Issues and Needed Improvements in State Regulation of the Insurance Business

Insurance consumer protection and regulation have been conducted on the state level since the passage of the McCarran-Ferguson Act in 1944. A study, which examined the resources and activities of the state insurance departments through a questionnaire to all states and a fieldwork sample of 17 states, found serious shortcomings in state laws and regulatory activities. Its primary focus was on regulatory issues involving automobile insurance, particularly price regulation, risk classification, and insurance availability.