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
Requirement that the combination of medicare and the employer's plan can not be greater than the amount the employer's plan would pay without Medicare. ...
Covers losses resulting from the malfunction of boilers and machinery. Most property insurance policies exclude these losses, which is why a separate boiler and machinery policy or a ...
Classification of occupations according to the degree of risk inherent in that occupation. ...
Arrangement that provides for the reduction of estate taxes and the payment of tax-deductible life insurance premiums. The procedure is for a donor to present a charity with a gift of a sum ...
Optional provision in a disability income policy that allows the policyowner to increase the monthly income sum at an approximate rate of 6%. ...
Coverage on an all risks basis for physical damage loss. Coverage applies to property damage to the insured boat or damage caused by the insured boat to a third party boat. Excluded perils ...
Circumstance that produces the loss. ...
Retirement vehicle permitted under section 403 (b) plan of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code for employees of a public school system or a qualified charitable organization. Under such an ...
Statutory law that lowers the defendant's liability by restricting the monetary recovery of the plaintiff incurring a specified injury, such as pain and suffering, or by restricting the ...
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