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
Same as term Disability Benefit: income paid under a disability policy that is not covered under workers compensation benefits. It is usually expressed as a percentage of the insured's ...
To which the original investment sums build at a stipulated interest rate. ...
Ordinary life insurance under which premiums are calculated so that the first few years of premiums are less than normal, and subsequent premiums are higher than normal. ...
Endorsement to a homeowners insurance policy or a personal automobile policy (pap) that covers physical damage to a snowmobile wherever it happens to be. Coverage can be on named peril or ...
Specific time at which the insurance policy coverage begins and ends. ...
Individual licensed to sell securities to the public. For example, to sell variable annuities and variable life insurance products and mutual funds, an insurance agent is required to pass ...
Insurance on the life of the employee, paid for by the company, with the company being the beneficiary under the policy. This insurance vehicle is being used more and more to fund ...
Coverage in which an applicant lot required to take a medical examination, instead answers written questions to ascertain his current physical condition. ...
Provision in many property insurance policies that allows an insured to pick coverage for selected perils. The choices are explosion; explosion, riot and civil commotion; explosion, riot ...
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