Exam Updates

The SOA has released changes effective for the Spring 2025 sitting of FSA Group and Health Exams. The updated syllabi can be found here:

• Design and Pricing
• Valuation and Regulation (Unchanged from Fall 2024)
• Risk Mitigation

Overall, there were only minor changes to the syllabi, as there will be significant changes in the next sitting with the Fall 2025 restructuring. The general trend is that there was a handful of added and removed readings, but overall no major shift in the total amount of content / size of syllabus. Find the details on the changes below.

GHDP has the following changes:

• Added - Insuring LTC, Chapter 4: Hybrid Life and Long-Term Care Products. A fairly short chapter.
• Added - GHDP 146-25: A Hard Pill to Swallow: Appreciating the Mathematical Dynamics of the Affordable Care Act. This material was previously part of the GHVR syllabus until it was removed in Fall 2024. This section was tested only once in the past (Q6c of the GHFVCU Fall 2021 sitting).
• Added - GHDP 147-25: Attempting to Boil the Ocean: A High-Level Overview of Medicaid and its Risk-Based Managed Care Programs. This is a fairly average sized section, but also includes a companion Excel file, making it likely there will be math problems asked from it.
• Added - Group Life Waiver Study is a relatively short reading about a Canadian LTD experience study.
• Removed - GHDP 142-23: Medicaid A Primer was removed from the syllabus. This section had only been tested once in the past (Q5 of Spring 2021 GHFVCU).
• Removed - Combination Products was removed from the syllabus. This section had only been tested once in the past (Q3e of Spring 2021 GHDP-C).
• Removed - GHDP-101-13: Group Disability Insurance (sections 4 & 7) was removed from the syllabus. This section had been tested three times in the past, the most recent of which being Q13a+b of Fall 2022 GHDP.
• Removed - GHDP-127-19: Chapters 16 and 19 of Disability Income Insurance: The Unique Risk was removed from the syllabus. This section had only been tested once in the past (Q13c+d of Fall 2022 GHDP).
• Removed - Timing's Everything was removed from the syllabus. This section had been tested three times in the past, the most recent of which being Q8g of Fall 2023 GHDP.
• Removed - 2019 Group LTD Disability Experience Study was removed from the syllabus. This section had been tested only once in the past (Q4d of Fall 2023 GHDP).

GHVR has no syllabus changes.

GHRM has the following changes:

• Added - Surprises in the No Surprises Act: An Interview with Greg Fann. This a fairly short, but insightful article about the No Surprises Act.
• Added - Surprises in the No Surprises Act: An Interview with Greg Fann (Part 2). This is simply the second half of the interview of the preceding addition to the syllabus.
• Added - GHRM 116-25: HHS-Operated Risk Adjustment Technical Paper on Possible Model Changes. This is a relatively longer study note.
• Removed - GHRM 112-23: HHS-Operated Risk Adjustment Methodology Meeting Discussion Paper, Ch. 4. This section had been tested four times in the past, the most recent of which being Q1a+b of Spring 2024 GHRM.
• Trivial Renaming - Handbook of Employee Benefits, Chapters 2 and were changed to a study note and renamed to GHRM 115-24.
• Small Section Removed - Healthcare Risk Adjustment and Predictive Modeling, Chapter 21: Risk Adjustment on the ACA Exchanges. Section 21.8.2 has now been removed from the syllabus. The section removed was fairly short, and discusses issues in ACA Risk Adjustment, with separate sections for Massachusetts and the National Risk Adjustment programs.

The SOA has released changes effective for the Fall 2024 sitting of FSA Group and Health Exams. The updated syllabi can be found here:

• Design and Pricing
• Valuation and Regulation
• Risk Mitigation (Unchanged from Spring 2024)

Overall, there were only minor changes to the syllabi, and the general trend is that GHDP has one additional section (which largely came from GHVR), while GHVR has less content than before. The Retiree Benefits content has been moved from GHVR to GHDP. This is a fairly small section overall, but has been tested fairly regularly over the past few years.

GHDP has the following changes:

• Added - Retiree Health Benefits - Accounting and Valuation Assumptions. This section largely came from the prior sitting's GHVR syllabus (specifically GHVR-816-16). This material has been tested quite frequently in the past (Q5 of GHVR Fall 2023, Q6 of GHVR Spring 2023, Q9 of GHVR Spring 2022, Q5 of GHFVCU Fall 2021 just to go back a few years). However, certain notable sections were omitted during the transition, namely the concept of Funded Status and the computation of Net Periodic Postretirement Benefit Cost (NPPBC), as well as change in APBO over a year. Students should still pay close attention to this section and expect it to continue to be tested in the next sitting. It's also worth pointing out there is an additional Excel case study, which is brand new to the group and health syllabi and should also be carefully studied in order to be fully prepared.

GHVR has the following changes:

• Trivial Renaming - Chapter 6 of Individual Health Insurance was changed to a study note and renamed to GHVR 835-24. This is plausibly due to the removal of the other chapters from this textbook from the syllabus.
• Removed - Chapter 8 of Individual Health Insurance was completely removed from the syllabus. This section was tested only once in the past (Q3 of GHVR Spring 2023).
• Trivial Renaming - Read. Think. Write. was simply moved to a different part of the syllabus (same exam).
• Removed - GHVR 830-21: A Hard Pill to Swallow: Appreciating the Mathematical Dynamics of the Affordable Care Act was completely removed from the syllabus. This section was tested only once in the past (Q6c of the GHFVCU Fall 2021 sitting).
• Removed - Group Insurance Chapter 8: Retiree Group Benefits. This section was removed from this exam. This material had been tested quite frequently in the past (Q10 of GHFVU Fall 2022, Q5a of GHFVCU Fall 2021, Q2 of GHFVCU Spring 2021, just to go back a few years).
• Removed - GHVR 816-16: US Employers' Accounting of Postretirement Benefits Other Than Pensions Study Note was completely removed from the syllabus. This material had been tested quite frequently in the past (Q5 of GHVR Fall 2023, Q6 of GHVR Spring 2023, Q9 of GHVR Spring 2022, Q5 of GHFVCU Fall 2021 just to go back a few years).

The SOA has released changes effective for the Spring 2024 sitting of FSA Group and Health Exams. The updated syllabi can be found here:

• Design and Pricing
• Valuation and Regulation (Unchanged from Fall 2023)
• Risk Mitigation

The overall trend we noticed from the changes is that the syllabi are shrinking in size (more content is being removed than new content is being added).

GHDP has the following changes:

• Removed - The Essentials of Managed Healthcare textbook was removed entirely. This removed 2 chapters from Plan Provisions and Government Programs, and 1 chapter from Manual Rates. The last time this textbook was tested was the GHFVU Spring 2022 Sitting (Q6 and Q12c), before it was moved to the GHDP exam. Overall, this textbook was not a major part of the syllabus and was not frequently tested.
• Removed - Pricing Critical Illness Insurance in Canada (a study note from the Manual rates section). This was a fairly small study note, and had only been tested once in the past (GHADV Spring 2018 Q3).
• Added - 1 new website: Critical Illness Turns 40!. This website is fairly short.
• Added - 1 new Excel model (details TBD): Calculated Risk: Driving Decisions Using the 5/50 Research. We will update this post as soon as we know more about this item.
• Updated - The Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Benefits (study note from the Plan Provisions and Government Programs section) was slightly updated.
• Added - 1 new study note / Excel model (details TBD): Retiree Health Benefits - Accounting and Valuation Assumptions. However, this will not be tested until Fall 2024.

Note: While it looks like more was removed than added to the syllabus, the items that were removed were not tested frequently.

GHRM has the following changes:

• Removed - The Handbook of Employee Benefits textbook was removed (6 chapters from the Employee Benefit Strategy section). However, 2 of these chapters were migrated into a single study note, so effectively only 4 chapters were removed from the syllabus.
• Removed - Chapter 18 of Life & Health and Annuity Reinsurance (study note from the Risk Adjustment section). This was a fairly long section, with a large amount of testable content.
• Removed - Value Based Pharmacy: A Canadian Example (study note from the Provider Reimbursement section). A fairly short study note that was not frequently tested.
• Removed - Chapter 16 the Canadian Handbook of Flexible Benefits (study note from the Employee Benefit Strategy section). A fairly short section overall.
• Added - 1 new website: Restoring the Indifference Ideal: If It’s Not Adjusting for “Risk,” It’s Not “Risk Adjustment”. This website is of medium length.

Overall, a lot more was removed from GHRM than was added.

The SOA has released changes effective for the Fall 2023 sitting of FSA Group and Health Exams. The updated syllabi can be found here:

• Design and Pricing(Unchanged from Spring 2023)
• Valuation and Regulation
• Risk Mitigation(Unchanged from Spring 2023)

GHDP and GHRM remain the same. GHVR has the following changes:

• 2 study notes added in the Financial Statements section (both relatively short)
• 1 study note removed from the Regulation & Taxation section (medium length)
• 1 study note modified in the Regulation & Taxation section (2 examples removed)

The SOA has released changes effective for the Spring 2023 sitting of FSA Group and Health Exams. The updated syllabi can be found here:

• Design and Pricing
• Valuation and Regulation(formerly Finance and Valuation)
• Risk Mitigation(formerly Specialty)

These changes can be summarized at a high level as follows:

1. Design and Pricing (DP) exam name remains unchanged.
   • Exam length has decreased from 5 to 3.5 hours.
   • 3 out of 5 former DP sections remain. Plan Provisions now also includes Government Programs. Employee Benefits and Provider Reimbursement have been moved to RM.
2. Valuation and Regulation (VR-US) replaces Finance and Valuation (FV-US).
   • Exam length has decreased from 5 to 3.5 hours.
   • 4 out of 6 former FV sections remain. Government Programs has been moved to DP. Actuarial Appraisal has been dropped.
3. Risk Mitigation (RM) replaces Specialty (SPC).
   • Exam length has increased from 2 to 3 hours.
   • 2 out of 4 former SPC sections remain. Employee Benefits and Provider Reimbursement from former DP have been added. ERM has been dropped.
4. The total exam time of Group and Health has been reduced from 12 to 10 hours.