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
Return of a percentage of premium paid by a business firm if its loss record is better than the amount loaded into the basic premium. ...
Coverage for routine personal legal expenses, including probate, criminal defense, and divorce. ...
Falsification of birth date by an applicant for a life or health insurance policy. If the company discovers that the wrong age was given, the coverage will be adjusted to reflect the ...
INSURANCE health insurance policy providing coverage for an insured's medical expenses except those that are specifically excluded. This may be the most advantageous medical expense policy ...
A procedure in which the employer has absolute liability for the injuries incurred by the employee and the employee does not have the right to sue the employer for those injuries suffered. ...
Means used by a direct fire underwriter to protect against accumulation for a fire account, as well as against extremely large fire account liability. For example, heavy liabilities under ...
Act first passed by the United States Congress in 1981 and later amended in 1986 that provides for the establishment of risk retention groups whose purpose is to sell product liability ...
Policy that comes into existence or adjusts the amount of coverage to provide protection for newly acquired or increasing values of an insured's real or personal property. ...
Single limit insurance program remaining in force for several years as compared with traditional insurance programs where there is a series of annual limits. The LUMP insurance program is ...
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