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
Physical damage to one's person. The purpose of liability (casualty) insurance is to cover bodily injury to a third party resulting from the negligent or intentional acts and omissions of ...
Interest earned on dividends from a participating life insurance policy left on deposit with the insurance company and subject to taxation. ...
Error, misstatement, or breach of duty by an officer or director of a company that results in a lawsuit against the company. directors and officers liability insurance covers claims arising ...
Policies that have been sold to and paid for by an insured, but not yet delivered to the insured. ...
Option in a participating policy under which dividends are used to purchase fully paid-up units of whole life insurance. This option deserves careful consideration by young families since ...
Acts or omissions that result in suits against an individual and/or residents of the individual's household for actual or imagined bodily injury and/or property damage to a third party. ...
Intense combustion resulting in a flame or glow. In order for the fire peril to be covered under property insurance, the fire must be a hostile fire, not a friendly fire. ...
Yearly renewable term (YRT) life insurance under which an insured can usually re-apply for term insurance every fifth year at a lower premium than the guaranteed renewal rate. If the ...
Provisions added to an original insurance policy that alter or modify benefits and coverages of the contract. For example, a homeowners insurance policy can be endorsed to cover a ...
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