Ordinary Business Life Insurance

The ordinary business Metropolitan Life Insurance Company prospered anew soon after 1892. This new lease on life was due not only to the low cost of the contracts, but also, in large measure, to the wide variety of plans available and to the many liberal features Mr. Fiske had incorporated in the policies.

During 1892, 1,704 ordinary policies were written for approximately $2,000,000, as compared with 178 policies for less than $200,000 the year before. The ordinary insurance on the books jumped rapidly from approximately $5,300,000 in 1892, to almost 10 times that sum only five years later. Before the turn of the century more than $110,000,000 of such business was in force, representing close to 125,000 policies.

Whereas in 1891 the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (http://www.equote.com/li/term-life-insurance-quote.html) was at the bottom of the list of ordinary companies operating in New York, it had reached fourth place as regards business written in this Department by 1900. After the Armstrong investigation the company forged ahead at an even more rapid pace, narrowing the margin between itself and the older, larger companies. Between 1906 and 1913 the ordinary business in force gained $609,905,310.

In the same period the New York Life gained $243,493,494; The Mutual $81,208,898; the Equitable $94,417,206. The Metropolitan thus gained nearly 50% more than all these three combined. Only a decade later, in 1923, the Metropolitan had become the largest ordinary insurance company in the world as well as the largest in total insurance in force. This standing, moreover, had been achieved without general agents or salespeople other than the men who represented the company on the so called industrial "debits," that is, the territory which each agent serves.

Shortly after the ordinary business was reestablished and the company's agents began to canvass for this type of insurance, they found that a considerable number of working people were able to pay premiums quarterly, but could not afford to buy insurance in sums as large as $1,000, the minimum amount for ordinary. To provide this group with protection, the company in July 1896 began to issue intermediate insurance, i.e., policies for $500, with premiums payable annually, semiannually, or quarterly.

It is not surprising that the Metropolitan should have pioneered in this field, since it has always blazed trails in bringing insurance protection to the lower income groups, such as no medical exam term life insurance. This new form of insurance likewise found a ready market. After the first six months 5,110 Intermediate policies were on the books for $2,555,000. At the end of 1901, only 5 ½ years after this department was launched, there were nearly 110,000 Intermediate policies in force for an amount close to $55,000,000.

Within the next three years these figures more than doubled, and continued to increase rapidly. The use of intermediate insurance has been subsequently extended to include persons in somewhat hazardous occupations and for those with physical impairments which make them ineligible for standard ordinary policies. To widen even further the circle of protection, the Metropolitan in 1899 inaugurated "Special Class" policies for those who, because of occupation or physical impairments, could not meet the standards of ordinary or intermediate insurance.

An even more formidable task than building the ordinary department confronted Mr. Fiske when he joined the Metropolitan. Industrial insurance was under severe attack. Even before the Hegeman Fiske administration came into office, the storm clouds had begun to gather. Late in the 1800's a number of attacks were directed against industrial insurance. Incredible, but nevertheless true, was the fact that some worthy citizens of the day actually charged that life insurance policies (http://www.equote.com/li/life-insurance.html) on children endangered their lives because a number of parents would let their children die of neglect, or murder them for the insurance proceeds. This was an era of muckraking, and the sensational attack on Big Business, life insurance companies included, found a sympathetic response among certain legislators, newspapermen, and others who took up the cry.