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
Ceiling on expense reimbursement allowance, as stated in New York insurance law, that an insurance company licensed in New York State can give its agents. This is one reason why a company ...
Inability to divide a cash value life insurance policy into a savings element and a protection element because, in theory, if the policyowner withdraws a portion or ail of the cash value, ...
Statements by an insurance applicant concerning personal health history, family health history, occupation, and hobbies. These statements are required to be substantially correct; that is, ...
Fidelity bond provided under a blanket position bond (in which each position is covered on an individual basis) or a commercial blanket bond (in which a loss is covered on a blanket basis ...
Coverage for bodily injury, property damage or destruction, for which the insured garage and/or its representatives become legally liable resulting from the operation of the garage. For ...
Payments made to the insured by the insurance company before the settlement date. For example, a claim is scheduled to be settled on June 1, 2000, but the insurance company pays the ...
Lower limit on the maximum possible interest rate an insurance company will pay. If the market interest rates are below that lower limit, the insurance company pays the lower limit rate. In ...
Highest price investor is willing to pay for a stock or mutual fund unit and lowest price a seller of a stock or mutual fund is willing to accept. ...
Addition to a personal automobile policy (pap) that covers an insured who is involved in a collision with a driver who does not have sufficient liability insurance to pay for the damages. ...
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