There’s more to insurance than meets the untrained eye. If you think insurance merely covers the usual suspects of health insurance and car insurance, you’re missing out on a whole world out there.
Anything you can think of has probably been injured at one point in time. From recording artist Maria Carey insuring her legs for $1 Billion to people selling medicare insurance to golf insurers in Japan, there’s so much to learn about the field.
The Insurance Industry Is Old
Old as in ancient. The foundation of insurance can be traced as far back as 3000 B.C. in China when trading and transport merchants were worried that they would lose their fares to pirates. To protect their assets, they allied and spread their wares across the ships. In case of an accident, there would be no significant losses.
This practice became the building foundation of how insurance works as we know it today. But in modern society, money is used instead. The money is gathered, pooled, and paid out in the form of claim reimbursements.
Insurance in America Came Before the American Revolution
Did you know that the American insurance history predates the revolution itself? The oldest insurance company, which is still active today, was established by Benjamin Franklin, among others, in 1752, also known as the Philadelphia Contributionship.
That’s right. Benjamin Franklin was the first-ever insurer in America. Following the blueprint used by English companies founded after London’s Great Fire in 1666, he and other Philadelphians worked together to protect themselves against the financial damage resulting from a fire.
Life Insurance Is More Affordable than Most People Think
Life insurance has a reputation for being the most expensive out of all types of insurance. This is a common misconception. While some types of life insurance can get pretty costly, most likely due to some added features, most types are quite reasonably priced.
Final Expense Insurance Is Not Life Insurance
This is another common misconception in the world of insurance. Final expense is named that way to gently allude to end-of-life issues, like setting up a funeral, and the expenses that come with them. A casket can cost more than $2,000, which not a lot of families can afford, especially when they’re grieving. Then you have to pay for the hearse, headstone, embalming, and other expenses. Final expense insurance covers all these. In some way, it behaves like life insurance; it’s just fully underwritten.
The Difference between Medicare Supplement Insurance and Medical Advantage Insurance
Insurance experts are quick to point out that these are two completely different beasts. Both are options that people can use in place of the Original Medicare. Medicare Advantage plans are just an alternative way to get Original Medicare. Meanwhile, Medicare Supplement insurance plans work with existing medical coverage. These are two different (and confusing) insurance policies that you would learn in-depth as an insurance sales agent.
Insurance as a field of work can appear quite complex and intricate. But it can also be an enriching pursuit financially and professionally. If you’re seriously interested in the industry and how it works, you’ll never run out of things to learn.
