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
Coverage in which the face amount of a policy remains uniform, neither increasing nor decreasing for as long as the policy is in force. ...
Same as term Limitations: exceptions and limitations of coverage; that is, the maximum amount of insurance coverage available under a policy. ...
Statutory surplus plus the interest maintenance RESERVE plus the ASSET VALUATION RESERVE. ...
Plan that provides a legal resident of the state of Oregon access to basic health care through three major components: Medicaid Reform (rationing) extends Medicaid eligibility to those ...
Amendment to the law that requires companies that manage retirement plans to permit terminating participants to directly transfer any plan distribution to the individual retirement account ...
To accumulate. For example, under one of the dividend options of a participating life insurance policy, dividends can accumulate at interest by leaving them with the insurance company; cash ...
Probability of one's living to a specific age according to a particular mortality table. Life expectancy is the beginning point in calculating the pure cost of life insurance and annuities ...
Net income expressed as a percentage of average total equity. This percentage measures profitability by expressing how efficiently invested capital or equity is being utilized. ...
Type of inland marine insurance used to provide coverage for domesticated animals, including poultry, cattle, horses, sheep, and swine. ...
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