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 that acts as a supplement to medicare in that it will pay the deductibles and coinsurance sums that the Medicare recipient is responsible for paying. In addition, some policies ...
The definition of contract of adhesion or, as it is also known, an adhesion contract is explained as an agreement between two parties where one party has more power than the other when the ...
Same as term Deposit Term Life Insurance: policy in which a premium (the deposit) is paid in the first policy year, in addition to the regular term insurance premiums required. The deposit ...
Entitlement of a pension plan participant (employee) to receive full benefits at normal retirement age, or a reduced benefit upon early retirement, whether or not the participant still ...
Information needed for underwriting a life insurance policy, such as an applicant's age, weight, height, and build; personal and family health record; occupation; and personal habits. These ...
Method whereby an insurer pays the amount of each claim for each risk up to a limit determined in advance and the reinsurer pays the amount of the claim above that limit up to a specific ...
Type of coverage of property owned by one person at several locations, including merchandise, materials, fixtures, furniture, specified machinery, betterments, and improvements made by ...
Effective January 4, 1994, the backup withholding rate on dividends, interest, and gross proceeds distributions increased from 20% to 31%. Backup withholding applies in the following ...
Section of the code that qualifies that the death benefit paid under a life insurance policy is received by the beneficiary income-tax free. These tax consequences apply regardless of the ...
Have a question or comment?
We're here to help.