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
Items, equipment, or systems used to increase, improve, or maintain the capabilities of people with disabilities. These devices range from simple, such as penholders or cup holders, to ...
Partial payment of medical service expenses required in group health insurance, in addition to the membership fee. For example, for each visit of a physician a member may be required to pay ...
Payments in a defined benefit plan. Benefits are allocated to the pension plan participants as premiums are received by the insurance company. Since the benefits purchased are paid up, the ...
Frequency of illness, sickness, and diseases contracted. ...
Indemnifies an insured whose property is stolen, damaged, or destroyed by a covered peril. The term property insurance encompasses numerous lines of available insurance. ...
Negligent acts and/or omissions, other than breach of contract, normally independent of moral obligations for which a remedy can be provided in a court of law. For example, a person injured ...
Coverage usually provided under the commercial general liability insurance (CGL); it can also be purchased separately. ...
Policy under which the insurer will pay the actual cash value of the property at the time the property was damaged or destroyed provided the loss falls within the limitations of the policy. ...
Provision of a reinsurance contract that states that the reinsurance company remains liable for its predetermined share of a claim submitted by an insured, even though the primary insurance ...
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