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
Same as term Exclusions: provision in an insurance policy that indicates what is denied coverage. For example, common exclusions are: hazards deemed so catastrophic in nature that they are ...
Provision in corporate life insurance policies that allows coverage to be transferred to a new individual with proof of insurability, for a premium appropriate to the age of the new ...
Ownership of property by two or more persons who do not have rights of survivor ship. The share of a deceased tenant passes to that person's heirs and not to the other tenants. Because ...
Agreement by an insurance company to underwrite business submitted by an agent or broker even though that business is substandard. The object is to continue to attract profitable business ...
Coverage for paintings, pictures, etchings, tapestries, art glass windows, antique furniture, coin collections, and stamp collections owned by individuals and businesses. These works are ...
Same as term Accidental Death and Dismemberment Insurance: form of accident insurance that indemnifies or pays a stated benefit to insured or his/her beneficiary in the event of bodily ...
In life insurance, single payment instead of a series of installments. ...
Payment due on the renewal of an insurance policy. The premium may be adjusted up or down to reflect the loss experience of the underwriting classification to which the insured belongs. ...
Protection given to life insurance beneficiaries by state laws, under which the benefits of a life insurance policy usually cannot be attached by creditors of an insured and/or beneficiary. ...
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