Definition of "Federal trade commission (ftc)"
Government agency, under the McCarran-Ferguson act (public law 15), that has no authority over insurance matters to the extent the states regulate insurance to the satisfaction of Congress. However, this does not prevent the FTC from conducting investigations into the insurance industry. For example, in 1970 the Congress charged the FTC with the responsibility of enforcing the fair credit reporting act, which requires an insurance company to notify an insurance applicant of an impending inspection report and to release information so collected to the applicant upon request. If the report results in the applicant's rejection for insurance, he must be notified of the adverse report and his right to its contents. Perhaps the best known FTC investigation involved its study "Life Insurance Cost Disclosure," that was extremely critical of industry cost disclosure practices.
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