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GAO-06-424R 1 (2006-02-23)

handle is hein.gao/gaocrptatcs0001 and id is 1 raw text is: G AO Aco untability * Integrity * Reliability United States Government Accountability Office Washington, D.C. 20548 February 23, 2006 The Honorable Michael G. Oxley Chairman Committee on Financial Services House of Representatives Subject: Definitions of Insurance and Related Information Dear Mr. Chairman: This letter transmits to you our briefing slides concerning a variety of issues related to identifying a universal definition of insurance and the challenges associated with doing so. We briefed your committee staff on the preliminary results of our work on June 24, 2005, and on our final results on November 29, 2005. Specifically, we provided information on (1) the elements that are commonly part of definitions of insurance, (2) a few products not universally defined as insurance or regulated across the states by their insurance departments, (3) possible regulatory implications of developing separate definitions for insurance products covering insurance risks in more than one category, (4) current developments in statutory and financial accounting communities in re-evaluating their guidelines for measuring risk transfer in reinsurance contracts, and (5) certain circumstances when finite risk contracts are used. We focused on insurance and reinsurance in the private sector and excluded federal insurance programs. We identified elements crucial to defining or developing a definition of insurance, but we did not attempt to compile an exhaustive list of all private sector products that might be considered insurance. We reviewed relevant documents from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), academic sources, accounting boards, insurance companies, professional and industry associations, state insurance regulators, federal securities regulators, court cases, and general media. We also met with knowledgeable staff at NAIC and other professional and industry associations. We conducted our work from December 2004 through December 2005 in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards. GAO-06-424R Definitions of Insurance Page 1

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