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
Qualified retirement plan under the internal revenue code Section 457 for employees of the states and political subdivisions within the states. ...
Coverage in the event an insured's negligent acts and/or omissions involving the construction of a new one- or two-family residential structure result in bodily injury and/or property ...
Policy used to provide the funds necessary for buy-and-sell agreements whereby an income payment or a series of income payments are paid to the buyer of the disabled partner's interest ...
Amount subtracted from an annuity or from mutual fund proceeds payable to an annuity owner or mutual fund owner to reflect expense fees described in the annuity contract or mutual fund ...
Factor considered in determining amount of life insurance to purchase in order that funds will be available to pay the emergency expenses following the death of a family member. ...
Pension plan format. After deciding how much to contribute, the employer can suspend, reduce, or discontinue contributions during the first 10 years only for reasons of business necessity; ...
Commission that is paid based on how profitable a particular type of business proves to be that is written by an agent. ...
Contractor's and Architect's Errors and Omissions Insurance, which also serves as a general liability policy for these professionals. ...
Attributes of a particular employee benefit plan. For example, a general characteristic of group life insurance is that the whole group is underwritten, not individual members. ...
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