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
Period of time of insurance coverage. If a loss occurs during this time, insurance benefits are paid. If a loss occurs after this time period has expired, no insurance benefits are paid. ...
Type of excess of loss reinsurance in which the insurance company (cedent) receives payments from its re-insurer in a specific pattern of payments. ...
Financial statement, issued by the insurance company on a monthly basis to its agents, showing for each agent his or her commissions earned, premiums written, policy cancellations, and any ...
Purchasing bond investments that mature at different time intervals. ...
Marketing of insurance through independent agents; also called independent agency system. Independent agents usually represent several insurance companies and try to insure the risk ...
Rules stating that, for any portion of the payment made to the employee from an eligible rollover distribution, the plan administrator is required by federal law to withhold 20% of the ...
Contract that gives the insurance company the right, not the obligation, to buy a stipulated stock or bond at a specified price (strike price) at or before the date of expiration of the ...
Information generated by the medical information bureau (MIB) and made available to member companies concerning medical information of applicants for life and health insurance. Member ...
Termination date of coverage as indicated on the insurance policy. ...
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