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
Same as term Concurrency: in which at least two insurance policies provide identical coverage for the same risk. ...
Restoration of a policy that has lapsed because of nonpayment of premiums after the grace period has expired. In life insurance the reinstatement time period is three years from the premium ...
Means of providing insurance protection for the property of a business that is not at a fixed location. ...
Procedure for accumulating, conserving, and distributing personal wealth. In essence, estate planning focuses on enhancement of the value of an estate and its conservation. At the death of ...
Trust whereby asset management is provided until a child reaches the age of majority. Upon reaching majority, the child has full use and control over the assets. The grantor of the trust ...
Same as term Expiration: termination date of coverage as indicated on the insurance policy. ...
Effort to keep life insurance policies from lapsing. Many life insurance companies have conservation officers who contact lapsing policy owners explaining the benefits of keeping their ...
Futures contracts based on automobile and health reinsurance policies to be traded on the Commodity Future Exchange of the Chicago Board of Trade. The purpose is to allow insurance ...
Coverage for the inside of an insured premises of a business firm if it experiences a loss of money, securities, personal property, and damage or destruction of real or personal property ...
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