Month: March 2021

The Pension Bailouts Begin

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-pension-bailouts-begin-11616107042

Excerpt:

It was perhaps inevitable that Congress would bail out multi-employer pensions for the Teamsters and other private unions after doing so for coal miners in 2019. But the Democrats’ spending bill does nothing to fix the structural problems that have made these union pensions funds so sick.

….

Unions like the plans because workers continue to accrue benefits if they switch employers. If one business goes bankrupt, others must pick up the cost for worker benefits. Workers also don’t lose benefits—at least not immediately—if union-driven costs contribute to putting employers out of business.

But the plans are riddled with perverse incentives that make them risky. Employers award generous benefits and make paltry contributions so they can pay higher wages. Pension funds invest in riskier assets to achieve higher returns to support generous benefits and low contributions, but their investments often underperform. As a result, 430 or so multi-employer plans are now at risk of failing.

Author(s): Editorial Board

Publication Date: 18 March 2021

Publication Site: Wall Street Journal

Report: FBI Now Probing Cuomo’s Corporate Immunity Law

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.dailyposter.com/p/report-fbi-now-probing-cuomos-corporate

Excerpt:

The probe follows a Daily Poster investigative series detailing how one of Cuomo’s biggest donors, the Greater New York Hospital Association (GNYHA) — a lobby group that represents hospital systems and nursing home operators — said it “drafted and aggressively advocated for” the corporate immunity provision. Cuomo’s administration quietly inserted the measure into his state’s budget as thousands lay dying from COVID-19 in New York nursing homes. 

Critics say that the immunity law removed a key deterrent to corporate malfeasance, and victims and their families were subsequently stripped of their legal rights. Cuomo’s original executive order shielding front line health care workers from lawsuits was widely reported, but not the governor’s separate budget language extending immunity to hospital and nursing home corporations’ executives and board members. 

Author(s): David Sirota, Joel Warner, Andrew Perez, Julia Rock

Publication Date: 18 March 2021

Publication Site: Daily Poster

COVID-19 Impact on Long-Term Care Insurance 2020 Survey

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.soa.org/resources/experience-studies/2021/covid-impact-ltc-2020-survey/

Full study: https://www.soa.org/globalassets/assets/files/resources/experience-studies/2021/covid-impact-ltc-2020-survey.pdf

Graphic:

Excerpt:

Overall, the survey results show that COVID-19 has had an impact on emerging LTC insurance experience through
higher mortality (for both active and disabled lives) and lower claim incidence. Results on voluntary lapse rates were
mixed; however, premium grace period extensions due to COVID-19 may have contributed to differences in
reporting. The survey results also indicated that, in many cases, the impact of COVID-19 has not yet been studied or
there is not yet data available. This was especially true in relation to studying COVID-19’s impact across various
characteristics (gender, attained age, marital status, situs).


For questions studying the impact of COVID-19 on specific assumptions, the effect was measured on a multiplicative
basis compared to the expectation without COVID-19, except for voluntary lapse, which was measured on an
additive basis. See examples in the full survey questions in Appendix A for additional detail.

Authors: Mike Bergerson, FSA, MAAA, Principal and Consulting Actuary
Andrew Dalton, FSA, MAAA, Principal and Consulting Actuary
Robert Eaton, FSA, MAAA, Principal and Consulting Actuary
James Stoltzfus, FSA, MAAA, Principal and Consulting Actuary

Milliman

Publication Date: March 2021

Publication Site: Society of Actuaries

Who Needs MPRA?

Mary Pat Campbell
Who Needs MPRA?

Excerpt:

A scant week after the multiemployer pension bailout was enacted one large plan reversed course towards that pot of gold.

Their application withdrawal letter just popped up on the MPRA website.

Plan Name: American Federation of Musicians and Employers’ Pension Fund and Subsidiary

EIN/PN: 51-6120204/001

Total participants @ 3/31/20: 51,295 including:

Retirees: 17,116

Separated but entitled to benefits: 13,777

Still working: 20,402

Author(s): John Bury

Publication Date: 18 March 2021

Publication Site: Burypensions

Huge vaccine error: 9,000 patients were forgotten

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://stiften.dk/artikel/k%C3%A6mpe-vaccinefejl-9-000-patienter-blev-glemt

Excerpt (via Google Translate):

Jørgen Schøler Kristensen, Medical Director at Aarhus University Hospital, explains the error as follows:

– When patients with a civil registration number beginning with 0 had to be entered, the civil registration number was declared invalid if a hyphen was missing. So 26 percent of the civil registration numbers we have reported have not been entered correctly, so they have not received the invitation in their e-box to be vaccinated as they should have had, says Jørgen Schøler Kristensen.

Patients born the first nine days of any month and having been unlucky with a hyphen were forgotten.

Additional:

Author(s): Jens Christian Thaysen

Publication Date: 19 March 2021

Publication Site: Århus Stiftstidende

Landmark Covid Relief Law Pumps More Than $100 Billion Into Public Health

Mary Pat Campbell
Landmark Covid Relief Law Pumps More Than $100 Billion Into Public Health

Excerpt:

The law steers $49 billion toward enhancing coronavirus testing, contact tracing and genomic sequencing, to help identify and track virus variants. Even if the number of infections declines, the money assures these efforts continue for the rest of this year and into 2022 if needed.

Another $50 billion goes to the Federal Emergency Management Agency to support vaccine distribution and logistical and social support in areas hardest hit by pandemic-related job loss and financial strain. This includes such activities as food distribution.

States and local government agencies are allotted $350 billion to make up for lost tax revenue amid the pandemic-caused recession. Some of that money is expected to be spent on pandemic response and public health programs, but it comes with a deadline. It must be spent by Dec. 31, 2024.

Author(s): Steven Findlay

Publication Date: 18 March 2021

Publication Site: Kaiser Health News

Amazon jumps into health care with telemedicine initiative

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/amazon-jumps-health-care-telemedicine-initiative-76508970

Excerpt:

Amazon is making its first foray into providing health care services, announcing Wednesday that it will be offering its Amazon Care telemedicine program to employers nationwide.

Currently available to the company’s employees in Washington state, Amazon Care is an app that connects users virtually with doctors, nurse practitioners and nurses who can provide services and treatment over the phone 24 hours a day. In the Seattle area, it’s supplemented with in-person services such as pharmacy delivery and house-call services from nurses who can take blood work and provide similar services.

On Wednesday, the tech giant announced it will immediately expand the service to interested employers in Washington who want to purchase the service for their employees. By the summer, Amazon Care will expand nationally to all Amazon workers, and to private employers across the country who want to join.

Author(s): MATTHEW BARAKAT, Associated Press

Publication Date: 17 March 2021

Publication Site: ABC News

Ethics and use of Data Sources for Underwriting ft. Neil Raden and Kevin Pledge -NSNA(Ep.4)

Mary Pat Campbell

Video:

Description:

The video features Neil Raden who is the author of ethical use of AI for Actuaries. Alongside him , it features Kevin Pledge who is CEO of Acceptiv , FSA,FIA and chair of Innovation and Research Committee of SOA. We discuss about the issue of ethics and about the use of new data sources in the recent Emerging issues in Underwriting Survey Report by IfOA.

Authors: Harsh Jaitak, Kevin Pledge, Neil Raden

Publication Date: 17 March 2021

Publication Site: TBD Actuarial at YouTube

CDC death data as of 17 March 2021 U.S. Dashboards

Mary Pat Campbell

Video:

Description:

I review national-level U.S. mortality data from 2020 into 2021 (last updated 3/17/2021, weekly data through the week ending 3/6/2021), using the CDC’s own dashboards.

Breakdown by total numbers, states, age group, racial/ethnic group, non-COVID major causes.

CDC excess mortality dashboards: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid19/excess_deaths.htm

Author(s): Mary Pat Campbell

Publication Date: 18 March 2021

Publication Site: Meep’s Math Matters at YouTube

Uber to give UK drivers minimum wage, pension, holiday pay

Mary Pat Campbell
Uber to give UK drivers minimum wage, pension, holiday pay

Excerpt:

 Uber is giving its U.K. drivers the minimum wage, pensions and holiday pay, following a recent court ruling that said they should be classified as workers and entitled to such benefits.

The ride hailing giant’s announcement Tuesday comes after it lost an appeal last month at the U.K. Supreme Court following a yearslong court battle. The court’s decision holds wider implications for the country’s gig economy.

Uber said it’s extending the benefits immediately to its more than 70,000 drivers in the U.K. Drivers will earn at least the minimum wage, which currently stands at 8.72 pounds ($12.12), after accepting a trip request and expenses, and will still be able to earn more.

Author(s): Kelvin Chan, Associated Press

Publication Date: 16 March 2021

Publication Site: WTMJ

Industrial production and investment surge in China

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2021/03/16/industrial-production-and-investment-surge-in-china

Graphic:

Excerpt:

ON MARCH 5TH at its annual parliament, the National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s government revealed an economic-growth target of “more than 6%” for this year, a bar it is expected to clear with ease. Take the latest data. China’s key economic indicators for January and February, published on Monday, were buoyant. Industrial production and retail sales, for example, are soaring—35.1% and 33.8% higher than a year ago, respectively, beating consensus forecasts. Fixed-asset investment surged by 35% year on year, but still fell below expectations.

This year’s rocket-fuelled figures are even harder to decipher than usual because they are compared with record lows last year, during the first wave of covid-19 outbreaks. Macquarie, a bank, says that if you remove the effect of the pandemic, underlying retail sales were up by 3.1% for the first two months of 2021. This implies consumption accelerated after a few small outbreaks were brought under control in Beijing in January. Oxford Economics, a research group, says it expects household consumption to become the main engine of economic growth from the second quarter of 2021, as travel restrictions are eased. But in the first quarter, growth will remain sluggish.

Publication Date: 16 March 2021

Publication Site: The Economist