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
Rule that provides four requirements for monitoring the independent agent distribution system: The insurance company must be involved in the training of the independent agent. The ...
Coverage of two or more individuals with the death benefit payable at the last death. Premiums are significantly lower than for policies that insure one person, since the probability of ...
Important means of preventing accidents and injuries. Insurers take corporate safety programs into account when rating workers compensation and other business insurance policies. ...
One named under provisions of the employee retirement income security act of 1974 (erisa) for a terminated pension plan with an unfunded liability for its benefits. ...
Act in which a life insurance company is permitted to transfer the death benefit from the policy to the custodian of a minor beneficiary provided the beneficiary designation has ...
Approach that reflects losses expected. It is a calculation of the pure cost of property or liability insurance protection without loadings for the insurance company's expenses, premium ...
Organization of inland marine insurance underwriters. ...
Coverage if an insured can not collect on property damage or destruction losses from the hired transporter. For example, a truck transporting furniture of the insured is involved in an ...
Expenses and damages incurred as the result of damage to a ship and its cargo and/or of taking direct action to prevent initial or further damage to the ship and its cargo. These expenses ...
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