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
Bond that provides additional security for a loan. ...
Accrediting body for the ACAS (Associate of the Casualty Actuarial Society) designation and the FCAS (Fellow of the Casualty Actuarial Society) designation. To earn these designations, ...
Money paid through state and federal programs to workers who are temporarily unemployed. The program, which was created by the social security act of 1935, is managed by the individual ...
Coverage for legal liability resulting from damage or destruction of the bailor's property while under the bailee's temporary care, custody, and control. Includes property on or in transit ...
Theory developed in 1931 by H. W. Heinrich; states that an accident is only one of a series of factors, each of which depends on a previous factor in the following manner: accident causes ...
Rights of employees who leave an employer with a qualified plan to withdraw their accumulated benefits. With a contributory plan, employees have immediate rights to their own contributions, ...
Insurance established under the federal Railroad Retirement Act for railroad employees, covering death, retirement, disability, and unemployment. Benefits are adjusted for cost of living ...
Underwriting method used in classifying applicants for life insurance according to certain demographic factors and assigning weights to these factors. Factors include physical condition, ...
Individuals under common management whose goal is to sell and service insurance. Office may be managed by a general agent or branch manager. ...
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