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
Basic requirements of an employee benefit insurance plan such as minimum age and years of service with an employer. ...
Same as term Deductible: amount of loss that insured pays in a claim; includes the following types: Absolute dollar amount. Amount the insured must pay before the company will pay, up to ...
Model state law of the NAIC that stipulates that the purchaser (debtor) of a credit life insurance (creditor life insurance) policy must be provided a descriptive policy; the policy must ...
Section of a life insurance policy setting the procedure for revoking a current beneficiary and designating a successor beneficiary. Insurers require written notice of a beneficiary change, ...
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 ...
Forgery insurance covering securities issues such as stocks and bonds. They protect the issuer of securities against forgery of the securities. ...
Fidelity bond that covers a business if employees in listed positions commit dishonest acts, such as stealing money. ...
Limitation imposed on insurance companies by state law. States oversee the insurance industry, being responsible for making certain that the rates are fair, reasonable, and adequate, and ...
Retirement income benefit of a survivor (or survivors) of an insured individual, according to a particular formula. For example, if a retired male worker dies, all or a portion of his ...
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