Regulation of Insurance under the McCarran Act

Abstract

It is a shibboleth of private capital that the less government, the better-the fewer laws, the less confided power. Since the closing of the frontier, our national history has been marked by the ceaseless struggle of industry to guard its freedom of decision against the encroachment of governmental restraint. During the past four years, one great segment of American business has seemingly rejected this traditional policy. The insurance industry has not only supported but solicited the enactment by all state legislatures of a comprehensive network of regulatory statutes. Such regulation deals with the lifeblood of an industry-what it may sell and the price it may charge. An analysis of this new system, and its probable success or failure, is the concern of this paper. But an understanding of the matter requires more than a statement of existing facts. We must examine the origins of this anomalous development, must trace the succession of events which led an industry to ask that government be granted a greater voice in its business decisions.