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
Largest property and casualty insurance company trade association in the world (international membership)whose objectives include the service of its membership through positive legislation ...
Plan that combines the simplicity and flexibility of the traditional profit-sharing plan with the best features of the defined benefit plan and the target benefit plan. By age-weighing the ...
Coverage that provides two types of benefits, disability income (DI) and medical expenses. Sold by insurance companies whose business objective is the profit motive (as distinct from Blue ...
In the insurance field, we have insurance companies, which is where every individual or company goes to get insurance policies, and then there are reinsurance companies. Now, you might ask ...
Experience as it relates to the annual costs associated with a pension plan. In calculating premiums due under a pension plan, basic assumptions must be made concerning future loss ...
Termination of a contractual obligation for immediate performance. For example, under the homeowners insurance policy, if the insurer refuses to pay a claim, the insured (if not satisfied ...
Coverage for additional buildings on the same property as the principal insured building. Most property insurance contracts such as the homeowners insurance policy cover appurtenant ...
In health insurance, the applicable average rate charged for a semiprivate room in the geographical area in which the charge is incurred. ...
Endorsement to an existing policy or a separate policy covering loss of rental income to the property owner, caused by the damage or destruction of a building, rendering it unrentable. The ...
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