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
Provision in the extended coverage endorsement stating that smoke damage is covered when it results from the sudden, unusual, and faulty operation of an on-premises cooking or heating unit, ...
Form of state rating legislation that allows each property/liability insurer to choose between using rates set by a bureau or its own rates. Individual states regulate insurers and approve ...
Means of selling and servicing property and casualty insurance through agents who represent different companies. The agents own the records of the policies they sell. ...
Loss of a key person due to death, disability, sickness, resignation, incarceration, or retirement. Because of the expertise of such an individual, there could be a loss of income, market ...
Coverage for items of property being delivered to a customer. The means of transportation covered include such common carriers as aircraft, railroads, trucks, express carrier, and other ...
Latin for "Let the superior reply." That is, an employer is liable for the torts of employees that result from their employment. For example, an insurance company (the master) acts through ...
Income supplement program under Social Security to provide a minimum monthly income to aged, blind, and disabled persons. The SSI payments, which were introduced in January 1974, make up ...
Coverage for a shipper (owner/sender) for property damage or loss of goods in transit through the post office. A trip transit insurance policy specifically excludes coverages on property ...
Insurance coverage that protects a contractor or other type of business providing a service for expenses incurred in the event a contract is not ratified by a foreign government. For ...
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