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
Method of selling insurance directly to insureds through a company's own employees, through the mail, or at airport booths. The company uses this method of distribution rather than ...
Insurance for private pleasure boats. Coverage is not standard, but is generally broken down into insurance for yachts, including sailboats; boats with inboard motors under marine ...
Same as term Line Limit: maximum amount of a specified type of insurance coverage, according to underwriting guidelines, that an insurance company feels it can safely underwrite on a ...
Same as term Convention Examination: audit of the convention blank (NAIC Statement Blank) every third year as to all of the financial activities of a company; company claim practices; and ...
Same as term Occurrence Basis: coverage, in liability insurance, for harm suffered by others because of events occurring while a policy is in force, regardless of when a claim is actually ...
Legislation that redefined life insurance and raised taxes on life insurance companies. Among the provisions were new rules for some life insurance products, including a definition of ...
Includes rate of return, how long the annuity's interest rate is guaranteed, loads (front, middle and back), financial ranking of the insurance company offering the annuity, the monthly ...
Gross yield minus total costs (expenses). ...
Phrase used to describe a method of annuity payout that guarantees a specified number of years, regardless of whether an annuitant remains alive. ...
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