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
Rate of return computed by dividing the current annual dividend (if a stock) or annual coupon amount (if a bond) by the amount paid for that financial instrument. ...
Arrangement by which the insured agrees to incur a given degree of variability in the ultimate total costs associated with financing its losses. ...
Account that is similar in form to the health plan flexible spending account (FSA) with contributions to this account used to reimburse employees who are parents for expenses at a ...
Trust in which the trustee distributes capital and income to the beneficiaries of the trust according to their economic needs. ...
Clause in the Standard Fire Policy and many other property insurance policies that excepts coverage for losses caused by riot or civil commotion. Coverage for riot and civil commotion can ...
Maximum amount of a specified type of insurance coverage, according to underwriting guidelines, that an insurance company feels it can safely underwrite on a particular exposure without ...
Financial analysis method established by the national association of insurance commissioners (naic) to detect problems of property and casualty insurance companies and life and health ...
Common element in property insurance that excludes electrical damage or destruction of an appliance unless the damage is caused by a resultant fire. ...
Requiring assets and liabilities of an insurance company to go up or down together on a proportional basis. The duration of the asset and liability should be approximately the same. For ...
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