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
Act passed by Congress in 1991, the purpose of which is to make it easier for consumers to compare deposit accounts among savings institutions (SI). Some of the act's more important ...
Same as term Expiration File: agents' records showing when clients' policies expire. ...
Inability to divide a cash value life insurance policy into a savings element and a protection element because, in theory, if the policyowner withdraws a portion or ail of the cash value, ...
Choice or choices the annuitant has in deciding how income is to be received from an annuity. ...
Program instituted by the Small Business Administration (SBA) that guarantees a construction contract bond in the event the issuing surety company suffers a loss. This is an effort by the ...
Forced entry into premises. Coverage is provided under various property insurance contracts such as homeowners and special multiperil insurance (SMP). ...
Same as term Employee Benefit Insurance Plan: provision by an employer for the economic and social welfare of employees. Generally include: pension plans for retirement; group life ...
Same as term Insuring agreement: section describing coverages under a policy. Elsewhere in the policy other sections may restrict or exclude coverages. ...
Exceptions to coverage. There is no obligation for an insurance company to pay a claim if: the loss is not covered by a policy, or a particular person is not included in the definition of ...
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