Combined Insurance is a global provider of supplemental

insurance Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge ...

, including

accident insurance Accident insurance is a type of insurance where the policy holder is paid directly in the event of an accident resulting in injury of the insured. The insured can spend the benefit payment however they choose. Accident insurance is complementary to ...

, life insurance and critical care coverage. Combined Insurance operates in North America, Latin America, Europe and the Pacific. The company is headquartered in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

History

In 1922,

W. Clement Stone William Clement Stone (May 4, 1902 – September 3, 2002) was an American businessman, philanthropist and New Thought self-help book author. Biography Stone was born in Chicago, Illinois on May 4, 1902. His father died in 1905 leaving his family ...

, with a borrowed $100, started Combined Registry Company in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. During the difficulty of the Great Depression, Stone in 1929 cut his field force to just 135 agents – from more than 1,000 agents – to increase efficiency. In 1939, after weathering the Depression, Stone created the Combined Mutual Casualty Company, which was established when Combined Registry Company purchased the American Casualty Company in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

. In 1947 the company changed its name to Combined Insurance Company of America. In 1956, Combined Insurance expanded to cover Canada. Between 1959 and 1963 the company expanded into Australia, then

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...

and

the Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to 88% of the ar ...

, then into Europe with the addition of

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. In 1962 Stone authored the self-help book ''The Success System That Never Fails''. () In 1971, the Combined Life Insurance Company of New York was established. In 1980, shareholders of Combined Insurance Company of America approved the formation of a holding company, Combined International Corporation, which traded publicly on the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed ...

under the call letters PMA (standing for "

Positive Mental Attitude Positive mental attitude (PMA) is a concept first introduced in 1937 by Napoleon Hill in the book ''Think and Grow Rich''. The book never actually uses the term, but discusses about the importance of positive thinking as a contributing factor of s ...

", a Stone

catchphrase A catchphrase (alternatively spelled catch phrase) is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture and in the arts, and typically spread through word of mouth and a variety of mass ...

). Two years later the company merged with Ryan Insurance Group, with Stone becoming Chairman of the new company and Patrick Ryan becoming President and CEO. The new company was renamed Aon – a Gaelic word signifying oneness and unity – in 1987. Stone stepped down from day-to-day operations in the early 1990s and took the title Chairman Emeritus. In 2008, Aon sold Combined Insurance to

ACE Limited An ace is a playing card, die or domino with a single pip. In the standard French deck, an ace has a single suit symbol (a heart, diamond, spade, or club) located in the middle of the card, sometimes large and decorated, especially in the ca ...

for $2.56 billion which resulted in the closure of the UK employee benefits arm. Closure of Combined Benefit Services

Business

Combined Insurance offers several types of insurance policies – which vary by market and customer need – including

accident An accident is an unintended, normally unwanted event that was not directly caused by humans. The term ''accident'' implies that nobody should be blamed, but the event may have been caused by unrecognized or unaddressed risks. Most researche ...

, accident and sickness, critical care,

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for Cell growth, growth, reaction to Stimu ...

and Medicare supplement coverage. Combined Insurance also includes Combined Insurance Worksite Solutions, which offers supplemental insurance to complement existing employer benefits programs and Combined Insurance Select Programs, which provides niche insurance products including student accident and health insurance, employer group vision insurance and other

group A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic ide ...

accident and health products.

Notes

{{reflist Financial services companies established in 1922 Companies based in Cook County, Illinois Insurance companies of Canada Insurance companies of Australia Insurance companies of Ireland Insurance companies of Portugal Insurance companies of Spain Insurance companies of the United Kingdom Insurance companies of New Zealand Insurance companies of Puerto Rico Insurance companies of the Bahamas