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
Amount of the insurance company's liabilities for claims that have not been settled. If this reserve increases significantly in relation to the company's surplus, the risk is greater for ...
Independent, nonprofit, membership hospital plan. Benefits provided include coverage for hospitalization expenses subject to certain restrictions: for example, semiprivate room only. A ...
Recipient of an indemnity. Indemnitor provider of an indemnity payment. ...
Compensation payable to the owner of a ship detained for reasons beyond his or her control who incurs a loss of earnings because of the delay. Detainment can be caused by a delay in the ...
Circumstance under which the insured maintains that, if an insurance policy covers at least two scheduled items of real or personal property, in the event of a loss applicable coverage ...
Plan to which contributions are not being made, but which has not been formally terminated. The freezing of a keogh plan (hr-10) may occur in the following circumstances: self-employed ...
Coverage primarily for the liability of an individual or organization that results from negligent acts and omissions, thereby causing bodily injury and/or property damage to a third party. ...
Coverage in which the face amount of a life insurance policy declines by a stipulated amount over a period of time. For example, the initial face amount of a $100,000 decreasing term policy ...
Time period in health insurance that must elapse between a previous illness and a current one, if the current one is to be considered a separate illness eligible for a new set of benefits. ...
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