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
Insurance protection written in the form of a single line policy. ...
Plan that combines a profit sharing plan with a money purchase plan. It permits the participant to maximize the flexible part of the combination (profit sharing plan) after satisfying the ...
Policy that pays benefits to an insured who becomes ill or injured, provided that documentation is offered to confirm the illness or injury. ...
Abbreviation for premium payment. It usually applies to a limited number of annual premium payment policies such as a ten-day policy. ...
Beneficiary's choice, in a life insurance policy or annuity, for receiving income payments for a given period of time. The number of payments are fixed by the payee; the benefit amount is ...
Required minimum amounts of coverage that an insurance company will underwrite. For example, for auto liability coverage the minimum that many companies will write is $25,000. Most ...
Element of a life insurance policy permitting the policy owner to change a beneficiary as frequently as desired unless the beneficiary has been designated as irrevocable. Here the written ...
Property and/or liability coverage for a municipality. Municipalities are responsible for maintenance of through ways as well as a myriad of public services. Liability insurance for ...
Authority of states to tax the insurance companies they regulate. States levy income taxes, real and personal property taxes, and special levies, the most important of which is a premium ...
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