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
Reinstatement of an insurance policy or bond to its original face amount (face of policy) after the payment by the insurer of a loss. The purpose of this type of coverage is to indemnify ...
To accumulate. For example, under one of the dividend options of a participating life insurance policy, dividends can accumulate at interest by leaving them with the insurance company; cash ...
Agency of the federal government formed as the result of bankruptcies of savings and loan associations during the 1930s. Insures deposits of customers up to $100,000 for each account. In ...
Modest amounts of coverage sold on a debit basis. The face amount is usually less than $1000. ...
Individual who assigns rights to a benefit. For example, a life insurance policy may be assigned as security for a loan made by the borrower. The policy protects the collateral creditor ...
Variation of group life insurance that covers a small group of persons who work for the same employer. With group life insurance, the employer owns the policy; with wholesale insurance, ...
Option under a participating life insurance policy by which the policy owner can elect to have the dividends purchase paid-up increments of permanent insurance. ...
The surplus resulting from an additional amount of capital necessary to act as a supplement to the reserves in the event of unforeseen contingencies that would impair the insurance ...
Provisions, usually requiring an additional premium, that are appended to an insurance contract. These include waiver of premium (WP), disability income (DI), accidental death clause, ...
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