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
Analysis of uncertainty of financial loss. This classification can be according to whether a risk is fundamental, particular, pure, speculative, dynamic, or static. In life insurance the ...
Charitable planning strategy under which a donor transfers title to his or her residence or farm to the charity. Upon transfer of title, the donor reserves the right to occupy the property ...
Specialized property or liability coverage provided by a non admitted insurer in instances where it is unavailable from insurers licensed by the state. Examples of surplus lines are ...
Same as term Contingent Business Income Coverage Form: coverage for loss in the net earnings of a business if a supplier business, subcontractor, key customer, or manufacturer doing ...
Coverage for business risks including goods in transit, fire, burglary, and theft. A common example is the COMMERCIAL PACKAGE POLICY (CPP). ...
Law that requires that all surplus lines insurance companies maintain a minimum specified amount of capital and surplus; also requires that alien insurers maintain a trust fund on location ...
Insurance policy under which payment is made for a loss not subject to any deductible or under which payment is made up to the limits of the policy, and then an excess insurance policy ...
Table used by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in evaluating split dollar life insurance plans as to the extent of the economic benefit that is considered taxable ordinary income to the ...
Same as term Cancel: termination of a policy. Contract may be terminated by an insured or insurer as stated in the policy. If the insurance company cancels a policy, any unearned premiums ...
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