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
Trust instrument that permits the owner of a residence (grantor) to transfer ownership of that residence with the grantor still being allowed to stay in that residence for a stipulated ...
Deleveraging of the insurance company's balance sheet. ...
Wording in life insurance policies to determine the order of deaths when the insured and the beneficiary die in the same accident. For example, if the insured is deemed to have died first, ...
Policy whose premiums, cash value, and face amount are guaranteed (all values are fixed and do not fluctuate according to the loss experience, expenses, and investment returns of the ...
Measurement of how people feel about prevailing economic conditions, employment outlook, and personal finances. This index is based on statistics gathered from questionnaires mailed by the ...
Bond guaranteeing that a contractor will perform under the contract in accordance with all specifications of the bid submitted. ...
Demographic designation used in life insurance to calculate premium rates for life and health insurance and annuity contracts. Since females have a longer life expectancy than males of the ...
Reserve at the beginning of the policy year that is equal to the terminal reserve for the preceding year plus the net level premium for the current year. ...
Same as term Cancellation Provision Clause: provision permitting an insured or an insurance company to cancel a property and casualty or a health insurance policy (circumstances vary; see ...
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