s & p 500 component industry insurance founded 1892 headquarters 28 liberty st new york city new york u.s. key people alan b. colberg president and ceo 1 revenue us 10.325 billion fy 2015 2 us 10.38 billion fy 2014 3 net income us 141.6 million fy 2015 2 us 470.9 million fy 2014 3 total assets us 30.043 billion fy 2015 2 us 31.562 billion fy 2014 3 total equity us 4.405 billion fy 2015 2 us 4.778 billion fy 2014 3 number of employees approximately 17 500 2014 website assurant.com assurant inc. is a holding company with headquarters in new york city . its businesses provide a diverse set of specialty niche market insurance products in the property casualty life and health insurance sectors . the company s two operating segments are assurant solutions and assurant specialty property . the company formerly known as fortis inc. was spun off from dutch and belgian financial services company fortis insurance n.v. in 2004 . the company s initial public offering on feb. 5 2004 at 1.76 billion was the fourth largest that year . in connection with the public offering the company changed its name to assurant inc. 4 5 assurant is 285 on the fortune 500 list of the largest publicly traded companies in the united states . 6 contents 1 history 2 operations 3 assurant health policy claim denials and cancellations 4 references 5 external links history edit assurant can trace its roots back to the founding of the la crosse mutual aid association which was established to sell disability insurance in wisconsin in the early 1890s . la crosse mutual aid association would later become the time insurance company . 7 in 1978 n.v. amev of the netherlands acquired the time insurance company now assurant health via its u.s. holding company amev holdings inc. during the next 12 years amev holdings inc. would expand through acquisition buying american security insurance credit related insurance now assurant solutions ; united family funeral insurance now assurant solutions preneed division ; western insurance company mutual funds now part of assurant employee benefits ; and superior insurance auto insurance . 8 in 1990 n.v. amev of the netherlands acquired vsb groep nv bank to become the netherlands first financial conglomerate combining an insurer and a bank creating fortis . 9 in 1991 amev acquired the group life accident and health insurance of mutual benefit life insurance company now part of assurant employee benefits . 10 amev holdings inc. was rebranded fortis inc. in 1991 . superior insurance was sold in 1996 . 11 fortis acquired john alden in 1998 and american bankers insurance in 1999 . 12 13 fortis american business was subsequently renamed as assurant and spun off from the parent company in 2004 . 14 15 on june 10 2015 assurant health s parent company assurant inc. announced an exit from the health insurance marketplace to focus on housing and lifestyle specialty protection products and services . 16 sun life financial acquired assurant employee benefits for 940 million in september 17 and in october assurant announced it had completed the sale of certain assets and business lines of assurant health to national general holdings corporation . 18 national general acquired assurant health s existing supplemental and self funded business lines . 19 assurant is in the process of winding down its major medical operations and did not participate in the next affordable care act open enrollment period beginning in november 2015 . 16 18 operations edit assurant operates two main businesses assurant solutions develops underwrites and markets specialty insurance extended service contracts and other risk management solutions in collaborative relationships with financial institutions retailers automobile dealers utilities funeral homes and other entities . principal lines of business include debt protection administration credit insurance preneed life insurance and warranties and extended service contracts on appliances consumer electronics automobiles recreational vehicles and boats . 20 assurant specialty property develops underwrites markets and administers specialty property and personal lines of insurance and also offers lender placed hazard insurance and outsourcing services to mortgage companies manufactured home builders and dealers auto finance companies property management companies and managing general agents . in addition the company also offers collateral protection programs for automobiles manufactured housing insurance residents insurance homeowners watercraft motorcycle motor home federal flood and farmowners . 21 assurant health policy claim denials and cancellations edit assurant health now divested from assurant 22 18 was repeatedly found to cancel health policies for some customers that had serious medical conditions and 12 states criticized the firm for denying claims with most of the states levying fines against assurant . 23 24 25 a number of individual cases have been reported . in september 2009 the south carolina supreme court upheld a lower court s verdict that the firm then known as fortis wrongly revoked the health insurance policy of a holder who had contracted hiv subsequent to getting an insurance policy and ordered the firm to pay 10 million to the plaintiff . the court found that pursuant to company policy in cases involving long term disease fortis launched an investigation to determine whether the plaintiff had failed to disclose a pre existing condition on his policy application ... a fortis investigator reviewed the records and discovered an erroneously dated intake note in the doctor s files . that information was then forwarded to a fortis senior underwriter ... for review . the underwriter ... recommended that the plaintiff s policy be rescinded on the grounds that he had misrepresented his hiv positive status . reuters report on the ruling stated that fortis had a company policy to target every recently diagnosed hiv positive policyholder for an automatic fraud investigation for a pretext to rescind their policy according to undisclosed records . as in that case their insurance policies often were canceled on incorrect information flimsy evidence or for no reason at all . 26 in march 2010 the united states supreme court rejected the firm s appeal of the ruling 27 in february 2010 a boulder colorado jury found that assurant health had breached its contract with a woman who was severely injured in a hit and run accident and awarded her 183 551 for medical bills and approximately 37.1 million in punitive damages . this was described as one of the largest bad faith judgments in colorado history . 28 references edit management committee . assurant.com . retrieved 11 september 2015 . a b c d assurant 2015 pdf . assurant.com . assurant inc. retrieved 28 june 2016 . a b c d assurant 2014 annual report & form 10 k pdf . assurant.com . assurant inc. retrieved 20 march 2015 . dutch insurer amev is buying vsb groep nv bank assurant s ipo debut leads quintet fortune 500 list usher ellis wisconsin its story and biography 1848 1913 vol . 8 p. 2297 http www.nytimes.com 1990 11 28 business business people new top posts filled by amev holdings.html cuff daniel november 28 1990 . new top posts filled by amev holdings . the new york times . http articles.chicagotribune.com 1990 01 23 business 9001060788 1 netherlands insurer amev january 23 1990 . dutch insurer amev is buying vsb groep nv bank for ... chicago tribune online zonana victor f. 1991 08 01 . ailing mutual benefit sells off units to amev . los angeles times . issn 0458 3035 . retrieved 2015 07 10 . fortis inc. to sell u.s. auto insurance affiliate fortis to acquire john alden . retrieved 2015 06 19 . fortis completes acquisition of american bankers insurance group abi http www.insuranceinsider.com fortis to spin off us insurance arm september 1 2003 fortis to spin off us insurance arm . the insurance insider . sec complaint assurant inc. pdf . retrieved 5 february 2016 . a b http www.assuranthealth.com about assurant health news articles assurant to exit health insurance market to support specialty protection products and services june 10 2015 assurant to exit health insurance market to support strategic focus on housing and lifestyle specialty protection products and services press release . retrieved october 25 2015 dmitrieva katia . sun life to buy assurant unit with 975 million investment . bloomberg . retrieved 5 february 2016 . a b c marshall erin 2 oct 2015 . assurant completes sale of business lines to national general holdings corp. . becker s hospital review . retrieved 4 february 2016 . https globenewswire.com news release 2015 10 01 772889 10151426 en national general holdings corp announces the closing of the acquisition of certain business lines and assets from assurant health.html october 1 2015 national general holdings corp. announces the closing of the acquisition of certain business lines and assets from assurant health press release . retrieved october 25 2015 assurant solutions website assurant specialty property description via businessweek steyer robert . big players dropping hsa business despite growth potential business insurance . business insurance . retrieved 20 july 2016 . http google.com search q cache jrwhvde elmj www.ct.gov oha state of connecticut office of the healthcare advocate http www.chicagotribune.com news columnists chi tue problem insurance 0929sep29 0 1926150 . column chicago tribune after aneurysm assurant health causes further headaches 29 sept 2009 http milwaukee.bizjournals.com milwaukee stories 2007 03 05 daily16.html from rss 1 business jrnl of milwaukee oregon regulators slap fine on assurant health march 6 2007 insurer target hiv patients to drop coverage . reuters . march 17 2010 . insurance news supreme court rejects assurant s appeal march 24 2010 http insurancenewsnet.com article.aspx id 174515 http www.westword.com content printversion 1400288 external links edit company homepage google finance profile retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title assurant & oldid 740750344 categories companies listed on the new york stock exchangecompanies established in 1977companies based in new york cityinsurance companies based in new york cityhealth insurance companiesproperty insurance companies navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages svenska edit links this page was last modified on 23 september 2016 at 02 00 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license 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