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
Arrangement in which an unused deduction (credit carryover) to a profit sharing plan can be added to an employer's future contribution on a tax deductible basis. It occurs when the ...
Act that provides new funding for the Bank Insurance Fund and enhances the safety and soundness of the financial system. The FDICIA includes the Foreign Bank Supervision Enhancement Act ...
Coverage in the event that, while practicing the profession of druggist, an act or omission is committed resulting in bodily injury, personal injury, and/or property damage to a customer. ...
Continuing on an indefinite basis. ...
Insurance company incorporated according to the laws of the state in which a risk is located and the policy issued. The insurance company is domiciled in that state. ...
Action by the owner of a cash value policy to relinquish it for its cash surrender value. Since the depression of the 1930s, companies have reserved the right to delay payment of a cash ...
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. ...
Same as term Blanket Position Bond: covers all employees of a business on a blanket basis with the maximumlimit of coverage applied separately to each employee guilty of a crime. ...
Coverage for a common carrier (the insured) for damage or destruction due to radioactive contamination from commercial radioisotopes of a property in the custody of the insured or that of a ...
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