On February 24th, the NAIC Life Insurance and Annuity (A) Committee (A Committee) adopted amendments to Actuarial Guideline (AG) 49-A to address a concern raised by state insurance regulators regarding the use of...more
On February 15, 2023, changes to Actuarial Standard of Practice (ASOP) No. 4 will be effective, and defined benefit plans will need to comply with these new rules in all actuarial funding valuations with measurement dates...more
On October 12th, the NAIC Life Insurance and Annuity (A) Committee’s Indexed Universal Life (IUL) Illustration (A) Subgroup (IUL Subgroup) exposed for comment four options to amend Actuarial Guideline (AG) 49-A to address a...more
Under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), as amended by the Multiemployer Pension Plan Amendments Act (MPPAA), a company incurs withdrawal liability when it withdraws from a multiemployer pension plan....more
Yet another battle in the actuarial equivalence fight has just been resolved—and is immediately headed for appellate review. In Belknap v. Partners Healthcare System, Inc., the Plaintiff argued that the annuity payment he...more
The U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts has dismissed an Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) class action lawsuit challenging a retirement plan's use of an outdated mortality table in calculating...more
On March 4, 2022, the District Court for the District of Massachusetts dismissed, pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 56, ERISA claims brought by a former employee who retired early at the age of 62 and receives retirement benefits...more
In Sofco Erectors, Inc. v. Trustees of the Ohio Operating Engineers Pension Fund (“Sofco”) (September, 28, 2021), the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a long awaited decision regarding the appropriateness of interest...more
In a rare victory for employers that participate in multiemployer pension plans, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals held that the interest rate memorialized in the Segal Blend actuarial assumption was inappropriate to use in...more
The District Court of Minnesota declined to certify a class of pensioners seeking to challenge their plan’s early retirement calculations. ERISA requires early retirement benefits to be actuarially equivalent to what...more
When last we left the Actuarial Standards Board (ASB), the board was considering comments on the first exposure draft of proposed changes to Actuarial Standard of Practice No. 2 (ASOP 2), now titled “Nonguaranteed Elements...more
The NAIC and the Interstate Insurance Product Regulation Commission (“Compact”) are cooking up various initiatives that will impact life and annuity issuers. Below is the spread of the different issues....more
In recent years, employers have increasingly brought challenges claiming that it is unreasonable for a multi-employer pension plan’s actuary to calculate withdrawal liability using a rate that is lower than the plan’s...more
The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas dealt a major blow to the putative class action Torres v. American Airlines, Inc., finding that the four named plaintiffs are not adequate class representatives for...more
In an opinion issued in Smith v. Rockwell Automation, Inc., et al., No. 19-C-0505 (E.D. Wis.) on Feb. 10, 2020, U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman denied Rockwell Automation's motion to dismiss a putative class action complaint...more
Eleven cases have been filed against defined benefit pension plan sponsors and certain fiduciaries alleging that the plan’s assumptions—called “actuarial equivalence factors” or “actuarial equivalence assumptions”— for...more
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals recently issued a withdrawal liability decision of which both multiemployer pension plans and their contributing employers should be aware. Specifically, in National Retirement Fund v. Metz...more
People complain a lot about life these days, but one fun fact is that people are living longer than they did just 20 years ago. Thankfully, the Internal revenue Service (IRS) noticed too....more
A federal district court recently handed plan sponsors their first victory in a string of actuarial equivalence lawsuits filed against large defined benefit pension plans. Although the decision is a positive development for...more
Actuaries and Insurers Take Note - The Actuarial Standards Board (ASB) has exposed for comment significant proposed changes to Actuarial Standard of Practice No. 2, “Nonguaranteed Charges or Benefits for Life Insurance...more
The Actuarial Standards Board (ASB) exposed wholesale changes to Actuarial Standard of Practice No. 2 - Nonguaranteed Charges or Benefits for Life Insurance Policies and Annuity Contracts (ASOP 2), which has not changed since...more
On April 18, 2017, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published in the Federal Register a final rule (the "Final Rule") aimed at stabilizing the individual and small group health insurance markets...more
Late last week, two major proposals arose that will have a significant impact on the health care industry. First, the Trump Administration’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under new HHS Secretary Tom Price...more
On December 13, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) Executive (EX) Committee and Plenary adopted revisions to Actuarial Guideline 49 (AG 49) with an effective date of March 1, 2017. The revisions apply...more
On October 20, the NAIC Life Actuarial (A) Task Force (LATF) of the Life Insurance and Annuities (A) Committee met and approved proposed revisions to Actuarial Guideline 49 (AG 49) for exposure and comment. If adopted, the...more