State Supervision And Regulation
Primary responsibility for overseeing the insurance industry that has rested with individual states since 1945, after Congress passed the MCCARRAN-FERGUSON ACT (PUBLIC LAW 15). In addition to supervision and regulation, states receive taxes and fees paid by the industry that amount to several billion dollars a year. State insurance laws are administered by state insurance departments that are responsible for making certain that (1) rates are adequate, not unfairly discriminatory, and not unreasonably high, and (2) insurance companies in the state are financially sound and able to pay future claims. To this end, states set requirements for company reserves, require annual financial statements, and examine company books. Each state has an insurance commissioner or superintendent who is either elected or appointed by the governor, with responsibility for investigating company practices, approving rates and policy forms, and ordering liquidation of insolvent insurers. The NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF INSURANCE COMMISSIONERS (NAIC) has drafted model legislation and worked for policy uniformity, but regulations vary widely from state to state.
Whether insurers should be regulated by the states or the federal government remains at issue, but so far insurers and the NAIC lobbying have been effective in resisting federal regulation. Nevertheless, the federal government has a profound effect on the insurance industry through its taxes and a variety of regulations.
Popular Insurance Terms
method of gaining illegal entry to perform a criminal act. If a policyholder makes a claim for loss of jewelry or rugs under a homeowners policy, or if a business owner makes a claim for ...
Re-registration of existing shares when there is any change in the name of the owner (s). Such a circumstance may occur when the owner (s) of the shares gives these shares to another ...
Measure used in the retrospective rating method for workers compensation insurance. A factor is applied to the incurred losses during the rating period in question in order to generate a ...
Rating system under which a specific premium rate, rather than a manual or class rate, is assigned to each unit of exposure. ...
Providing coverage for physicians' fees, expenses associated with nonsurgical care whether in the insured's home, hospital, or the physician's office, and expenses connected with X-rays and ...
Method of rating that compares property to be insured to a standard and adjusts the rate for deviations from the standard. A standard building is situated in a standard city of specific ...
Coverage for specialists in various professional fields. Since basic liability policies do not protect against situations arising out of business or professional pursuits, professional ...
State law by which insurance companies are permitted to establish deferred tax assets and liabilities subject to maximum limitations. ...
Interest adjusted method that measures the cost of life insurance. Named for the late distinguished actuary M. Albert Linton. This method compares a whole life policy with a combination of ...
Have a question or comment?
We're here to help.