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Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent or uncertain loss.
In finance, a surety, surety bond or guaranty involves a promise by one party to assume responsibility for the debt obligation of a borrower if that borrower defaults. Usually, a surety bond or surety is a promise by a surety or guarantor to pay one party a certain amount if a second party fails to meet some obligation, such as fulfilling the terms of a contract. The surety bond protects the obligee against losses resulting from the principal's failure to meet the obligation. The person or company providing the promise is also known as a "surety" or as a "guarantor".
A structured settlement is a negotiated financial or insurance arrangement through which a claimant agrees to resolve a personal injury tort claim by receiving part or all of a settlement in the form of periodic payments on an agreed schedule, rather than as a lump sum. As part of the negotiations, a structured settlement may be offered by the defendant or requested by the plaintiff. Ultimately both parties must agree on the terms of settlement. A settlement may allow the parties to a lawsuit to reduce legal and other costs by avoiding trial. Structured settlements are most widely used in the United States, but are also utilized in Canada, England and Australia.
The Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) is a United States federal law signed into law by President George W. Bush on November 26, 2002. The Act created a federal "backstop" for insurance claims related to acts of terrorism. The Act "provides for a transparent system of shared public and private compensation for insured losses resulting from acts of terrorism." The Act was originally set to expire December 31, 2005, was extended for two years in December 2005, and was extended again on December 26, 2007. The Terrorism Risk Insurance Program Reauthorization Act expired on December 31, 2014.
A claims adjuster, desk adjuster, field adjuster, or general adjuster investigates insurance claims by interviewing the claimant and witnesses, consulting police and hospital records, and inspecting property damage to determine the extent of the insurance company's liability. Other claims adjusters who represent policyholders may aid in the preparation of an insurance claim.
Mortgage life insurance is a form of insurance specifically designed to protect a repayment mortgage. If the policyholder were to die while the mortgage life insurance was in force, the policy would pay out a capital sum that will be just sufficient to repay the outstanding mortgage.
In the United States, an annuity is a financial product which offers tax-deferred growth and which usually offers benefits such as an income for life. Typically these are offered as structured (insurance) products that each state approves and regulates in which case they are designed using a mortality table and mainly guaranteed by a life insurer. There are many different varieties of annuities sold by carriers. In a typical scenario, an investor will make a single cash premium to own an annuity. After the policy is issued the owner may elect to annuitize the contract for a chosen period of time. This process is called annuitization and can also provide a predictable, guaranteed stream of future income during retirement until the death of the annuitant. Alternatively, an investor can defer annuitizing their contract to get larger payments later, hedge long-term care cost increases, or maximize a lump sum death benefit for a named beneficiary.
Mortgage insurance is an insurance policy which compensates lenders or investors in mortgage-backed securities for losses due to the default of a mortgage loan. Mortgage insurance can be either public or private depending upon the insurer. The policy is also known as a mortgage indemnity guarantee (MIG), particularly in the UK.
Insurance bad faith is a tort unique to the law of the United States that an insurance company commits by violating the "implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing" which automatically exists by operation of law in every insurance contract. In common law countries such as Australia and the UK, the issue is usually framed in the context of a failure of the duty of utmost good faith originating in English insurance law, which does not constitute a tort but rather provides the insured a contractual remedy unique to insurance law.
Bond insurance, also known as "financial guaranty insurance", is a type of insurance whereby an insurance company guarantees scheduled payments of interest and principal on a bond or other security in the event of a payment default by the issuer of the bond or security. It is a form of "credit enhancement" that generally results in the rating of the insured security being the higher of (i) the claims-paying rating of the insurer or (ii) the rating the bond would have without insurance.
Insurance in the United States refers to the market for risk in the United States, the world's largest insurance market by premium volume. According to Swiss Re, of the $6.287 trillion of global direct premiums written worldwide in 2020, $2.530 trillion (40.3%) were written in the United States.
The National Organization of Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Associations is a voluntary, U.S. association made up of the life and health insurance guaranty associations of all 50 states and the District of Columbia. NOLHGA was founded in 1983 to coordinate the efforts of state guaranty associations to provide protection to policyholders when their multi-state life or health insurance company becomes insolvent. The organization is based in Herndon, Virginia.
Legal protection insurance (LPI), also known as legal expenses insurance (LEI) or simply legal insurance, is a particular class of insurance which facilitates access to law and justice by providing legal advice and covering the legal costs of a dispute, regardless of whether the case is brought by or against the policyholder. Depending on the national rules, legal protection insurers can also represent the policyholder out-of-court or even in-court.
A risk retention group (RRG) in business economics is an alternative risk transfer entity created by the federal Liability Risk Retention Act (LRRA). RRGs must form as liability insurance companies under the laws of at least one state—its charter state or domicile. The policyholders of the RRG are also its owners and membership must be limited to organizations or persons engaged in similar businesses or activities, thus being exposed to the same types of liability. Most RRGs are regulated as captive insurance companies. However, RRGs domiciled in states without captive law are regulated as traditional insurance companies.
Citizens Property Insurance Corporation (Citizens) was created in 2002 from the merger of two other entities to provide both windstorm coverage and general property insurance for home-owners who could not obtain insurance elsewhere. It was established by the Florida Legislature in Chapter 627.351(6) Florida Statutes as a not-for-profit insurer of last resort, headquartered in Tallahassee, Florida, and quickly became the largest insurer in the state. The company has no connection to Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, the equivalent entity in Louisiana, or several similarly named "for-profit" subsidiaries in the Hanover Insurance Group.
A with-profits policy (Commonwealth) or participating policy (U.S.) is an insurance contract that participates in the profits of a life insurance company. The company is often a mutual life insurance company, or had been one when it began its with-profits product line. Similar arrangements are found in other countries such as those in continental Europe.
MedMal Direct Insurance Company is a direct-write medical malpractice insurance company headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida. MedMal Direct Insurance does not use independent brokers, but rather sells insurance coverage direct to the physicians through sales representatives, website, and direct marketing. The company provides medical professional liability insurance, regulatory compliance protection, and cyber-liability coverage directly to healthcare providers and healthcare facilities.
Insurance regulatory law is the body of statutory law, administrative regulations and jurisprudence that governs and regulates the insurance industry and those engaged in the business of insurance. Insurance regulatory law is primarily enforced through regulations, rules and directives by state insurance departments as authorized and directed by statutory law enacted by the state legislatures. However, federal law, court decisions and administrative adjudications also play an important role.
Regarding insurance in the United States, on July 21, 2010, President Barack Obama signed into law the federal Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act ("Dodd-Frank"), which contains the Nonadmitted and Reinsurance Reform Act of 2010 ("NRRA"). The NRRA applies to nonadmitted insurance, which includes surplus line insurance and directly-procured insurance, and to reinsurance. The NRRA took effect on July 21, 2011 and generally provides that the placement of nonadmitted insurance will be subject solely to the statutory and regulatory requirements of an insured's home state, and that no state, other than an insured's home state, may require a surplus lines broker to be licensed to sell, solicit, or negotiate nonadmitted insurance with respect to the insured. While the NRRA preempts state laws with respect to nonadmitted insurance, it does not have any impact on insurance offered by insurers licensed or authorized in a state.
Guaranty associations are organizations which guarantee insurance policies in the event of an insolvency event.
References
- ↑ Choi, B. Paul (July 2006). "The US Property and Liability Insurance Industry: Firm Size, Growth and Impact of Guaranty Funds" (Paper). Howard University School of Business.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ↑ O'Connell, Philip A.; Christopher E. Prince; Joel T. Muchmore (September 2005). "Insurance Insolvency: A Guide For The Perplexed". Insurance Litigation. No. 14. Insurance Litigation Reporter. 27 (Autumn 2005).
- 1 2 "Colorado Probate Code" (PDF). State of Colorado. Retrieved 1 June 2012.
- ↑ Kimball, Spencer L.; Noreen J. Parrett (Winter 2000). "Creation of the Guaranty Association System". Journal of Insurance Regulation (Millennium Issue).
- ↑ Wilcox, Christopher J. (Spring 1996). "The U.S. Guaranty Association Concept at 25: A Quarter Century Assessment". Journal of Insurance Regulation.