How Is That SOA General Insurance Track Working Out For You ?

[Malcolm]

Originally Posted by deathfrombelow

There was a pet insurance question on one of the Life FSA exams a few years back. Dead puppies sure do make exams more fun!

They don't come when you call.
They don't chase squirrels at all...

[deathfrombelow]

Originally Posted by Malcolm

They don't come when you call.
They don't chase squirrels at all...

Haha, yep, you N'ed my r!

[Aluan]

Originally Posted by A.B.C.

Not from what I've seen. Also any medicare issues are not related to knowing the basics of what a,b,c,d, and e are for (which is the only thing the exam really tests). Testing a student on how to properly fill out a filing form would do wonders more than knowing basics of the basics about medicare that are not at the forefront of workers comp, and are not related to any other major line in P&C.

Even when I do a search of the news I can't find a medicare issue that's a huge deal or even a deal right now in workers comp.

How about Social Security, how is knowing the pitfalls in a pension line related to property and casualty.

There's not even 1 paper on pet insurance on any syllabus and that is actually a P&C line, yet there are at least 2 papers on non P&C lines from medicare and social security on the syllabus. Talk about backwards.

Social Security also has a disability component; but that's not important. Also, I agree with MountainHawk that Medicare set-asides are important in workers comp; but that's not the point, either.

I think the idea of studying Social Security and Medicare was to give us a broad introduction to the different social insurance/government insurance programs and characteristics of them, and that would help us think about the role of regulation or the government or assigned risk programs in the P&C world. I think that it's important to have them on the syllabus because it has important and useful knowledge to be aware of that one isn't likely to learn about on the job.

[phoebe]

Originally Posted by campbell

1. I assume they will get some people from the UK society to work on the GI stuff. Given that they said that non-SOA members could be on these committees (unlike the other FSA exams), the field is pretty wide open for any GI actuary from any society.

I'm just wondering if they'll have to end up paying some people to get it done. That has been one of my questions not yet answered ...just trying to figure out what they're willing to spend to get this done

If you take the soa leadership at its word, the purpose of the gi track is to compete with the uk folks internationally, and possible damage to the cas is just an unfortunate side effect as the big boys fight. So it's not clear that the brits will be gung ho to support the effort, either.

[campbell]

Originally Posted by phoebe

If you take the soa leadership at its word, the purpose of the gi track is to compete with the uk folks internationally, and possible damage to the cas is just an unfortunate side effect as the big boys fight. So it's not clear that the brits will be gung ho to support the effort, either.

Not all the UK fellows are in the UK, nor care if their society is "on top" internationally.

Brad Smith specifically referenced someone in China (I don't know the credentials or experience).... I imagine there are people who wouldn't mind working with the SOA

In any case, if they go through with this, we should be seeing names pop up on committee lists. So we just have to wait.

[Trigger]

Originally Posted by campbell

1. I assume they will get some people from the UK society to work on the GI stuff. Given that they said that non-SOA members could be on these committees (unlike the other FSA exams), the field is pretty wide open for any GI actuary from any society.

I'm just wondering if they'll have to end up paying some people to get it done. That has been one of my questions not yet answered ...just trying to figure out what they're willing to spend to get this done

I think using UK GI actuaries is a remote possibility... As the SOA and Institute see themselves as the the two global players... They are competitors, so cooperation is not the order of the day.

Paying for the services is more probable... As doing this with volunteers is going to be virtually impossible... The record to date is that many have been approached but no takers beyond keating.

And if they succeed in doing that, the question quickly becomes, what is the standing of the SOA in GI? That is significant for those choosing an org to be their home for learning and, beyond that, for belonging (programming and such).

It does seem to me that the SOA has chosen a very hard road... Very expensive with highly uncertain returns.... While fracturing the profession in the process. Very selfish and borders on stupid...

To get a sense of how steep this hill is, consider that the SOA has approached CAS members trying to get permission to use their work in developing the GI syllabus... And similarly asked the CAS for permission to use our publications for the same purpose. I suspect the CAS is NOT going to cooperate...

[bdschobel]

Originally Posted by Trigger

...It does seem to me that the SOA has chosen a very hard road... Very expensive with highly uncertain returns.... While fracturing the profession in the process. Very selfish and borders on stupid....

It has crossed the border of stupid and is deep into idiocy.

Bruce

[johnny storm]

Originally Posted by Trigger

To get a sense of how steep this hill is, consider that the SOA has approached CAS members trying to get permission to use their work in developing the GI syllabus... And similarly asked the CAS for permission to use our publications for the same purpose. I suspect the CAS is NOT going to cooperate...

Not sure how they need permission. Obviously, it's polite to ask people when you're referencing their stuff, but doesn't seem like they need permission to tell their students to read a paper that was published in a public forum.

[bdschobel]

Originally Posted by johnny storm

Not sure how they need permission. Obviously, it's polite to ask people when you're referencing their stuff, but doesn't seem like they need permission to tell their students to read a paper that was published in a public forum.

The SOA meticulously copyrights their study material -- and enforces that copyright. I'm confident that CAS does the same thing. SOA cannot use it -- or most of it -- without permission.

Bruce

[campbell]

Originally Posted by johnny storm

Not sure how they need permission. Obviously, it's polite to ask people when you're referencing their stuff, but doesn't seem like they need permission to tell their students to read a paper that was published in a public forum.

I'm guessing it's with reference to the study notes that are sold via the SOA. They have to get copyright-holder permission to reprint.

The SOA doesn't need permission to assign a textbook to the syllabus. Or a free, online-available article (they can just link...but there have been problems with that in the past when they linked non-SOA publications. The owners of the linked material can remove it, etc.)