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
Individuals other than the crew of a ship who forcefully steal the ship and/or its cargo. This event is an insured peril under ocean marine insurance. ...
Pension plan under which both the contribution (employer and employee if a contributory plan) and the benefit structure are fixed. In order to properly maintain the actuarial equivalent, ...
Confirmation by an insurance company of the acts of its agent, regardless of whether or not these acts were committed within the limit of authority granted the agent by the company. By so ...
Right of a policyholder, in life insurance with cash values, to continue full coverage for a limited period, as shown in a table in the policy, with no further premiums payable. ...
Means of supplementing an executive's retirement benefits by deferring a portion of his or her current earnings. Deferring income in this manner encourages the loyalty of executives. To ...
In many health insurance and dental insurance policies, stipulation that, if the estimated cost of a recommended plan of treatment exceeds a specified sum, the insured must submit the plan ...
Life insurance under which an insured receives the face value of a policy if the individual survives the endowment period. If the insured does not survive, a beneficiary receives the face ...
Regulation set forth by the national association of insurance commissioners (naic) to govern life insurance sales illustrations. Includes the following major provisions: POLICY OWNER must ...
Risk distribution included by type of coverage, by kind of risk, and by geographical location. ...
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