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
Health insurance plan where a group of physicians and dentists provide medical services to a group of individuals for a predetermined fee. It is a basic type of HEALTH MAINTENANCE ...
Period of time during which notice of claim and proof of loss must be submitted by the insured or his or her legal representatives. ...
First historical mortality table used for the calculation of premium rates for group annuities. This table was subsequently replaced by the group annuity table, 1971. ...
Law under which one state gives favorable tax treatment to an insurance company domiciled in a different state that is admitted to do business, provided the second state does the same for ...
Largest property and casualty insurance company trade association in the world (international membership)whose objectives include the service of its membership through positive legislation ...
Income (premiums + investment earnings) minus disbursements (dividends + death claims + policies surrendered for benefits + general expenses). ...
Clause in a property insurance policy that requires the insurance coverage in that policy to be allocated in the proportion that it bears to the total insurance coverage in force from all ...
Decision in the absence of a plaintiff or defendant at the specified court time. ...
Life is unpredictable so to compensate this, people have invented insurance. Insurance deals with unforeseen events. Sometimes insurance companies cover only a part of your losses and a few ...
Have a question or comment?
We're here to help.