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
Methods by which a home office underwriter chooses applicants that an insurer will accept. The underwriter's job is to spread the costs equitably among members of the group to be insured. ...
Injury that continues after a wound from physical or psychic entry. (The latter is a wound that makes a lasting impression on the mind, especially upon the subconscious mind; for example, a ...
Resulting when all possible outcomes from all the events being studied have been considered. ...
1961 federal legislation that allows the U.S. Export-Import Bank to set up insurance protection for U.S. exporters against credit risk and political risk in order to help make U.S. exports ...
Transportation firm that carries only select customers' goods and is not obligated to carry any particular customer's goods even if that customer is willing to pay. Contrast with common ...
Acknowledgment by the policyowner that he or she has received the policy loan requested. ...
Agreement that eliminates tariffs among the United States, Canada, and Mexico over a 15-year period. Approximately 65% of United States agricultural and industrial exports would be eligible ...
1965 federal law that provides for medical assistance to those who cannot afford to pay for it. Four categories of the needy can qualify: aged, blind, disabled, and families with dependent ...
In many health insurance and dental insurance policies, stipulation that, if the estimated cost of a recommended plan of treatment exceeds a specified sum, the insured must submit the plan ...
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