Fundamentals of Insurance Regulation (eBook)

Providing a clear explanation of the complex state-based regulatory system that governs the U.S. insurance industry, this guide presents the applicable statutes, regulations, and judicial decisions. In addition, it discusses the industry’s products, operating procedures, distribution channels, and financial characteristics and performance. To round out the picture, it describes the core objectives of the regulatory process, how and by whom policy is formulated, and how the rules are enforced. Topics include: limits of state authority and the impact on competition; rate setting; solvency regulation; secondary and alternative markets; consumer protection; preemption under the McCarran-Ferguson Act; health insurance; the NAIC and the future of insurance regulation.

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For ease of reference, each of the 13 chapters in Fundamentals of Insurance Regulation begins with an introduction or overview that previews the material covered in the chapter. The authors examine and explain these overarching aspects of insurance regulation:The three major components of the insurance business: the property/ casualty industry, the life insurance and annuity industry, and the increasingly important health insurance industryAn overview of the U.S. insurance regulatory system, outlining its objectives, what products it covers, how and by whom regulatory policy is formulated, and a synopsis of the major subject areas of insurance regulation.The rules that govern a specific area of state insurance regulation, including: the organization and licensing of insurance companies; rate-setting; solvency regulations and the mechanisms involved when the regulations dont work; reinsurance; surplus lines; residual and alternative markets; insurance agents and other intermediaries; and devices to protect the consumerFederal rules and the interaction between federal and state insurance law and regulation, including the McCarron-Ferguson Act, Dodd-Frank, and Gramm-Leach-Bliley