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
Insurance transactions conducted across national boundaries. Such transactions occur when the insurance company sells insurance outside the country of the company's domicile. ...
Time frame during which an annuitant makes premium payments to an insurance company. The obligations of the company to the annuitant during this period depend on whether a pure annuity or ...
Organization that underwrites insurance policies. There are two principal types of insurance companies: mutual and stock. A mutual company is owned by its policy owners, who elect a board ...
Act by a person who is terminally ill of cashing in a life insurance policy to pay for the necessary associated illness, medical expenses, and final wishes. This terminally ill person ...
Coverage that will indemnify the insured for the expenses, up to the limits of the policy, if a building is damaged by a peril such as fire, and zoning requirements and/or building codes ...
Detail showing distribution of property coverages written by an insurance company. Illustrates a potential danger of concentration of insured risks. ...
Entitlement of a participant in an employee benefit insurance plan to receive benefits regardless of his or her employment status. ...
Under a general liability policy, a claim by an employer arising when an employee terminated by a supervisor without authority or just cause brings suit against the employer. Such a claim ...
Complete coverage for hospital and physician charges subject to deductibles and coinsurance. This coverage combines basic medical expense policy and major medical policy. ...
Have a question or comment?
We're here to help.