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
Cost per unit of insurance. ...
Waiver of an impairment of an applicant for health insurance by attaching an endorsement to the health insurance policy stating that the policy will pay no benefits in connection with the ...
Provision that the equity of an insured in a life insurance policy cannot be forfeited. There are four benefits a policyholder can select under the option: cash surrender value, extended ...
Same as term Buy-Back Deductible: deductible eliminated through the payment of an additional premium, resulting in first-dollar coverage under the policy. ...
Special policy blank issued by an insured for individual shipments or other purposes under an open policy. The open policy allows an insured to buy protection for all marine business for an ...
services provided in an employee benefit plan such as a pension plan. An employer provides the clerical staff to operate the plan, in effect acting as custodian. The trustee provides ...
Insurance for private pleasure boats. Coverage is not standard, but is generally broken down into insurance for yachts, including sailboats; boats with inboard motors under marine ...
Case where an insurance company is placed by the state court under the control of the state insurance department. Claims are paid in the order filed until the insurance company's ability to ...
Coverage for an insured manufacturer for claims after a manufactured product has been sold and/or a claim results from an operation which the manufacturer has completed. ...
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