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
Cost of the assets listed on the accounting records of the company. These assets include the following: real estate (to include any adjustments for depreciation), transportation equipment ...
Application for a policy, in life insurance, accompanied by the first premium; in property and casualty insurance, the insurance application itself. ...
Combination of two basic plans: accumulating units of paid-up permanent life insurance, and decreasing units of group term life insurance. The premium paid each month consists of the (a) ...
Account established to manage the assets of a minor. This account is under the auspices of a custodian (either an individual or an institution). The gift tax exclusion would apply on any ...
Value in life insurance policies that entitle the insured to these choices: to relinquish the policy for its CASH SURRENDER VALUE. (Note that in the beginning years the cash value may be ...
Written statements on a form by a prospective insured about himself, including assets and other personal information. These statements and additional information, such as a medical report, ...
Transfer of the cash value of the policy from the policyowner to the policyowner's creditor as security for a loan. ...
Rules passed as part of the tax reform act of 1986 that limit the amount of income investors can shelter from current tax. Losses can be deducted from passive activities only in the amount ...
Value of a share of common stock, derived by dividing the total common stockholders' equity at the end of a period of time by the total number of shares outstanding at the end of the same ...
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