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
Difference between the yield on earning assets and the cost of interest-bearing liabilities. ...
Statements by an insurance applicant concerning personal health history, family health history, occupation, and hobbies. These statements are required to be substantially correct; that is, ...
Federal legislation passed in 1988 (repealed November 23, 1989) that significantly increased the benefit amounts provided under medicare, both Part A and Part B, in the following manner: ...
Subrogation clauses are used in both the real estate and insurance industries to follow lawful claims against a third party that damaged the property of the insured. If we encounter a ...
Mortality table whose statistics have been adjusted to show expected mortality experience. ...
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 ...
Provision in commercial property coverage under which an insured must report the value of an insured property at periodic intervals in order to preserve coverage up to values reported. In ...
Direct relationship between the use to which a building is put and the likelihood that it will catch on fire. Occupancy is one of the most important factors in setting fire insurance rates. ...
Plans that are similar to stock appreciation rights (SARS) in that an employee is granted a contractual right by the employer to a stipulated number of units in the business, which is ...
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