The nature of sorting out Iowa Life Insurance Quotes is that sometimes it can seem difficult to separate the facts from the fiction. You want an insurance quote that covers you in Iowa, but you may not feel like you yet have enough information to make a considered judgement about which life provider is best, and which one deserves your business.
In this article I aim to remedy that by providing comprehensive information about Iowa Life Insurance and the different considerations that you should know. I also discuss the life insurance industry in Iowa, the role that it plays in the Iowa economy, and how that impacts on you.
Some Background on Iowa…
Iowa is located in the mid-western United States, and is nicknamed the Hawkeye State. It had a population of just over 3 million people in the 2010 census, and its largest cities are Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Davenport and Sioux City.
Traditionally Iowa is seen as the food capital of the United States, but in actual fact the Iowa economy is one of the most diversified in the United States, and Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing only accounted for 3.5% of the Iowa Gross State Product of $106.3 billion in 2006.
Whilst Finance and Insurance accounted for almost 3 TIMES AS MUCH with 11.3%.
You can see a complete breakdown in the pie chart below.
Life Insurance in Iowa
There are 454 Iowa life insurance companies who are licensed to sell life insurance in Iowa, and over 24,000 people who are directly employed by the life insurance companies in Iowa. Additionally, there are a further 37,000 non-insurance jobs that are supported by the life insurance industry (through finance jobs, mortgages, property and real estate, trading, banking etc.), and the Iowa life insurance companies have over $45 billion invested in the Iowa economy according to the American Council of Life Insurers.
When you zoom in from this level down to the level of individual life policyholders in Iowa the numbers continue to be very impressive, with over 2 million individual Iowa life insurance policyholders and an average amount of cover of $93,000 per policy holder.
What this all adds up to is a massive industry. There are in fact 26 lowa Life Insurance Companies who are actually domiciled in Iowa, in addition to simply doing business in the State, and so if you would particularly like to do business with a Life Insurance Company in Iowa that has perhaps more stake in the future of Iowa, then you can see a list here of Iowa Domiciled Life and Health Insurance Companies.
Considerations To Bear In Mind When Comparing Iowa life Insurance Quotes
When you have finally taken the first steps to getting some affordable life insurance it is important to weigh up several different factors before arriving at a firm conclusion as to which Iowa Life Insurance Quote is right for you and your family.
1/ Have you got enough cover?
A frequent mistake that people make with life insurance is quite simply that they don’t get enough of it!
It is worth sitting down and working out some different scenarios about what would ACTUALLY happen if you were to die.
Would your children have enough money to go to college?
Would your husband or wife be able to pay all the bills for the next year?
What about the mortgage payments? If interest rates went up then how would that affect things?
How about that church project or charity that you love and have contributed to? Have you considered a donation to them in your calculations?
There is a very real need to be very practical when it comes to life insurance, and really divorce yourself from any negative connotations.
Getting competitive Iowa life insurance quotes doesn’t mean that you are planning on dying! It simply means that you are being responsible, and doing some planning for some ‘what-if’ scenarios.
2/ Can you afford the life cover?
This is the flip side of 1/ because whilst it might be good to take out another $3 million dollars of Iowa Life Insurance, and totally fund the rebuilding of your local church in the event of your death. The plain fact is that you will have to pay for that life cover, and so you must make sure not to over extend yourself.
You also need to consider that you need money to spend time enjoying the warm evening in Des Moines, and so you should be sure that any grand plans still fit within normal, everyday budget constraints.
3/ Have you compared several different Iowa Life Insurance Quotes?
One of the things that should be immediately apparent from looking at the information provided above about life insurance in Iowa is that there is lots of competition of your life insurance business.
Hence it only makes sense to make sure that you compare several different Iowa Life Insurance Quotes before reaching any final decision as to which one you should go for.
Take a look at the different exclusions that each policy has in addition to simply looking at the amount of overall cover. As each company has different rules when it comes to what you can claim on, and what you can’t.
For example, if you engage in any dangerous sports like rock climbing or skiing, then it is incumbent on you to tell the Iowa life insurance company up front. And what’s more, it is also common sense to double check that you are actually covered in the event of a skiing accident, mountain climbing fall etc.
Otherwise your dependants could be in for a nasty surprise when they come to claim on the policy.
Iowa Life Insurance – The Details
In terms of the regulatory structure and legal framework that enforces Life Insurance arrangements in Iowa, these are covered by the State Insurance Code of Iowa.
This covers the rules about how insurance business is conducted in Iowa from both a consumer perspective, and also from the point of view of insurance companies in Iowa and insurance professionals.
These are updated from time to time, and so a good place to look at Iowa Insurance from a regulatory standpoint is the “Commissioner’s Insurance Law and Regulations Bulletins” which you can find here:
These discuss the Iowa Insurance Code and any changes or proposed changes to it.
Iowa Life Insurance Resources
Iowa Insurance Division
The Iowa Insurance Division handles how the Iowa Insurance Code is implemented. It offers consumer advice, as well as being the point of contact for all the legal requirements that life insurance companies in Iowa need to comply with.
The Iowa Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Association comes into play should an Iowa Life Insurance Company become insolvent.
In the event that it does, the Iowa Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Association is tasked with stepping in to protect the policyholders of that institution, and provide financial protection.
If you are an Employee of the Iowa State Government (more than 30 hours a week) then you should check out Iowa’s Life Insurance Plan that they have for State employees.
The Life Insurance in this scheme is provided by The Hartford Life.
The amounts of life insurance it provides are quite low though, so you may want to check out other sources in any case in order to get it topped up or at least check that the prices for the life cover are competitive.
