greater retention of talent, and a more successful outcome of the transformation

19 July 2021 - By Pang-Hsiang Chye, Ken Lim , Tananya Santipinyolert, Tarinee Sriboonchaichusakul

The latest market info and more: Overall premiums up 4.3% in early 2021 year over year, while net loss ratio edges 1.6% lower.

19 July 2021 - By Brian Colgan, Halim Gunawan, Richard W. Holloway

Life in Indonesia: Our review of industry developments from the first quarter.

19 July 2021 - By Robert Eaton, Missy Gordon

This podcast episode explores aging-in-place, including potential policy changes, implications for payers and policyholders, recent innovations, and trends such as telehealth.

16 July 2021

ESTR volumes drop again in June, while volumes for EURIBOR swaps trading remain stable, and those for SONIA continue overtaking GPB LIBOR swaps

15 July 2021 - By Tyler Armstrong, Randy Beams, Robert Eaton

The preferred solution for Med Supp modeling is a modern actuarial modeling software platform because of the effective risk governance framework, efficient assumption management, logical inputs, and the capability of modeling complex variable interactions.

12 July 2021 - By Zorast Wadia, Charles J. Clark

Decline in discount rate pushes funded status downward in June to 97.2 percent, from 98.8 percent in May, giving up 12 percent of gains from eight-month streak of increases.

09 July 2021

Take note of the eligibility criteria for plans to apply to receive a one-time cash payment to pay all benefits through 2051.

09 July 2021 - By Neil Christy, Oliver Gillespie, William Smith , Isabel Stansfield

Keeping you apprised on UK life insurance with our summary of regulatory developments for June.

08 July 2021 - By Simon Ho

Milliman explains in a Q&A with financial advisors how SmartShield works and why it provides a compelling reason to stay invested through all market conditions.

08 July 2021 - By Carl A. Friedrich, Susan J. Saip

Our comprehensive 2020 survey covers key issues in the markets for universal life, indexed universal life and variable universal life.

07 July 2021 - By Jeremy D. Palmer, Christopher T. Pettit, Ian M. McCulla, Cameron Kinnick

We review various key metrics, such as the composite underwriting ratio increasing to 3% in 2020 due to COVID-19, versus less than 1% in other years.

07 July 2021 - By Daren Lockwood, Xiaohong Mo, Adam Schenck

The expected hedge cost for a hypothetical GLWB block (see Index Methodology1) is estimated to be 197 bps as of the end of June 2021, up 13 basis points from the previous month, driven by a decrease in long-term interest rates.

06 July 2021 - By Stephanie R. Sorenson

For employers that would like to attract and retain this tech-savvy group, offering retirement benefits and educating employees on them can set companies apart.

06 July 2021 - By Andrew Henning, David Kirk

Insurer beware: Before more guidance from South African regulators becomes available, we offer our approach to calculating the SAM non-life risk margin.

06 July 2021 - By Kevin Manning, Paul Marron, Eamon Comerford

Commercial and residential mortgages can give European life insurers meaningful returns in the search for yield.

06 July 2021 - By Bryan Sklar , Mary Hart

Hedge your bets: It is in the best interest of the plan and its participants to explore all of your options for completing a DB plan termination project.

02 July 2021 - By David Bahlinger, Ashlee Mouton Borcan, Darrell D. Spell, Michael E. Weilant

Our report on the supplement market shows the effects of COVID-19: Inforce premium rose only 1.2% to $62 billion in 2020 from 2019, but still a positive sign.

02 July 2021 - By David Kirk, Richard Taylor, Avashni Rossouw, Susan Melmed, Chris van der Merwe

Our second quarter recap covers the country’s latest developments relevant to insurers.

02 July 2021 - By Stephanie R. Sorenson, Shelly Borden

These plans are not subject to ERISA, but it’s important to understand where IRS rules and regulations are still relevant, and where separate guidelines apply.

01 July 2021 - By Eric J. Wunder, S. Andrew Kline

First-quarter financial results for medical professional liability specialty writers show effect of dwindling releases

01 July 2021 - By Eric J. Wunder, Chad C. Karls

01 July 2021 - By Dominick Pizzano, Henrik Patel, Kenneth Barr

Best practices for NDCP sponsors: Review of current state of top-hat participation and reporting rules.

01 July 2021 - By Andy McBeth, Charlie Mills, Danjie Zhou

We estimate 2021 commercial reimbursement for medical services to be about 190% of fully-loaded Medicare, with a big difference between facility and professional.

30 June 2021 - By Trever Mertz

With relentless annual increases in legal costs for companies, we answer some questions on spend management platforms, clarifying their key distinctions.

28 June 2021 - By Ellyn Russo, Thomas Pu, David V. Williams, Melody Craff, Jennifer R. Cohen

Did the influenza virus also follow stay-at-home orders for 2020-21 season? We offer three hypotheses to explain a 94% drop in cases.

28 June 2021 - By David E. Forbes

Sorting it all out: This report summarizes the main features and differences for FASB, IFRS and statutory accounting.

28 June 2021 - By Andrew Netter, Jonathan B. Glowacki

Continued strong NIW, movement in quarterly market share among insurers, improvements in IIF performance, and an update on MILN issuances to-date

25 June 2021 - By Mary Leong, Ryan Cook

De-risking continues to get less costly: Estimated retiree buyout cost slips 40 basis points in May to 102.0%, continuing four-year and 2020 downward trends.

24 June 2021 - By Esther Peterson

We analyze the problem of student debt and how student loan matches (SLiMs) by employers could mitigate the problem. Should this solution should be considered?

24 June 2021 - By Neil Dissanayake, Peter Lin, Nima Shahroozi

Keeping you apprised: View snapshot on the local market and beyond.

23 June 2021 - By Victor Huang

Older investors need to be particularly cognizant of controlling volatility and minimizing the impact of sustained market drawdowns

23 June 2021 - By Heidi tenBroek, Rebecca Schiffer

Using inclusive language consistently and pervasively sends a strong message that inclusivity is a value of your organization. Your employees will notice.

22 June 2021 - By Austin Barrington, Joseph Boschert, Mike Gaal, David C. Lewis

Stragglers to the party: Only 61% of providers have posted machine-readable files, and there’s a wide variance of data quality among those reporting.

21 June 2021 - By Mark Whatley, Juraidah Hussain

The female-to-male ratio of long-term savings in Singapore improved to 90.7% in 2019, up from 85.4% in 2009, signaling a narrowing of the gender gap.

18 June 2021

May 2021: ESTR volumes drop, EURIBOR volume stable, and SONIA volumes well above GPB LIBOR swaps

18 June 2021 - By Claire Armstrong-Hann, Mark C. Olleman, Arthur Rains-McNally

To answer this question, we discuss how trustees should first address the big picture and examine a plan’s balance between benefits, contributions, and risks.

18 June 2021 - By Michael Paczolt

Learn how to maximize your ROI by integrating your claims data with AI.

18 June 2021 - By Heidi tenBroek, Sharon Stocker

Milliman case study: How we helped a company needing to cut its workforce convince 35% of participants to voluntarily accept early retirement.

17 June 2021 - By Garry Simmons , Tammy McAllister, Ryan Hart

We take the pulse of group health plans: Our survey shows how companies are positioning their offerings as life returns to a new normal.

16 June 2021 - By Durand Oliver

Why downside protection, an effective risk management technique used by insurers, is the way to safeguard investment portfolios from extended market downturns.

14 June 2021 - By Neil Christy, Oliver Gillespie, William Smith , Isabel Stansfield

Keeping you apprised on UK life insurance: Check out our summary of regulatory developments for May.

07 June 2021 - By Nancy P. Watkins

The need to cross-pollinate: Milliman gathers industry leaders to discuss climate impacts and solutions, working to solve the problem of climate resilience.

04 June 2021 - By Elizabeth Anne Jackson, Brenda Runyan, Luke Metz, James Kenney

Evaluating multiyear payment arrangements? Assess retention rates for patients with rare diseases.

04 June 2021 - By Zorast Wadia, Heidi tenBroek

Once-in-a-lifetime financial crises push Fortune 100 companies to financial stability.

04 June 2021 - By Zorast Wadia, Charles J. Clark

Ever so close to full funding: The Milliman 100 Pension Funding Index increases to 98.8 percent in May, up from 98.4 percent in April, as gains eclipse rate decreases

04 June 2021 - By Conor Callaghan , Eoin King

Recovery plan requirements update: This briefing note summarises the published regulations and guidelines of the Central Bank of Ireland (CBI).

03 June 2021 - By Daren Lockwood, Xiaohong Mo, Adam Schenck

The expected hedge cost for a hypothetical GLWB block (see Index Methodology1 ) is estimated to be 184 bps as of the end of May 2021, up 2 basis points from the previous month, driven by a decrease in long-term interest rates.

02 June 2021 - By Greg O. Callahan, Marc Guieb

With PBMs, is it best to go with a standard or custom formulary, or a hybrid of the two? We discuss the considerations to help plan sponsors choose the best option.

01 June 2021 - By Daniel Wade, Jessica Gardner, Arthur Rains-McNally

Public pension funding policies have implications, so we present plan sponsors with a framework to understand their choice of amortization method.

01 June 2021 - By Pierre-Edouard Arrouy, Charles Boddele , Grzegorz Darkiewicz-Moniuszko, Russell Ward

While setting the overall discount rate under IFRS 17 might seem overwhelming, we give some practical considerations to get the job done.

27 May 2021 - By Patrick Meghen, James Johnston

In this briefing note we discuss some of the main items for firms to consider in this proposed guidance.

27 May 2021 - By Paul R. Houchens, David M. Liner, Annie Man, Andrew L. Naugle, Doug Norris, Scott A. Weltz

Our 2021 healthcare trends report predicts that healthcare spending will grow by 8.4% to $28,256 for a family of four.

26 May 2021 - By Bruce R. Mitton

You probably aren’t lucky enough to benefit from the traditional company retirement plans of old, but buying an annuity might be the next best thing.

24 May 2021 - By Donal McGinley

Why are actuaries started using Python programming language? Learn more in this briefing note.

21 May 2021

ESTR volumes way up, EURIBOR swaps more muted, and SONIA volumes well above GBP LIBOR swaps across all tenors.

21 May 2021 - By Chris Giese, Annie Gunnlaugsson, Evan Pollock

LTC brief: The number of individuals with long-term care insurance slightly declined over the years, but private claim counts rose over 50% over the past decade, surpassing 275,000 in 2019.

19 May 2021 - By Neil Dissanayake, Peter Lin, Nima Shahroozi

Our April snapshot of the U.K. and beyond for Solvency II rates and the markets in 25 charts and tables.

19 May 2021 - By Mary Leong, Ryan Cook

Retiree buyout cost edges down 30 basis points in April to 102.4%.

18 May 2021 - By Brian Z. Brown, Rachel Soich, Christopher Fredericks

Protect yourself: How errors and omissions coverage can safeguard against potential lawsuits for professional services firms.

18 May 2021 - By Zorast Wadia

Defined benefit pension funding gets a new life: Nine considerations for corporate plan sponsors after the passage of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.

17 May 2021 - By Sinéad Clarke, Orlaith Lehane

The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) has published its opinion on the supervision of the use of climate change risk scenarios in ORSA.

17 May 2021 - By Calvin Chou

San Francisco treat: What employers need to know about the city’s health care security ordinance to do it right, and avoid financial penalties.

17 May 2021 - By Ehab Atassi, Neha Taneja, Rahaf Alhodaif

Ways to reduce the burden of road traffic accidents in Saudi Arabia.

14 May 2021 - By Alexandre Boumezoued, Fanny Pouget, Freek Zandbergen

Key takeaways from EIOPA’s comparative study on market and credit risk modelling.

14 May 2021 - By Brad Piper, Emily J. Vandermause

Good benefit and premium design can drive enrollment growth for startup MAOs looking to ramp up membership in Medicare Advantage plans .

13 May 2021

A primer for plan sponsors on demographic and longevity risks and how they affect public pensions.

11 May 2021 - By Neil Christy, Oliver Gillespie, William Smith , Isabel Stansfield

UK life insurance: Summary of regulatory developments for April.

10 May 2021 - By Robert Eaton, Kenneth L. Clark

Explore how bundling Medicare Supplement (Medigap) and short-term care products may provide a complementary hedge of certain policyholder behavior risks.

06 May 2021 - By Zorast Wadia, Charles J. Clark

The Milliman 100 Pension Funding Index funded ratio increases to 98.3% as investment gain of 2.30% offsets discount rate decrease.

05 May 2021 - By Durand Oliver

Investors can maintain upside exposure to growth assets and achieve a high level of insulation against market risk by constructing portfolios with Maverick’s confidence and Iceman’s discipline.

04 May 2021 - By Daren Lockwood, Xiaohong Mo, Adam Schenck

The expected hedge cost for a hypothetical GLWB block (see Index Methodology1) is estimated to be 182 bps as of the end of April 2021, up 6 basis points from the previous month, driven by a decrease in long-term interest rates.

04 May 2021 - By Teresa K. Wilder, Ali LaRocco

This paper explores the racial inequities in the oral healthcare delivery system, found from the Healthy People 2020 plan.

04 May 2021 - By Josh Dobiac, Maarten Ruissaard, Freek Zandbergen

Explore the intertemporal dynamics as hedged liabilities age in Solvency II hedging: Part three in a series.

04 May 2021 - By Jonathan B. Glowacki, Judith-Anne Brelih

GSE loan default rates remain unchanged at 1.27%, while those for Ginnie rise 25 basis points to 7.64%

03 May 2021 - By Greg O. Callahan, Marc Guieb, Dustin Pollastro

A review of best practices for plan sponsors in evaluating clinical programs offered by pharmacy benefit managers.

01 May 2021 - By Kenneth L. Clark, Robert Eaton

This article describes Medicare Supplement and short-term care products in more detail, and we compare their risk profiles.

01 May 2021 - By Robert Eaton, Dr. Anitha Rao

This paper describes the results of our analysis into how the supply of neurology specialists for diagnosis and care of ADRD, as captured by Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders Neurology Desert Index (ANDI) scores, relates to historical LTCI cognitive claims.

30 April 2021 - By Alicia Gounden

Climate change presents risks and opportunities for South African insurers.

28 April 2021 - By Jenica Ghorashi

First quarter 2021 market recap: Equities rise, but bonds fall due to rising longer-duration interest rates.

28 April 2021

Benchmark Rates Liquidity Monitor for March 2021: ESTR volumes up, and SONIA volumes overtake GBP LIBOR swaps for key long-term tenors.

27 April 2021 - By Victor Huang

Why retirees need a new way to balance risk and return in the wake of COVID-19.

26 April 2021 - By Mary Leong, Ryan Cook

Milliman Pension Buyout Index: Estimated retiree buyout cost rises 60 basis points in March to 102.7%.

26 April 2021 - By Sinéad Clarke, Kevin Manning

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has had numerous impacts on health systems worldwide, with extra support needed globally to address the healthcare needs associated with the pandemic.

23 April 2021 - By Brad Piper, Emily J. Vandermause

Why Medicare Advantage plans should focus continuously on achieving high star ratings.

21 April 2021 - By Eamonn Phelan, Conor Callaghan

This briefing note considers aspects that supervisors have recently commented upon, along with other topical areas that companies may find useful to consider when preparing their 2021 ORSA.

21 April 2021 - By Paul R. Houchens, Andrew Dilworth, Liam Plunkitt

This report provides an analysis of the recently released 2020 Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) Scorecard.

20 April 2021

Milliman Focus: An update on important work we’re doing with respect to long-term care.

20 April 2021 - By Neil Dissanayake, Peter Lin, Nima Shahroozi

This report recaps the state of the local and global markets at month's end. The report includes graphs, tables and commentary on the equity, bond, and currency markets both domestically and globally.

19 April 2021 - By Alexander Krauskopf , Katrin Hoellering, Alexandra Pflumm

How machine learning algorithms can serve as good predictors of future claims cost for chronic diseases.

19 April 2021 - By Rebecca A. Sielman

Public pensions funded ratio rises to new high of 79.0% in the first quarter, up from 78.6% three months earlier, fueled by strong and steady market rebound since March 2020.

19 April 2021 - By Charles J. Clark, Vanessa M. Vaag, Grant Camp

This podcast episode explores how the American Rescue Plan Act may impact single and multiemployer pension plans, and what plan sponsors should consider when taking potential action as a result of ARPA.

16 April 2021 - By Jason Cai, Matthew Smith

What health plans need to know about Medicare Advantage financial reconciliation.

16 April 2021 - By Ryan Cook, Rex Barker, Ryan Rowland , Stephanie Sent

We present four case studies to show how the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 can impact corporate pension plans.

15 April 2021 - By Dominick Pizzano, Henrik Patel, Kenneth Barr

Section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code places a $1 million-dollar limit on the amount of deductible compensation that a “publicly held corporation” can pay to their “covered employees."

15 April 2021 - By Zorast Wadia, Charles J. Clark

Milliman 100 PFI leaps to 98.4% in March, up from 95.1% a month earlier, thanks in part to rising interest rates for the third consecutive month.

13 April 2021 - By Neil Christy, Oliver Gillespie, William Smith , Isabel Stansfield

UK life insurance: Summary of regulatory developments for March.

13 April 2021 - By Sean Silva, Michael Halford , Kathryn Elizabeth Mohr

Plan sponsors have several items to consider regarding the timing and implications of new surprise billing measures passed by Congress.

12 April 2021 - By Garry Simmons , Tammy McAllister

Milliman pulse survey uncovers key benefit trends shaped by COVID-19.

08 April 2021 - By Jason Karcher, Andrew M. Keeley, Steven Rounsley

We examine the effects of recent federal funding on payment rates for evaluation and management services.

08 April 2021 - By Chad C. Karls

Effective management of defense costs now requires legal claims analytics, with the adoption of new technologies that add visibility and inform business decisions.

07 April 2021 - By Robert Eaton

Learn more about Brella offering supplemental health insurance, and why actuaries working as product designers provides value to customers from Robert Eaton and Veer Gidwaney.

07 April 2021 - By Zorast Wadia, Alan H. Perry, Charles J. Clark

The largest DB plans improve funded ratio to 88.4% in 2020, up from 87.5% a year earlier.

07 April 2021 - By David Evans, Cody Webb, Andrew Netter, Brandon Katz (KatRisk LLC)

Flooding stands out among other natural catastrophes because of the risk it poses to mortgages, and therefore the financial health of the average U.S. homeowner, as Milliman and KatRisk experts explain.

06 April 2021 - By Donal McGinley, Cormac Gleeson, Matthew McIlvanna, Eóin Stack

In this briefing note, we look at how organisations can structure their model governance framework and provide some ideas on how actuaries can consider the new section of ASP-PA2, in relation to model governance to ensure that they are meeting the standard.

06 April 2021 - By Paul R. Houchens, Zach Hunt

Composite underwriting margins remain near highs for the individual market, and steady for group insurance.

05 April 2021 - By Austin Barrington, Joseph Boschert, Mike Gaal, David C. Lewis

Early days of hospital price transparency: two-thirds of providers have posted key metrics.

05 April 2021 - By Van Beach, Jonathan B. Glowacki, Makho Mashoba, Benjamin J. L. Buttin, Alexandre Boumezoued, Joe Long, Zohair Motiwalla, Josh Dobiac, Antoine Ly, David South

A comprehensive look at uses of cloud computing and machine learning in the actuarial profession.

05 April 2021

Benchmark Rates Liquidity Monitor for February 2021.

05 April 2021 - By Penny Edlund, Anikia Nelson, Melody Craff, Maureen Tressel Lewis

Our study of racial disparities in cardiovascular disease contributes new research and approaches toward achieving healthcare equity.

05 April 2021 - By Frederick (Fritz) Busch, Dustin J. Grzeskowiak, Garry Simmons

Offering direct primary care gains traction for self-funded employers.

02 April 2021 - By Larry Baeder, Peggy Brinkmann, Eric J Xu

Machine learning algorithms fit models based on patterns identified in data and can be very complex.

02 April 2021 - By Daren Lockwood, Xiaohong Mo, Adam Schenck

The expected hedge cost for a hypothetical GLWB block (see Index Methodology1 ) is estimated to be 176 bps as of the end of March 2021, down 18 basis points from the previous month, driven by an increase in long-term interest rates.

01 April 2021 - By Eric J. Wunder, Zachary A. Fischer

Despite global uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, the MPL market had another profitable year in 2020

01 April 2021 - By Robert Eaton

The 2020 Long‐Term Care (LTC) Medical Symposium was a two half‐day conference that extracted the thinking of leading experts on historical and future trends that will influence LTC insurance (LTCI) claim expectations.

01 April 2021 - By Daniel W. Colby

We present the basics of how actuaries determine different liability measurements for DB plans, and their intended purpose.

01 April 2021 - By Yelena Pelletier

Case study: How one town quantified and mitigated the risks of pension obligation bonds.

29 March 2021 - By Brian Colgan, David Kong, Halim Gunawan, Richard W. Holloway

Life in Indonesia: Our March 2021 review of industry developments from the fourth quarter.

24 March 2021 - By Andrew Netter, Jonathan B. Glowacki

Continued strong NIW, accommodative borrower forbearance policies extended, focus on reserving and ultimate outcomes of delinquent inventory, and 2021 MILN issuances begin.

23 March 2021 - By Robert Eaton, James G. Stoltzfus, Andrew H. Dalton, Mike A. Bergerson

The Society of Actuaries (SOA) retained Milliman, Inc. (Milliman) to conduct a survey on the impact of COVID-19 on Long-Term Care (LTC) insurance mortality, voluntary lapse, and morbidity experience.

22 March 2021 - By Mike A. Bergerson, Missy Gordon, John Hebig, Joe Long

How new approaches to model visualization can support greater understanding of results.

22 March 2021 - By Michael Halford , Robert L. Schmidt, Lacy Moore, Kathryn Elizabeth Mohr

How the federal COBRA subsidy could impact plan sponsors and participants.

22 March 2021 - By Mary Pat Stemnock, Jeremy Hoffman, Jeremy Cunningham

Increasing treatment options for substance-use disorders could help break the cycle of recidivism among individuals in the justice system.

19 March 2021 - By Chris Harner, Chris Beck, Blake Fleisher

This white paper discusses the importance of modeling cyber risk for businesses.

17 March 2021 - By Jake Pringle, Mary Leong

The American Rescue Plan Act 2021 (ARPA ’21) provides relief for defined benefit (DB) pension plans by effecting changes to the Internal Revenue Code and allowing for optional retroactive application dates.

17 March 2021 - By Lupco Blazeski, Keith Lockwood, Suzanne Norman, Peter H. Sun

This paper introduces Milliman’s Retirement Income Security Evaluation (RISE) Score, which measures how well a retirement portfolio will be able to cover basic living expenses, health care and other costs after leaving the workforce.

17 March 2021 - By Amy Nicholson, Dianie Ravinthiranathan, Jennifer van der Ree

Some thoughts on potential approaches to winding up with-profits funds.

17 March 2021 - By Frederick (Fritz) Busch, Jason Karcher, Josh Fink, Barbara Collier, Jason K. Sciborski

ACA subsidy increases translate to more affordability and new opportunities for carriers.

17 March 2021 - By Smitha Radhakrishna

Our quick guide for self-insured employers for combating healthcare costs recommends disease management programs, proactive health-management tools, and on-site clinics.

17 March 2021 - By Amelia Lisi

Some thoughts on how managed care organizations can use technology to bolster remote care and lower costs.

17 March 2021 - By Josh Reinstein, Phil Ellenberg

Hospital price transparency: The impact of the shoppable file.

16 March 2021 - By Jill S. Herbold

States with higher nursing home penetration rates may have a significant opportunity to reduce costs and improve patient satisfaction.

16 March 2021 - By Sean Silva, Michael Halford , Kathryn Elizabeth Mohr

Multiemployer alert: Details on the federal COBRA subsidy.

16 March 2021 - By Mary Leong, Ryan Cook

Estimated retiree buyout costs decrease 30 basis points in February to 102.1%.

15 March 2021 - By Delbert Zamora

Case study: Milliman explores a host of options for a JV pension-plan design to achieve the best outcome.

11 March 2021 - By Scott McEachern, Patrick Cambel

Five reasons why RFPs with PBMs should be a regular practice to help control Rx costs.

11 March 2021 - By Russell Ward, Neil Dissanayake, Nima Shahroozi

While inflation is stable today, members should manage this rising risk for their portfolios.

11 March 2021 - By Julia M. Friedman

How Medicare Advantage plans reacted to enrollment expansion to patients with End-Stage Renal Disease.

11 March 2021

Trading volumes in EUR and GBP interest rates swaps and overnight index swaps picked up in January 2021.

11 March 2021 - By David Kirk, Richard Taylor, Avashni Rossouw, Susan Melmed, Chris van der Merwe

Our insurance industry update for South Africa, March 2021.

11 March 2021 - By Nina M. Lantz, Yutaro Seki , Aaron Shapiro

Multiemployer review: A closer look at the American Rescue Plan Act.

10 March 2021 - By Vanessa M. Vaag, Bret Linton

Client Action Bulletin: How the Rescue Plan Act brings relief for defined benefit plans of single employers.

09 March 2021 - By Robert Eaton

Learn more about the origins of Plug and Play Tech Center, how the pandemic has affected their business model, the importance of actuaries, and their collaborations between large insurance companies and start-ups.

09 March 2021 - By Neil Christy, Oliver Gillespie, William Smith , Isabel Stansfield

UK life insurance: February regulatory roundup of updates by three relevant agencies.

08 March 2021

Multiemployer alert: pension relief passes in the Senate.

08 March 2021 - By Zorast Wadia, Charles J. Clark

Update: Milliman 100 PFI funded ratio raises to 92.9% in February as a result of rising interest rates.

05 March 2021 - By Alison Counihan, Edward Jhu, Lalit Baveja

This paper considers the role of reimbursement mechanisms, and particularly diagnosis-related groups price adjustors, in directing general policy and specifically in the role of value-based healthcare.

04 March 2021 - By Jason Karcher, Troy Filipek, Brandy N. Millen

The implications of Rutledge v. PCMA for pharmacy benefit managers and employers.

04 March 2021 - By Nina M. Lantz, Yutaro Seki , Aaron Shapiro

Alert: What the Butch Lewis EPPRA means for multiemployer defined benefit plans.

03 March 2021 - By Olivier Mahieux, Romain de Harlez

Market insight from year-end 2019 SFCRs: Sample of non-life insurers based in Luxembourg.

03 March 2021 - By Jason Karcher, Doug Norris, Kelsey Benz

Possible impacts of the COVID-19 relief legislation on private health coverage.

02 March 2021 - By Sean Silva, John R. Botsford, Michael Halford

Multiemployer alert: More guidance on deadline suspensions for COBRA elections, claims, and appeals.

02 March 2021 - By Daren Lockwood, Xiaohong Mo, Adam Schenck

The expected hedge cost for a hypothetical GLWB block (see Index Methodology1) is estimated to be 194 bps as of the end of February 2021, down 27 basis points from the previous month, driven by an increase in long-term interest rates.

02 March 2021 - By Jan Thiemen Postema, Raymond van Es

Explainable AI in practice: Build trust and encourage adoption.

01 March 2021 - By Noah Champagne, Jonah Broulette, Catherine M. Murphy-Barron

How Direct Contracting presents an opportunity for Medicare Advantage plans.

01 March 2021 - By Julia M. Friedman

COVID-19 creates a compelling environment for Medicare Advantage telehealth offerings.

26 February 2021 - By Olivier Mahieux, Romain de Harlez

Market insight from year-end 2019 SFCRs: A sample of life insurers based in Luxembourg.

26 February 2021

Historically low interest rates make pension obligation bonds a possible low-cost solution to shoring up underfunded plans for communities.

25 February 2021 - By Stephen P. Melek, Stoddard Davenport

How the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 affects MHPAEA.

25 February 2021 - By Yutaro Seki

Alert: COVID-19 relief bill introduced Feb. 24 could impact multiemployer pension plans.

25 February 2021

Health & group benefits: 10 topical Milliman articles from the second half of 2020.

25 February 2021 - By Mary Leong, Ryan Cook

Milliman Pension Buyout Index: Estimated retiree buyout cost in January rises 60 basis points to 102.4%.

24 February 2021 - By Luke B.G. Roth , Jessica Naber, Luke Metz, Nina Nikolova

An analysis of hospital care for the uninsured in the United States shows charity care costs are rising.

24 February 2021 - By Amy Kwong , Bruce S. Pyenson, Feven Asefaha, Hanaa Siddiqi

How current Part D risk scores could interact with point-of-sale rebates.

24 February 2021 - By Safder Jaffer, Muhammad Asad Irshad

UAE Industry Report 2020: Despite COVID-19, nation’s insurance industry stays resilient and records profit increase for fourth consecutive year.

23 February 2021 - By Sheila Jelinek, Suzanne Norman, Jeanne Russo

This paper details the low rates of financial literacy in the U.S., explores the factors behind it, and offers some timely ideas and resources for raising our level of financial literacy as a society.

23 February 2021 - By Joanne E. Fontana

Harnessing the value of dental plans: Why it’s worth revisiting this key employee benefit.

23 February 2021 - By Alexander Krauskopf , Katrin Hoellering, Alexandra Pflumm

Die hier vorliegende Analyse beschäftigt sich mit der Prognose von chronischen Krankheiten unter Verwendung von Verfahren des Machine Learning.

22 February 2021 - By Eamonn Phelan, Orlaith Lehane , Rosemary Maher

EIOPA, as part of the Solvency II 2020 review have suggested that all insurers should draft a Liquidity Risk Management Plan (LRMP).

22 February 2021 - By Josh Dobiac, Maarten Ruissaard, Dmitry Zamkovoy, Freek Zandbergen

Interest Rate Risk Management under Solvency II: Impact of the DLT assessment.

19 February 2021 - By Harsha Mirchandani, Samantha Tomicki, Rebecca Smith, Rebecca L. Johnson, Sally Maraldo, Andrew Yang

We describe significant racial disparities in access to preventive diabetes care.

19 February 2021 - By Darin Muse, Nancy Gu

Our analysis on how COVID-19 affects Medicare Advantage star-rating calculations for 2021 and 2022.

19 February 2021 - By Neil Dissanayake, Peter Lin, Nima Shahroozi

London Market Monitor: A recap of January's macroeconomic statistics related to risk management.

17 February 2021 - By Nina M. Lantz, Rex Barker, Timothy L. Connor, William Wade

Milliman analysis shows aggregate funding levels for multiemployer plans at their highest point since 2007 following turbulent year.

17 February 2021 - By David G. Hayes, Courtney R. White

This paper discusses how a provider-sponsored MCO and its parent health system can team together to create a unique player in the health insurance landscape, using major levers and how they can impact the success of each organization.

17 February 2021 - By Ian Penfold, Natasha Singhal, Sophie Smyth

In this paper, we discuss how insurance companies can consider the impact of climate change through their Own Risk and Solvency Assessment (ORSA).

17 February 2021 - By Dustin J. Grzeskowiak, Chris Lewis, Nathan Smith

CMS launches Medicare Part D Senior Savings Model to reduce non-low-income (NLI) beneficiary cost sharing for insulin products distributed under the Medicare Part D benefit.

17 February 2021 - By Joanne Buckle, Natasha Singhal

England benchmarking of inpatient admissions identifies value opportunities.

16 February 2021 - By Adam Feller, Kate Herbig, Kevin Pierce, Matthew Hayes

Is it worth revisiting the Medicare Part D Payment Modernization Model?

12 February 2021 - By Daren Lockwood, Xiaohong Mo, Adam Schenck

The expected hedge cost for a hypothetical GLWB block (see Index Methodology1) is estimated to be 221 bps as of the end of January 2021, down 8 basis points from the previous month, driven by an increase in long-term interest rates.

12 February 2021 - By Tian Kang Lim, Victor Huang

Transaction costs incurred within rebalancing strategies, can result in a material drag on performance.

11 February 2021 - By Michelle N. Angeloni, Michael E. Saypoff , Patricia A. Zenner

Starting a Medicare Advantage plan can be risky, but it can be a successful endeavor for organizations that are able to successfully manage the key drivers of profitability: claim costs, administrative expenses, and revenue.

10 February 2021 - By Pierre-Edouard Arrouy, Charles Boddele , Grzegorz Darkiewicz-Moniuszko, Russell Ward, Freek Zandbergen, Sihong Zhu

This paper is part of a series covering the overall process for discount rates under IFRS 17, specifically the number of steps required to set a discount rate.

10 February 2021 - By Kerry Forrester, Julie D. Smith

Actuarial Standard of Practice No. 56, Modeling, was released and went into effect October 1, 2020, and provides direction to actuaries in all practice areas when performing actuarial services that require modeling.

10 February 2021 - By Pang-Hsiang Chye, Ken Lim

Overall, Non-Life industry direct premiums grew by nearly 4% in the 2020. Motor premiums declined in H1 but recovered strongly in H2, resulting in full year growth of 1.4%.

09 February 2021 - By Joanne E. Fontana, Thomas D. Murawski

COVID-19 has lead to potential downward and upward pressures on dental claims for dental industry stakeholders, including dental care providers, consumers and dental insurance carriers.

08 February 2021 - By Nicholas Johnson, Sam Shellabarger, Annie Hallum

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid introduced the Direct Contracting entity for individuals dually eligible for Medicaid and Medicare in December 2020.

05 February 2021 - By Peter Fielek, Erik Huth, Jason J. Petroske

This paper aims to provide insights and options for estimating key Affordable Care Act risk adjustment factors and increasing the level of confidence in the projection process.

05 February 2021 - By Zorast Wadia, Charles J. Clark

In January, the funded status of the 100 largest corporate defined benefit pension plans improved by $39 billion as measured by the Milliman 100 Pension Funding Index.

04 February 2021 - By Nicholas Johnson, Sam Shellabarger, Annie Hallum

This white paper summarizes the new Direct Contracting option that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services introduced in December 2020.

04 February 2021 - By Noah Champagne, Matthew Emery

To succeed in the Medicare Advantage (MA) space, provider-based MA plans face the challenge of providing affordable, efficient healthcare to Medicare beneficiaries without cutting into their own revenue flow.

04 February 2021 - By Heerak Basu, Philip Jackson, Sanket Kawatkar, Richard W. Holloway

This e-Alert discusses key announcements affecting the Indian life insurance industry.

04 February 2021 - By Tony F. Bloemer, Richard C. Frese, Timothy C. Vosicky

The application of Illinois House Bill 3360 to medical liability losses will have significant impacts.

03 February 2021 - By Jonathan B. Glowacki, Judith-Anne Brelih

Mortgage demand remained strong during the third quarter of 2020, with Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae mortgage volume increasing more than 125% year-over-year and hitting record volume.

02 February 2021 - By Neil Christy, Jack Huffer, Russell Osman, Philip Simpson, Russell Ward

This note considers who may be affected by the new international Insurance Capital Standard and the impact the new standard has on the evaluation of available and required capital.

01 February 2021 - By Mike Gaal, Jason Karcher, Maryellen Vargas

Employers should understand how reference-based pricing programs work and the potential risks associated with them before transitioning.

01 February 2021 - By John Jenkins, Peter Lin, Russell Ward, Sihong Zhu

On 7 January 2021, the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) published Consultation Paper 1/21, setting out the plan for the transition of the UK Solvency II discount curve to a curve that references the Sterling Overnight Index Average (SONIA).

01 February 2021 - By Annie Man, Marina Zen

This paper discusses five reasons why Medicaid-focused insurers may benefit from having a Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act line of business post-COVID-19.

29 January 2021 - By Neil Dissanayake, Nima Shahroozi

Bespoke fund overlays can allow the flexibility to be able to provide beneficial risk management to its members.

29 January 2021 - By Neil Dissanayake, Nima Shahroozi

In the area of investment management, the events of 2020 have brought the importance of risk management to the fore.

29 January 2021 - By Neil Dissanayake, Nima Shahroozi

How could low carbon equity indices be a cost-effective way to take a first step in aligning with NetZero 2050?

28 January 2021

De Milliman Markt Monitor geeft u maandelijks inzicht in de belangrijkste financiële risico’s die voor u als pensioenfondsbestuurder of -professional relevant zijn.

28 January 2021 - By Mary Leong, Ryan Cook

During December 2020, average accounting discount rates and average annuity purchase rates both stayed level (competitive annuity purchase rates dropped by 3 bps).

27 January 2021 - By Charles J. Clark, Christopher R. Wood

The first step for the 117th Congress in enacting relief for defined benefit pension plans from the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic is included in “The Emergency Pension Plan Relief Act of 2021.”

27 January 2021 - By Joanne Buckle, Natasha Singhal, Kishan Desai

This report provides an updated view of National Health Service England prescription drug expenditure for FY 2019/20.

27 January 2021 - By Dmitry Zamkovoy

Cost pressures, efficiency of outsourcing and COVID-19 have all converged to make a compelling case for investment companies to reconsider outsourcing the trading function.

26 January 2021 - By Evan Pollock, Rachel Marsiglio , Juliet M. Spector

This paper provides guidance for insurers on how to prepare clean, efficient rate increase filings and to help carriers work with regulators to incorporate the information they seek.

26 January 2021 - By Annie Shen, Sheri Lee Scott, Katherine Dalis

To better understand its exposure to wildfire, the California Fair Access to Insurance Requirements Plan asked Zesty.ai, Inc., a company that provides a wildfire risk score model, to score the FAIR plan properties relative to wildfire risk.

25 January 2021

The challenges facing multiemployer defined benefit plans have received more immediate attention in recent weeks with proposed pension relief legislation being introduced in the House and Senate.

25 January 2021 - By Ari D. Kramer, Brad Piper, Emily J. Vandermause

This article looks at the growth of 28 MAOs that entered the market five years ago from the service area and product portfolio perspective.

22 January 2021 - By Matthew Emery, Howard Kahn, Devin McCall, William M. Sayre, Stuart Silverman

This paper introduces life insurance investment strategies and how many of these same concepts can be applied to healthcare insurers and providers to better manage their overall risk profiles and potentially increase future returns on investment.

21 January 2021 - By Kathryn V. Fitch, Jonah Broulette, Kyle King

There is significant variation in skilled nursing facility (SNF) average length of stay among Medicare beneficiaries admitted to an SNF after an acute inpatient hospital stay, and this variation is unexplained by differences in patient case mix, highlighting the opportunity for more efficient management of length of stay.

21 January 2021 - By Rebecca A. Sielman

The estimated funded status of the 100 largest U.S. public pension plans grew from 72.6% at the end of September 2020 to 78.6% at the end of December 2020 as measured by the Milliman 100 Public Pension Funding Index.

19 January 2021

Markets continued their advance over the quarter as accomodative monetary policy and multiple COVID-19 vaccine approvals bolstered the economic recovery.

19 January 2021 - By Neil Dissanayake, Peter Lin, Nima Shahroozi

Equity markets made gains in December as optimism continued to grow with the COVID-19 vaccination programmes rolled out in parts of the world.

19 January 2021 - By Paul Sinnott, Michael Daly, Richard W. Holloway, Wing F. Wong, Chihong An, Wen Yee Lee, Stephen H. Conwill, Sanket Kawatkar, Shamit Gupta

This report provides a summary of the mid-year 2020 embedded value results disclosed by Asian insurers.

19 January 2021 - By Sinéad Clarke, Orlaith Lehane , Eóin Stack

The aim of this briefing note is to provide a “beginner’s guide” to climate risk for Irish insurers, an introduction to what the Central Bank of Ireland and the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority are currently doing in relation to climate-related risk and what insurers could do to increase understanding of climate-related risk.

19 January 2021

How are two separate dollar amounts for my pension actuarially equivalent?

15 January 2021 - By Matthew McIlvanna

This briefing note provides a short case study on migrating an Excel/VBA model to Milliman Mind.

14 January 2021 - By Neil Christy, Oliver Gillespie, William Smith , Isabel Stansfield

A summary of any regulatory updates published during December 2020 that may be of relevance to life insurance companies.

13 January 2021 - By Ari D. Kramer, Brad Piper, Emily J. Vandermause

This paper identifies 28 Medicare Advantage Organization startups and follows each for five years to understand their enrollment growth.

12 January 2021 - By Ashlee Mouton Borcan, Grigori Lev, Stephen Rook

What are some common critical illness benefit triggers found in the U.S. marketplace?

12 January 2021 - By Michael J. McCord, Abhisheik Dhawan

To begin to efficiently address resilience to climate-driven events, we need to enlist governments, insurers, banks and asset managers, infrastructure experts, and technical assistance and research firms.

12 January 2021 - By Marlene Howard, Jessica Bertolo, Clay Holman

Medicaid has an important role to play in ensuring coverage of and access to the COVID-19 vaccine.

12 January 2021 - By Grant Camp

This alert provides a brief outline of the primary provisions of the Chris Allen Multiemployer Pension Recapitalization and Reform Act of 2020.

12 January 2021 - By Stoddard Davenport

The COVID-19 pandemic has spurred—and aggravated—a range of mental health and substance use issues in the United States, and Milliman’s Stoddard Davenport discusses recent statistics on the topic and what the road ahead may look like for mental health in America.

08 January 2021 - By Brent Jensen, Matthew Smith

As we move into 2021 and hopefully out of the COVID-19 pandemic, it will be interesting to see the impact on the trends of alternative payment models.

08 January 2021 - By Zorast Wadia, Charles J. Clark

After experiencing steep declines in the first quarter of 2020, asset returns roared back for the remainder of 2020 and limited the funded status deterioration due to declining discount rates.

08 January 2021 - By Coleen Young, Hugh Larson, Annie Man

Recent Direct Contracting adjustments have created an opportunity for organizations considering becoming Direct Contracting Entities to attract physicians who might not have been interested previously.

08 January 2021 - By Madeleine Cline, Jake Klaisner, Michelle Klein, Hillary H. Millican

Does Amazon Pharmacy's new service disrupt, conform, or lay groundwork for future transformation?

05 January 2021

This article lists the top 10 most read articles on the Milliman Ireland website in 2020.

04 January 2021 - By Daren Lockwood, Xiaohong Mo, Adam Schenck

The expected hedge cost for a hypothetical GLWB block (see Index Methodology1) is estimated to be 229 bps as of the end of December 2020, down 10 basis points from the previous month, driven by an increase in long-term interest rates.

04 January 2021 - By Joanne Buckle, Jennifer R. Cohen, Peter Gregor, Nicholas Kallis, Qiuwen Peng

What is the current status of telehealth in major geographic markets, including the US, Europe and Asia?

04 January 2021 - By Matthew J. Kramer, Sam Shellabarger, Erica Reijula

This white paper compares and contrasts the financial benchmark methodology between the Direct Contracting Global and Professional options and the Medicare Shared Savings Program.

04 January 2021 - By Phil Ellenberg, Shyam Kolli, Tushar Makhija, Greg Sgrosso

This report summarizes the CY 2019 experience of selected financial metrics of organizations reporting Medicare experience under the Title XVIII Medicare line of business on the National Association of Insurance Commissioners Annual Statement.

30 December 2020 - By Pamela M. Pelizzari, Suzanne Taranto, Eric Buzby

This paper looks at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation's bundled, or episode-based payment models and finds opportunities for employers, challenges in implementation, and services to target.

29 December 2020 - By Bret Linton, Vicki Mazzie, Vanessa M. Vaag

In addition to annual funding for the federal government and provisions on economic stimulus necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, enacted on December 27, includes temporary relief from the minimum vesting standards tax rules for employer-sponsored retirement plans- both defined contribution and defined benefit pension plans.

29 December 2020 - By Joseph Boschert, Jonathan Wood

Brokers and carriers should recognize the value in looking at medical costs when helping members with plan selection.

29 December 2020 - By Michael Graney, Fiona Ng, Ashleigh Sandrock, James G. Stoltzfus, Susan Tan

With earnings under pressure, the search for investment yields continues to be a big challenge faced by U.S. life insurers, and it will continue to be one of the most important focuses in the years to come.

29 December 2020 - By Maarten Ruissaard, Freek Zandbergen

This paper summarises the effects of changes to the speed of convergence on the discount curve and the introduction of the speed of convergence drag.

28 December 2020 - By Les Kartchner, Brent Jensen

What are some considerations for employers as new COVID-19 vaccines are made available?

24 December 2020 - By John M. Pickering, David C. Lewis, Mike Hamachek, Austin Barrington

What are some of the challenges that exist when it comes to extracting useful competitive information about negotiated payment rates from a machine-readable file?

23 December 2020 - By Robert Eaton

Learn how to better score risk, engage with customers, and detect claims fraud through analyzing social data points from Robert Eaton and Evgeny Aleksandrov.

23 December 2020 - By Robert Eaton, David Bahlinger

Milliman’s inaugural 2020 Short-Term Care (STC) Insurance Survey captures rich market data representing eight major STC insurers and $110 million of inforce premium.

22 December 2020 - By Joanne Buckle, Dr. Sudhanshu Bansal, Abhishek Agrawal, Diana Dodu, Monika Lis

This paper focuses on studying prevalent methodologies and best practices in assessing the impact of new technology and claims costs and medical inflation from the perspective of medical insurers and is primarily aimed at non-US insurers.

22 December 2020 - By Ashlee Mouton Borcan, Jennifer O’Brien Howard, David Bahlinger, Darrell D. Spell, Michael E. Weilant

Milliman’s inaugural Critical Illness (CI) Survey represents 38 carriers and $1.4 billion in inforce premium, and explores numerous facets of the CI market.

22 December 2020 - By Ashlee Mouton Borcan, Jennifer O’Brien Howard, David Bahlinger, Darrell D. Spell, Michael E. Weilant

Milliman’s third Hospital Indemnity (HI) Survey represents 32 carriers and $1.8 billion in inforce premiums, and explores numerous facets of the HI market.

22 December 2020 - By Ashlee Mouton Borcan, Jennifer O’Brien Howard, David Bahlinger, Darrell D. Spell, Michael E. Weilant

The Milliman 2020 Critical Illness (CI) Survey represents 38 carriers and $1.8 billion in inforce premium, and explores numerous facets of the CI market.

22 December 2020 - By Nathaniel Sandrowicz, David Bahlinger, Darrell D. Spell, Michael E. Weilant

The Milliman 2020 Accident Insurance Survey represents 39 carriers and $3.5 billion in inforce premium, and covers both Accident Indemnity and Accident Medical Expense.

22 December 2020 - By Robert Eaton, William G. Mehilos, David Bahlinger, Michael E. Weilant

This 2020 Worksite Life Survey represents 20 carriers and $2.0 billion in inforce premium, and focuses on term, whole life, and universal life products.

21 December 2020 - By Michelle N. Angeloni, Michael E. Saypoff , Patricia A. Zenner

What are some opportunities, challenges, and considerations for new Medicare Advantage organizations?

21 December 2020 - By Coleen Young, Hugh Larson, Matthew J. Kramer, Noah Champagne, Raheel Sohail

While the Geographic Direct Contracting Model shares some general characteristics with the other Direct Contracting Model Options, it is a fundamentally different approach in many key respects.

21 December 2020 - By Mary Leong, Ryan Cook

During November 2020, average accounting discount rates decreased by 20 bps, while annuity purchase rates decreased by 9 bps (average) and 11 bps (competitive).

21 December 2020

This year was a year like no other with COVID-19 dominating the news. It’s no surprise then that COVID-19 also dominated Milliman's top 10 list of most read articles for the year.

18 December 2020

Regelmatig publiceert Milliman een overzicht van de op de Nederlandse pensioenmarkt actieve Algemeen Pensioenfondsen.

18 December 2020 - By James Johnston, Joanne Tan, Aisling Barrett

This report analyses the SFCRs of life insurance companies in Ireland at year-end 2019 covering written premiums, investments and solvency ratios.

17 December 2020 - By Neil Dissanayake, Peter Lin, Nima Shahroozi

Equity markets had a very strong performance in November as investor confidence grew on the back of the announcement of three effective vaccines against COVID-19 and increased political certainty following the US election.

17 December 2020 - By Michael Halford , Sean Silva, David Stoddard

Plan sponsors need to consider how to cover the administration of the COVID-19 vaccines for their membership.

17 December 2020 - By Alexander Krauskopf , Christelle Desouhant, Joanne Buckle, José Silveiro, Judith Houtepen, Sinéad Clarke, Kishan Desai

This analysis compares information provided in the Quantitative Reporting Templates and Solvency and Financial Condition Reports and makes observations about the balance sheets and risk exposures of European health insurers.

17 December 2020 - By Rebecca A. Sielman

Quarter 3 investment gains propelled the estimated funded status of the 100 largest U.S. public pension funds from 70.7% at the end of June 2020 to 72.6% at the end of September 2020 as measured by the Milliman 100 Public Pension Funding Index.

17 December 2020 - By David Stoddard, Michael Halford , Sean Silva

This year’s report includes data for 1, 283 plans covering approximately 4.8 million members as of 2018.

16 December 2020 - By Neil Dissanayake, Victor Huang, Ram Kelkar, Peter Lin, David Schreiner, Nima Shahroozi , Brendan Tease

This report summarizes key findings from the 2020 update to Milliman's survey of derivative usage for risk management in the global life insurance industry.

16 December 2020 - By Ian M. McCulla, Christopher T. Pettit, Colin R. Gray, Justin Chow

This report provides insight into the financial effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on Medicaid managed care organizations.

16 December 2020 - By Wing F. Wong, Yun-Tien Lee, Shenglan Ko, Kwan Yau

In an effort to enhance insurers’ fortunes in using their own data, we conducted research into product recommendation systems to demonstrate how recommendation techniques commonly used by digital retailers can also assist insurers.

15 December 2020 - By Martin Wouda

All the details of the Netherlands' new pension contract are not yet known, but that doesn't mean pension funds can wait to arrange the transition to the new pension reality.

15 December 2020 - By Adam Barnhart, Mary Yeh

This report evaluates the general enrollment Medicare Advantage plans available to individuals of different racial and ethnic groups in the United States.

14 December 2020

There were a number of highlights of the report related to the agency’s multiemployer program.

14 December 2020 - By Julia M. Friedman, Mary Yeh

This analysis focuses on mandatory supplemental benefits offered by Dual Eligible Special Needs Plans from 2017 to 2021.

14 December 2020 - By Julia M. Friedman, Mary Yeh

This article focuses on mandatory supplemental benefits offered by general enrollment Medicare Advantage plans from 2017 to 2021.

11 December 2020 - By Neil Christy, Oliver Gillespie, William Smith , Isabel Stansfield

A summary of any regulatory updates published during November 2020 that may be of relevance to life insurance companies.

09 December 2020 - By Dustin J. Grzeskowiak, Brent Jensen, Colleen Norris

This article provides an update of our previously published summary white paper on changes to the CMS Direct Contracting program.

09 December 2020 - By Amelia Lisi

Attempting to provide care in rural communities can often pose many different challenges.

07 December 2020