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
Pension plan format. After deciding how much to contribute, the employer can suspend, reduce, or discontinue contributions during the first 10 years only for reasons of business necessity; ...
Vehicle for the deferring of unneeded current income for a later date, such as retirement, providing the following benefits: There is no tax on earnings of the plan until distributed; ...
Transit over land. ...
Coverage on an all risks basis for loss due to theft or mysterious disappearance of personal property; damage to premises and property within resulting from theft; and vandalism and ...
List and description of valuables, to be utilized in the event an insurance claim must be filed. Included should be: a detailed explanation of possessions that are of special value, such as ...
Plan under which an employee authorizes his or her employer to deduct from each paycheck premiums due on an insurance plan. ...
Annuity contract. If the annuitant dies before receiving income at least equal to the premiums paid, a beneficiary receives the difference in installments. If the annuitant lives after the ...
interconnection of computers that contain pages classified into groups called web sites that can be accessed over the internet. The only requirement for visiting a web site is to have ...
Method of calculating the primary insurance amount (PIA) for Social Security benefits. Employees' covered monthly earnings are adjusted to reflect changes in the national average annual ...
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