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
Determination that group plans offering legal services are limited to an annual tax-free benefit of $70 per employee; group plans may offer employer-provided educational assistance plans on ...
Dividend in a participating policy paid after the death of an insured, representing dividends earned between the last dividend date and the insured's death. ...
Plan that combines the simplicity and flexibility of the traditional profit-sharing plan with the best features of the defined benefit plan and the target benefit plan. By age-weighing the ...
Minimum of care owed by one party for the physical safety of another. Liability suits are brought because of negligent acts and omissions resulting from failures to exercise due care. ...
Insurance salesperson who is licensed to place coverage with an insurance company that is not licensed to do business in the state of domicile of the broker. The excess line coverage must ...
Instrument that guarantees compliance with various city, county, and state laws that govern the issuance of a particular license to conduct business. ...
Form that covers exposures associated with efforts to operate a business that is damaged by a peril such as fire. For example, a special electrical generator may have to be purchased in the ...
Phrase used to describe a method of annuity payout that guarantees a specified number of years, regardless of whether an annuitant remains alive. ...
Canadian retirement plan much like U.S. individual retirement account (IRA). Here, an employee can contribute on a tax deductible basis C $3500 each year as a member of an employer pension ...
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