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
System of charges to an insured that fluctuates according to the loss experience of that insured. This is a form of experience rating. ...
Property and casualty coverage that indemnifies automobile dealers if a dissatisfied customer demands a refund within the period of time allowed under the Uniform Commercial Code. This ...
Written notice to an insured showing date of termination of an insurance policy. ...
Person insured under a blue CROSS hospitalization or blue shield medical health insurance plan. ...
Indemnification bond under which a stock certificate holder who loses the original certificate will be issued a duplicate. The indemnity bond guarantees that if the original stock ...
Excess of the sales price of an asset over its book value. Listed as part of the Annual Report in the summary of the surplus account and/or in the Summary of Operations. ...
Government reinsurance program that provided coverage for U.S. properties during World War II. Private insurers shared the first layer of coverage, with the government providing ...
Circumstance in which no agent is servicing a debit. ...
Coverage on real property written to have no time limit. A single deposit premium pays for insurance for the life of the risk. The insurer earns enough investment income on the deposit to ...
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