The National Life and Accident Insurance Company is a former life insurance company based in Nashville, Tennessee.
The National Life and Accident started in 1900 as the National Sick and Accident Association , the joint company. It was reorganized as a stock company and adopted the name of National Life shortly thereafter. It was bought by a rival company in 1982.
Video National Life and Accident Insurance Company
The "Sick and Crash" policy
In December 1901, the National Association of Pain and Accidents was sold to C. A. Craig to complete a plantation. In 1902, the company was almost bankrupt. In the early years, the company's business consisted mainly of premium, low-benefit "sickness and accidents" policies, which are forms of disability insurance that pay the owner the stated amount for each week he or she can not work due to illness or injury. To prevent fraud, it is necessary for the amount of allowances to be somewhat less than what is insured obtained through regular work. Most of these policies, especially in the early years, were sold on a "debit system" (also called "home service insurance"), meaning that the insurance agent employed by the company, usually responsible for selling the policy initially. , make regular visits to clients' homes to collect premiums (and, generally, to sell or try to sell more insurance). The frequency of these visits varies but usually (especially in early years) weekly; in subsequent years, more collection visits are conducted every two weeks or every month. Most of the company's clients are African American.
Maps National Life and Accident Insurance Company
Industrial life and accidental death and withholding insurance
The company soon developed into an "industrial life insurance", so called because it is generally intended for industrial workers, which are also sold on the debit system, and death and casualty-cutting insurance, which instead of the weekly income pay the stated amount, anyway, if the insured dies by accident or loss of vision or use of eyes or limbs. An industry life insurance plan is usually for a small face count: usually $ 250, $ 500, or $ 1,000 at the beginning of the year. They display double compensation for life accidents, which can be compensated three or more if deaths occur as a result of accidents on public transport. (For this reason these plans are often ridiculed by his critics as "street car insurance.")
Expansion
The company has gradually expanded its operations to the south east coast and eventually covers most of the United States except for the northeastern states, the state of Rocky Mountain, and the Pacific Northwest. He also began writing "ordinary life" insurance for better risks, such as middle-class office workers, ministers of religion, accountants, bankers, and similar people.
However, his greatest marketing development was probably his early WSM radio October 5, 1925. Taking his call from the motto of the company, W e S yielded M ilions (which in turn was taken from a shielded logo), the station began broadcasting its ads, including its own corporate message, through a powerful 1,000-watt station, which in January 1927 powered up to 5,000 watts, and in November, 1932, became Clear channel station 50,000 watts (clear channel meaning no other stations can broadcast on that frequency). The studios were originally at the National Life office building in downtown Nashville at Seventh and Union Streets. On November 28, 1925, management started a program that soon became the Grand Ole Opry, which made country music (commonly referred to as "hillbilly music") more than ever before. On September 25, 1950, the company spawned the first television station in Nashville, WSM-TV (now WSMV-TV).
Economic change
The company, along with almost all US life insurance companies, faced a crisis with the Great Depression coming in 1929; like many of them, it survives largely by offering its clients policy loans to the cash value of the plan. With World War II came another crisis because of the shortage of labor generated by conscription; in some areas, premium collections, at least weekly, should be limited (gasoline rationing plays a factor here as well) and many clients who are accustomed to having their premiums collected directly by agents find themselves having to take the initiative to send premiums or lose their coverage.
By the mid-1960s the company had surpassed its headquarters location in downtown Nashville. It was also a bit of a shame when one of its main competitors, Life and Casualty Insurance Company of Tennessee ("L & C"), built a 31-story skyscraper that opened in 1957 and which, in a moment, the skyscrapers of Nashville alone and the tallest building in the Southeast. The new National Life Building, across the street from the Tennessee State Capitol, has 30 floors and both are much larger and located on higher ground, making it seem more grand than its rival, which is part of the intended effect.
At this point, the WSM television studio (which began in 1950 and was the first Nashville television station) had moved to West Nashville near the station's transmitting tower; radio stations soon followed. Around the same time as the completed plan to move the station, the plan was announced to build a park on the property of Rudy Farm, a sausage company located in Pennington Bend of the Cumberland River. The park was opened in 1972 and is known as "Opryland USA." In addition to an incredible choice of rides and "kiddie rides", this park features performances from all genres of American music, not just the country. Construction began at the new Grand Ole Opry House at about the same time, and Opry left the Ryman Auditorium for a new facility in March 1974.
At about the same time as the home office was moved, a parent company was formed to buy all National Life shares. The organization is known as "NLT Corporation," with "NL" standing for "National Life" and "T" standing for Third National Bank, one of the leading banks in Nashville at the time (acquired in the 1990s by SunTrust). However, banking laws and regulations preclude attempts to acquire Third National; the parent company's business form is maintained.
Another important development in the 1970s was the elimination of weekly premiums; the amount of the previous weekly premium multiplied by 4.3 and becomes the monthly premium for coverage.
In the early 1980s, Houston General Corporation America, another parent company, announced a hostile takeover bid for NLT. NLT made a counter offer to buy AGC. In 1982 AGC, which has had Life and Casualty rivals since the 1960s, won. After acquiring NLT, AGC began to combine former rivals (not fully completed until nearly the end of the decade) and to spin off "NLT" non-core assets, particularly entertainment properties. The Grand Ole Opry, Opryland theme park, WSM and TNN cable television network: "The Nashville Network" is sold to what is Gaylord Entertainment Company. The American General then joined the New York-based American International Group (AIG). The division of his company is now branded as the American General.
In the late 1990s, the former National/General Life building was sold to the State of Tennessee and is today known as the William R. Snodgrass Tennessee Tower, named in honor of the former state monetary supervisor.
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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