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 Comprehensive Insurance: complete coverage for hospital and physician charges subject to deductibles and coinsurance. This coverage combines basic medical expense policy and ...
Same as term Excess of Loss Reinsurance: method whereby an insurer pays the amount of each claim for each risk up to a limit determined in advance and the reinsurer pays the amount of the ...
Amount of the increase in the book of business of an insurance company over a specified time interval. ...
Liability coverage section of a simplified commercial lines portfolio policy (sclp). Provides for separate limits of coverage for general liability, fire legal liability, products and ...
Amount paid to an insurer. Determination of the actual cost (not the price paid) of a life insurance policy has been widely discussed for many years in life insurance and consumer circles. ...
Determination that group plans offering legal services are limited to an annual tax-free benefit of $70 per employee; group plans may offer employer-provided educational assistance plans on ...
Modification in premiums, reserves, and other values to reflect actual loss experience and expenses and expected benefits to be paid. ...
Investments restricted to short-term financial instruments issued by state, city, and county governments and agencies. Interest paid by those instruments are not subject to federal income ...
Standards set by the various state regulatory authorities that determine how financial statements must be prepared for regulators. The states are responsible for making certain that ...
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