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
State that increases the probability of a loss. For example, storage of flammable material next to a furnace in one's home increases the hazard with the knowledge of an insured, and is ...
Additional Living Expense Insurance is a type of coverage present on several types of Homeowner’s Insurance that reimburses additional costs caused because of the insured’s ...
Property coverage for a builder of ships until possession passes to the owners. Protects against pre-launch and post-launch perils. Coverage can be purchased on an all risks basis subject ...
Program through which employees purchase individual life insurance and disability income insurance by having the employer reduce their income by the required insurance premium. Since the ...
Practice in which no funds are set aside on a mathematical basis to pay for expected losses. This occurs when a risk manager is not aware of an exposure, when the cost of treating an ...
Frequency of premium payment; for example annually, semiannually, quarterly, or monthly. ...
Measure of the sensitivity of the insurance company's liability for the resultant higher expense rates than charged for in the premium. ...
Temporary insurance contract providing coverage until a permanent policy is issued. In property and casualty insurance, some agents have authority to bind the insurance company to cover ...
Insurance issued to a creditor (lender) to cover the life of a debtor (borrower) for an outstanding loan. If the debtor dies prior to repayment of the debt, the policy will pay off the ...
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