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
Traditional HMO made up of physicians who are salaried by the HMO. These physicians treat solely HMO members who are covered only if they use HMO physicians and hospitals. ...
Private, not-for-profit-group that develops and publishes safety codes and standards relating to protection of people and property against fire. The NFPA is financed by fees for technical ...
Coverage for a common carrier (the insured) for damage or destruction due to radioactive contamination from commercial radioisotopes of a property in the custody of the insured or that of a ...
Type of pension plan in which the employer (if noncontributory plan) or the employer and employee (if contributory plan) make level annual premium payments to fund the future retirement ...
Provision in an umbrella liability insurance policy under which the policy will pay those losses that come within the retention limits of the primary policy, but the primary policy cannot ...
In property insurance, amount that an insured does not have to pay when a loss exceeds a predetermined sum; here the insurance company pays more than 100% of the loss, so that the ...
Coverage under the Homeowners Form-4 (HO-4) for the insured's personal property and loss of use against fire and/or lightning; vandalism and/or malicious mischief; windstorm and/or hail; ...
Demand without foundation, such as a claim submitted to an insurance company by an insured who caused a loss, or for a loss that never occurred. ...
Method of payment of an insurance premium that allows an insured to regulate the amount and frequency of the premium payments in accordance with cash flow over a stipulated period of time. ...
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