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
Special-purpose health insurance policy that covers an insured for accidents while traveling. The policy may cover the insured for one specific trip or one particular type of travel, or it ...
Time period in health insurance that must elapse between a previous illness and a current one, if the current one is to be considered a separate illness eligible for a new set of benefits. ...
Addition to reflect exposures with a greater probability of loss than standard exposures. For example, insuring a munitions factory obviously requires a premium greater than that required ...
Federal law passed in 1920 that allows any seaman incurring bodily injury as the result of the performance of one or more functions of the job to bring a suit for damages against the ...
Premium charge for a policy that is going to be in force for less than the normal period of time. ...
Securement of funds from outside sources such as by borrowing or by attracting equity control. Use of leverage to improve the profitability of a business. Achievement of an investment ...
Liability incurred by a party through entering into a written contract. ...
Rating method for commercial fire insurance according to a predetermined schedule. Published by A. F. Dean in 1902, this method was the first comprehensive qualitative analysis procedure to ...
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 ...
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