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
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 ...
Insurance policy underwritten and issued by a syndicate listing each risk insured by each syndicate member. ...
Measure showing how much life insurance an agent has lost through replacement. It is expressed as a percentage of number of policies, face amount, or premium volume. ...
Person insured under a blue CROSS hospitalization or blue shield medical health insurance plan. ...
Coverage on jewelry and precious stones on an all risks basis at any location subject to exclusions of wear and tear, war, and nuclear disaster. Each item must be specifically listed in the ...
Federal statute relating to drug abuse policies that requires all employers with federal contracts at least equal to $25,000 to certify, as a condition of receiving a federal contract, that ...
Hospital charges in addition to room and board. Miscellaneous expenses are covered under a basic hospital plan, with the limits of coverage expressed either as a multiple of the daily ...
Signed receipt by policyowner acknowledging that policyowner is in possession of the policy. ...
Type of disability income insurance that provides income payments to the wage earner when income is interrupted or terminated because of illness, sickness, or accident and can continue to ...
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