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
In workers compensation insurance policies and several business property and liability policies, review of the payroll of a business firm in order to determine the premium for coverage. ...
Measurement of income received by households from employment, self-employment, or investment and transfer payments, as provided monthly by the United States Department of Commerce. ...
Legislation to eliminate most tax shelters and write-offs in exchange for lower rates for both corporation and individuals. It was intended to be revenue neutral; that is, to bring in the ...
LIFE INSURANCE: specification by each state regarding the minimum assumptions that must be used in reserve calculations as theypertain to the maximum interest rate that can be assumed; ...
Liquor liability legislation in 20 states under which a dispenser of alcoholic beverages is held responsible for bodily injury and/or property damage caused by its customers to a third ...
Section of a policy that specifies the dollar amount or percentage of any loss that the insurance does not pay. Most property and medical policies specify that the first portion of any loss ...
Investment and savings position of an insured used in determining the amount of life insurance to purchase. The amount of investment and savings is subtracted from the total insurance ...
Provision in some disability income policies that provides a monthly income benefit to a disabled insured for as long as he or she remains disabled according to the definition of disability ...
Income (premiums + investment earnings) minus disbursements (dividends + death claims + policies surrendered for benefits + general expenses). ...
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