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
Coverage for small mercantile establishments on a package basis. Combines six layers of protection: burglary of a safe; damage caused by robbery and burglary, whether actual or attempted; ...
Type of guaranteed investments contract in which the interest credited is adjusted on a periodic basis to reflect the investment earnings of the underlying assets of the contract. ...
Same as term Compulsory Insurance: coverage required by the laws of a particular state. For example, many states stipulate minimum amounts of automobile liability insurance that must be ...
Period, set by law, after which a damage claim cannot be made. Limits are set by individual states and usually range from one to seven years. ...
Inland marine policy addition that provides coverage to owners of sheep, and to warehouseowners who store wool as well as wool in transit. ...
Measure of the rate at which policies are cancelled or allowed to lapse. The termination rate is a factor in setting premiums for group life and health policies. ...
Method of funding a pension plan after a worker retires. An employer purchases an annuity or sets aside a sum when an employee retires that will pay monthly lifetime benefits. ...
Coverage that will indemnify the insured for the expenses, up to the limits of the policy, if a building is damaged by a peril such as fire, and zoning requirements and/or building codes ...
Type of derivative traded on the Chicago Board of Trade that takes the form of an option on a catastrophe futures contract using a call-option spread as the basis for the contract. The ...
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