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
New rule entitled "Employers Accounting for Postemployment Benefits," which requires advanced recognition of nonretirement benefits, health insurance continuation, and severance pay. ...
Means of setting life insurance reserves based on expected mortality rates as reflected in a mortality table. ...
Rules that insurance companies must follow in filing an annual financial statement known as the convention blank, with state insurance departments. The reported financial condition of an ...
Nominal interest rate minus the rate of inflation. ...
Additional amount of life insurance above that provided by the employee benefit plan (standard group life plan) that may be chosen by the employee. A limit is usually placed on this maximum ...
Same as term Convention Examination: audit of the convention blank (NAIC Statement Blank) every third year as to all of the financial activities of a company; company claim practices; and ...
Insurance purchased from an insurance company that has been licensed in the state in which the policy is purchased. This insurance is purchased through an agent or broker who are licensed ...
Term meaning that an exporter of goods that are damaged or destroyed during international shipment relinquishes responsibility for the damage or destruction once the goods leave the point ...
Type of term life insurance policy that has a face amount that increases to a predetermined sum and then decreases to zero at the termination point of the policy, while at the same time ...
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