This article contains content that is written like an advertisement .(August 2021) |
Company type | Mutual |
---|---|
Industry | Insurance: Life & Health |
Founded | 1860 |
Headquarters | New York, NY 10001 U.S. |
Key people | Andrew McMahon, President and CEO |
Number of employees | 8,000 employees 3,000 financial reps |
Website | www |
The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America is one of the largest mutual life insurance companies in the world. Based in Manhattan, it has approximately 8,000 employees in the United States, and a network of over 3,000 financial representatives in more than 70 agencies nationwide. As of 2018, it ranks 239th on the Fortune 500 list of largest American corporations by revenue. [1] In 2015, Guardian achieved the highest earnings in its 155-year history with $7.3 billion in capital and $1.5 billion in operating costs. [2] Founded in Manhattan in 1860, the company offers a wide range of insurance products and services, including life insurance, disability income insurance, annuities, investments, and dental and vision insurance coverage. [3]
Guardian founder Hugo Wesendonck, a German civil rights lawyer, participated in the 1848-49 revolution and helped draft a constitution for a united Germany. Accused of treason, he fled post-revolution Europe and landed in the U.S. With start-up funds from fellow German refugees, he opened Germania Life Insurance Company in 1860 on Wall Street in Manhattan, to cover the growing number of German immigrants arriving on American shores. Two years later, he opened a branch in San Francisco, and later across the country, reaching territories such as Colorado, New Mexico, North Dakota, and South Dakota. [4]
In 1868, Germania became the first U.S. insurance company to start an agency in Europe. By the early 20th century, almost half its business was outside North America, until the pressures of World War I forced it to stop its business in Europe. [5]
As operations expanded, the company moved to the Germania Life Insurance Company Building at Union Square in 1911 [6] – a location that would serve as Guardian's headquarters for more than 85 years. In 1918 the company changed its name to The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America.[4] In 1979, Guardian began to regionalize many Home Office functions, and satellite offices are now located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania; Appleton, Wisconsin; Spokane, Washington; and Norwell, Massachusetts. [7] In 1999, Guardian relocated to 7 Hanover Square in the Financial District. [8] In April 2017 the company announced plans to move several hundred employees to Bell Labs in Holmdel, New Jersey. [9]
Guardian is the 6th largest dental provider in the US, with 6.4 million participants as of February 2015. [10] Guardian acquired First Commonwealth in 1999, [11] and acquired Premier Access in 2014, [12] and Avesis in 2016. [13]
In July 2001, Guardian merged with Berkshire Life Insurance Company. As of February 2015 [update] , the newly formed Berkshire Life Insurance Company of America subsidiary administers all disability products for Guardian. [14]
Guardian acquired Reed Group in 2012 and through it, provides human resources to companies dealing with employees on absence due to disability. It helps manage and administer claims related to employee absences, offers "LeavePro", a software to manage absences, and offers "MDGuidelines", a web-based tool to manage employee's return to work. [15] In 2015, they grew this business by acquiring Aon Hewitt's absence management business. [16]
In 2006, Guardian acquired 65% of RS Investments. [17] RS provides its services to pensions, investment companies, high net worth individuals, corporations, and banks. It also has a selection of mutual funds which it offers to clients. [18] In 2007, RS Investments was one of the largest stockholders in Corrections Corporation of America, with 2,486,866 shares. [19] In 2016, Victory Capital acquired RS Investments. [20]
In September 2016, Guardian sold their 401(k) business to Ameritas Life. [21]
Additionally, Guardian owns a full service broker-dealer Park Avenue Securities (PAS). [22] PAS was established in 1999 by Guardian. [23]
In 2009, Guardian was the subject of controversy when, in December 2008, it cancelled the insurance plan that covered Ian Pearl, who suffers from muscular dystrophy and requires 24-hour nursing care, which costs approximately million dollars a year. Under the federal ERISA law Guardian was obligated to continue the coverage for one year after it cancelled the plan and thus policy under the plan. Guardian offered no comparable plan to replace it, and his parents characterized the cancellation as a "death sentence." His parents sued Guardian and lost the case in October 2009, when a federal judge found that Guardian had the right to terminate the entire plan. The Pearl family appealed to the Secretary of Health and Human Services and to the media, and publicized a memo that emerged during the trial, which characterized high cost policies like the one Pearl had, as "dogs" and "trainwrecks." Guardian publicly and personally apologized to the Pearls and agreed to continue coverage for Ian and two other patients in similar situations. [24] [25] Ian Pearl lives in New York State, and as a result of the controversy, New York passed "Ian's Law" that among other things, requires that insurance companies that cancel insurance plans must offer similar replacement coverage to policy holders under the cancelled plan. [25]
Aon plc is a global professional services firm that offers a range of risk-mitigation products. Aon has approximately 50,000 employees across 120 countries.
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is an American multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska. Founded in 1839 as a textile manufacturer, it transitioned into a major conglomerate starting in 1965 under the management of chairman and CEO Warren Buffett and vice chairman Charlie Munger.
MetLife, Inc. is the holding corporation for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (MLIC), better known as MetLife, and its affiliates. MetLife is among the largest global providers of insurance, annuities, and employee benefit programs, with around 90 million customers in over 60 countries. The firm was founded on March 24, 1868. MetLife ranked No. 43 in the 2018 Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations by total revenue.
Axa S.A. is a French multinational insurance company headquartered in the 8th arrondissement of Paris. It also provides investment management and other financial services as part of its subsidiaries. As of 2023, it is the largest financial services company by revenue in France, and the 4th largest French company.
Lincoln National Corporation is a Fortune 200 American holding company, which operates multiple insurance and investment management businesses through subsidiary companies. Lincoln Financial Group is the marketing name for LNC and its subsidiary companies.
Employee benefits and benefits in kind, also called fringe benefits, perquisites, or perks, include various types of non-wage compensation provided to employees in addition to their normal wages or salaries. Instances where an employee exchanges (cash) wages for some other form of benefit is generally referred to as a "salary packaging" or "salary exchange" arrangement. In most countries, most kinds of employee benefits are taxable to at least some degree. Examples of these benefits include: housing furnished or not, with or without free utilities; group insurance ; disability income protection; retirement benefits; daycare; tuition reimbursement; sick leave; vacation ; social security; profit sharing; employer student loan contributions; conveyancing; long service leave; domestic help (servants); and other specialized benefits.
Unum Group is an American insurance company headquartered in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Founded as Union Mutual in 1848 and known as UnumProvident from 1999-2007. The company is part of the Fortune 500. Unum Group was created by the 1999 merger of Unum Corporation and The Provident Companies and comprises four distinct businesses – Unum US, Unum UK, Unum Poland and Colonial Life. Its underwriting insurers include The Paul Revere Life Insurance Company and Provident Life and Accident Insurance Company.
Ameriprise Financial, Inc. is an American diversified financial services company and bank holding company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It provides financial planning products and services, including wealth management, asset management, insurance, annuities, and estate planning.
Assurant, Inc. is a global provider of risk management products and services with headquarters in Atlanta. Its businesses provide a diverse set of specialty, niche-market insurance products in the property, casualty, extended device protection, and preneed insurance sectors. The company's main operating segments are Global Housing and Global Lifestyle.
Ameritas Life Insurance Corp. is a mutual insurance company. It is owned by Ameritas Mutual Holding Company, headquartered in Lincoln, Nebraska, United States. The company includes Ameritas Mutual Holding Company (AMHC) and Ameritas Holding Company (AHC), as well as Ameritas Life Insurance Corp. of New York.
Reliance Nippon Life Insurance Company (RNLI) is a life insurance company in India. The firm offers life insurance products targeted at individuals and groups, catering to four distinct segments: protection, children, retirement and investment plans.
Disability Insurance, often called DI or disability income insurance, or income protection, is a form of insurance that insures the beneficiary's earned income against the risk that a disability creates a barrier for completion of core work functions. For example, the worker may be unable to maintain composure in the case of psychological disorders or sustain an injury, illness or condition that causes physical impairment or incapacity to work. DI encompasses paid sick leave, short-term disability benefits (STD), and long-term disability benefits (LTD). The same concept is instantiated in some countries as income protection insurance.
MedPro Group, formerly known as The Medical Protective Company, is a Berkshire Hathaway company and the largest provider of healthcare liability insurance in the United States. MedPro provides customized malpractice insurance, claims, and risk cover to physicians, surgeons, dentists and other healthcare professionals, as well as hospitals, senior care and other healthcare facilities. Additionally, MedPro provides insurance to international markets, liability insurance to other professionals, and specialized accident and health insurance to colleges and other businesses through its subsidiaries and other Berkshire Hathaway affiliates. MedPro is based in Fort Wayne, Indiana. MedPro’s insurance policies are distributed primarily through a nationwide network of appointed agents and brokers and supplemented by the selective use of managing general underwriters, as well as wholesale and direct channels.
In the United States, health insurance helps pay for medical expenses through privately purchased insurance, social insurance, or a social welfare program funded by the government. Synonyms for this usage include "health coverage", "health care coverage", and "health benefits". In a more technical sense, the term "health insurance" is used to describe any form of insurance providing protection against the costs of medical services. This usage includes both private insurance programs and social insurance programs such as Medicare, which pools resources and spreads the financial risk associated with major medical expenses across the entire population to protect everyone, as well as social welfare programs like Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program, which both provide assistance to people who cannot afford health coverage.
Standard Insurance Company, also branded as The Standard, is an American insurance and financial company which is a subsidiary of StanCorp Financial Group, headquartered in Portland, Oregon. On July 23, 2015, Meiji Yasuda, a Japanese mutual insurance group, made an offer to purchase Stancorp Financial for $5 billion. The transaction was completed in the first quarter of 2016.
Elevance Health, Inc. is an American health insurance provider. Prior to June 2022, Elevance Health was named Anthem, Inc. The company's services include medical, pharmaceutical, dental, behavioral health, long-term care, and disability plans through affiliated companies such as Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Anthem Blue Cross in California, Wellpoint, and Carelon. It is the largest for-profit managed health care company in the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. As of 2022, the company had 46.8 million members within its affiliated companies' health plans.
Aon Hewitt was a provider of human capital and management consulting services headquartered in Lincolnshire, Illinois in the United States. From 500 offices in 120 countries, it provided consulting, outsourcing, and reinsurance brokerage services. The "Aon Hewitt" brand and legal entities have now been absorbed into the "Aon" business, leaving obsolete the names "Hewitt" and "Aon Hewitt."
SSQ Insurance, was a mutual diversified financial institution founded in 1944 in Quebec, Canada, which offers insurance and investment products.
A private exchange, also known as a private benefits exchange or private health care exchange, is an online store or health insurance marketplace where employees or retirees purchase health insurance and other benefits, typically using funds contributed by their employer.