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
Number of times losses occur, and their severity. These statistics measure expectation of loss, and are critical in establishing a basic premium or the pure cost of protection that is based ...
Type of major medical deductible amount that acts as a corridor between benefits under a basic health insurance plan and benefits under a major medical insurance plan. After benefits are ...
Rate applied when two or more separate buildings are insured under one policy, and/or when two or more separate contents are insured under one policy. ...
Approach in pension plan funding under which a separate account is maintained for comparing actual contributions to the plan with the minimum contributions required to meet future employee ...
Addition to the pure cost of insurance that reflects agent commissions, premium taxes, administrative costs associated with putting business on an insurance company's books, and ...
Changing state of the economy associated with changes in human wants and desires such that losses or gains occur. Dynamic changes are not insurable. ...
Endorsement to an automobile policy that pays specified amount for towing and related labor costs. ...
Legislation in a number of states requiring insurers to pay the face amount of a fire insurance policy in case of total loss to a dwelling (or sometimes another specified type of building), ...
Alleged torts or breaches of contract, but not crimes. Action is brought by one individual against another at the litigant's own expense, within the statute of limitations. The losing party ...
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