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
Risk incurred by the insurance company after it makes the commitment to make the loan at some future time and the borrower may not accept the loan at that time. ...
Phrase referring to constructive relationship, in which insurance provides society with benefits such as security, savings, encouragement of investment, and reduction in prices of goods to ...
Trade association of commercial insurance brokers whose objective is to further the interests of these brokers through education, lobbying, and adherence to professional ethics. ...
Paid-in surplus, revaluation surplus, and donated surplus. This surplus includes all sources of surplus with the exception of earned surplus. ...
Extremely aggressive behavior by an insurance agent to convince a prospect to purchase the insurance product without due regard for the prospect's ability to pay the premiums and/or needs ...
Risk-creating device as compared with insurance, which is a risk-reducing or -eliminating device. This is a form of speculative risk. ...
One-year coverage that is renewable at the end of each year. Since the group plan is subject to experience rating, the premium rate upon renewal is based on such factors as the loss record ...
Tables used to determine the present value of a sum in the future by taking into consideration the assumed interest rate and time period involved. ...
Cost of replacing damaged or destroyed property with comparable new property, minus depreciation and obsolescence. For example, a 10-year-old living room sofa will not be replaced at ...
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