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
Pension funding agreement under which funds paid into a retirement plan are not currently allocated to purchase retirement benefits. The funds of one plan can not be commingled with funds ...
Fund established to pay specified losses, usually the low severity property losses. This type of account is an excellent device in conjunction with a self-insurance plan, in which the fund ...
Professional designation earned after the successful completion of five national examinations given by the insurance institute of America (IIA). Covers such areas of expertise as accident ...
Same as term Cost-Of-Living Adjustment: automatic adjustment applied to Social Security retirement payments when the consumer price index increases at a rate of at least 3%, the first ...
under contract law, anything of value exchanged for a promise or for performance that is needed to make an instrument binding on the contracting parties. adherence to all provisions of an ...
Standard set under the occupational safety and health act that sets allowable levels of worker exposure to such toxic substances as asbestos, certain chemicals, and radiation. In many cases ...
Provision that the equity of an insured in a life insurance policy cannot be forfeited. There are four benefits a policyholder can select under the option: cash surrender value, extended ...
Arrangement between the seller and the buyer in which the buyer has the right to buy (call option) or sell (put option) a security at some time in the future at a price stipulated at ...
Legislation that provides support for legal actions against individuals or organizations involved in systematic illegal activities. This act has been applied against insurance organizations ...
Have a question or comment?
We're here to help.