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
Insured peril in some property insurance policies that encompasses any accidental damage to insured property while being removed to safety from the immediate threat of damage by another ...
Federal legislation that established the old age survivors, disability, and health insurance (OASDHI). ...
Element usually found in industrial life insurance policies under which the insurance company upon the death of the insured under certain conditions is allowed to choose the beneficiary if ...
Type of commercial property policy that provides coverage for a business' indirect losses resulting from damages to the property of the business. Coverage normally contains a coinsurance ...
Hospital charges in addition to room and board. Miscellaneous expenses are covered under a basic hospital plan, with the limits of coverage expressed either as a multiple of the daily ...
Coverage for acts or omissions committed by an agent or broker resulting in adequate insurance in the event of a liability suit or property damage to a client. ...
Association formed to address the requirements of government risk pools. ...
Five primary sectors of insurance coverage. Their purposes are: LIFE INSURANCE provides income to a beneficiary in the event of the death of the insured. HEALTH INSURANCE provides two types ...
Individual licensed to sell securities to the public. For example, to sell variable annuities and variable life insurance products and mutual funds, an insurance agent is required to pass ...
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