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
Designation earned by passing 10 national examinations on subjects including mathematics of life and health insurance, actuarial science, insurance, accounting, finance, and employee ...
Forced entry into premises. Coverage is provided under various property insurance contracts such as homeowners and special multiperil insurance (SMP). ...
Risk management control procedure that emphasizes safety management. Its purpose is to reduce the frequency and severity of potential losses. Business firms apply this procedure by posting ...
Same as term Close Corporation Plan: prior arrangement for surviving stockholders to purchase shares of a deceased stockholder according to a predetermined formula for setting the value of ...
Fixed or stated amount of interest paid by a security expressed as a percent of the par value of the security. The longer the length of time until maturity, the higher the coupon rate to ...
Legislation designed to provide the structural reform necessary to strengthen the thrift industry after the bailout of the insolvent Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation (FSLIC) ...
Coverage for specialists in various professional fields. Since basic liability policies do not protect against situations arising out of business or professional pursuits, professional ...
Changing state of the economy associated with changes in human wants and desires such that losses or gains occur. Dynamic changes are not insurable. ...
Coverage for liability exposures that result from manufacturing and/or contracting operations in process on a manufacturer's premises (all locations of ongoing operations) or, in the case ...
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