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
Relationship of incurred losses plus loss adjustment expense to earned premiums. ...
Designation of a policy's death benefit or its cash surrender value to a creditor as security for a loan. If the loan is not repaid, the creditor receives the policy proceeds up to the ...
Limits on reimbursement by an insurance company. Health insurance plans pay a doctor's full charge for service if it does not exceed the usual charge; that is, if it does not exceed the ...
Publication stipulating underwriting rules applicable for a given line of insurance, classifications of exposures within that line of insurance, and premium rates per classification. For ...
Provides the same coverage as a comprehensive personal liability insurance policy, plus coverage to exposures that are peculiar to farms, such as farm business operations, farm employees ...
Standards used to determine claims payments in cases of overlapping property/liability insurance coverage. At one time, each type of insurance had its own rules to govern claims where more ...
Coverage for a contractor's liability for injuries or property damage suffered by third parties as the result of the contractor completing an operation. The contractor must take reasonable ...
Cash value of life insurance that accumulates according to a table in a policy. It reflects premiums in the early years that exceed the pure cost of protection during that period. If a ...
Maximum amount of insurance coverage that an insurance company will underwrite in a particular geographic area. ...
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