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
Part of the federal Medicare program for additional coverage on a voluntary basis. The Medicare program is divided into two parts: (1) Hospital Insurance provides hospital benefits to ...
Federal law passed in 1920 that allows any seaman incurring bodily injury as the result of the performance of one or more functions of the job to bring a suit for damages against the ...
Investments restricted to short-term Treasury bills (T-bills) and repurchase agreements secured by Treasury bills. These T-bills are secured by the full faith and credit of the Unites ...
Coverage for an insured's liability for damage to another's property from leakage or overflow of water. Some liability policies specifically exclude water damage, including that caused by ...
Undiscounted loss reserves that must be maintained by property and casualty insurance companies in an adequate amount to provide for the payment of the settlement value of the outstanding ...
Insurance company that is licensed by a state to market and service particular lines of insurance in that state. ...
Coverage for liability for damage to property of others from untimely discharge of fire-fighting sprinkler systems. This coverage is available as an endorsement to broad-form comprehensive ...
Same as term Contingency reserve: percentage of total surplus retained, in insurance company operations, that serves as a reserve to cover unexpected losses as well as to cover the ...
Smallest face amount of life insurance that an insurance company will write on any one person. ...
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