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
Federal law comparable to state workers compensation statutes setting out liability of railroads for work-related injuries or death of their employees. Railroad employees are not covered by ...
Employee benefit plan that does not have the federal tax advantages of a qualified pension plan, in which employers receive a federal tax deduction for contributions paid into the plan on ...
Method of accident prevention whose objective is to detect system-component deficiencies that have the potential for causing accidents. ...
Securities that derive their value from other financial instruments that are used by the insurance company to hedge its bets on which direction the market is moving. For example, cattle ...
Coverage for musicians and other providers of musical services such as musical instrument dealers. Musical instruments, service equipment, and sheet music are insured on an all risks basis ...
Contract under which an assessment insurance company can charge policyowners additional sums if the company's loss experience is worse than had been loaded for in the premium. This ...
Wondering what is Title Insurance? Let’s see if our title insurance definition helps you understand it 100%: It is a policy required of home buyers by lenders, to protect against ...
Addition to reflect exposures with a greater probability of loss than standard exposures. For example, insuring a munitions factory obviously requires a premium greater than that required ...
Coverage for business risks including goods in transit, fire, burglary, and theft. A common example is the COMMERCIAL PACKAGE POLICY (CPP). ...
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