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
Regulations affecting the right of insurance companies to use sex as one of the factors in the actuarial determination of premium rates. The precedent case for such legislation is Arizona ...
Health insurance contract that is renewable at the option of the insurer. On the anniversary date of the contract, the insurer has the right to decide whether or not to renew. ...
Fee paid to an insurance salesperson as a percentage of the premium generated by a sold insurance policy. ...
Measurement of how people feel about prevailing economic conditions, employment outlook, and personal finances. This index is based on statistics gathered from questionnaires mailed by the ...
Fidelity bond provided under a blanket position bond (in which each position is covered on an individual basis) or a commercial blanket bond (in which a loss is covered on a blanket basis ...
One that combines the two forms of ownership, stock and mutual. A stock insurance company is owned by stockholders, whereas a mutual insurance company is owned by its policyholders. A mixed ...
Condition that results from injury or disease that is not job related. Workers compensation applies to employees disabled by on-the-job injuries or disease. In addition, five states require ...
Trust that qualifies assets under the marital deduction provision in the Federal Tax Code for favorable treatment of an estate. The surviving spouse has the full power to use the assets of ...
Nonparticipating life insurance (also called a guaranteed dividend or guaranteed investment policy) sold by a stock life insurance company, usually as a 20-payment policy with coupons ...
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