Innovation

Art Of Strength Insurance Solutions was conceptualized when one of the founders’ friends got into a serious car crash. This friend could not afford health insurance, and they were left to pay for a $25,000 hospital bill out of pocket. The founders realized that not everyone might know how to get affordable health insurance and how devastating it can be for an individual and potentially even their family if a serious medical condition or emergency were to occur. The founders saw this as an issue that they needed to solve, so they started Art Of Strength Insurance Solutions.

Art Of Strength Insurance Solutions is an insurance company that was founded to both educate people on why health insurance is important and to provide affordable insurance to people who can’t easily afford it. They work with specific “niches”, or groups of individuals who need affordable health insurance, to ensure they are educated about the benefits of having health insurance and to ensure that they are financially covered if a medical emergency were to occur. An example of one of their niches is older individuals, 60-65 years old, who can’t afford health insurance but are retired or can’t work. These individuals are very close to being covered by Medicare but are not quite the age to qualify for it yet. Art Of Strength Insurance Solutions provides an affordable solution for them to be covered by insurance while they wait to qualify for Medicare.

Inspiration

Laurice Nahas never thought she would become a small business owner, but felt compelled to do something when she saw an issue in the world. Laurice Nahas and her partner German Hernandez wanted to start Art of Strength Insurance Solutions “to protect those who don’t understand how important it is [to have insurance].” She said that most people, and especially young people, do not understand “that [an accident] can really devastate someone’s life or someone’s family without the proper coverage.” She and her partner were motivated to start Art Of Strength Insurance Solutions as they had personally witnessed the impact having a medical emergency can have on someone who could not afford or did not know to have health insurance.

Overall impact

The short-term effect of Art Of Strength Insurance Solutions is that people who cannot easily afford health insurance are able to be covered and will have access to health care if they need it without having to worry about how expensive it will be. Several people who secured insurance through Art Of Strength Insurance Solutions and had medical emergencies were not burdened with high costing medical bills afterward because they were able to manage the more affordable health insurance offering.

The long-term effect of Art Of Strength Insurance Solutions is that, hopefully, more and more people will understand why having insurance, especially in the US where medical bills can be very expensive, is important. A lot of one’s knowledge about health insurance can come from one’s friends or family. The more people know about how detrimental it can be to not have health insurance and that affordable health insurance exists, hopefully, the more people will spread that knowledge to their friends and family who will hopefully continue to pass along what they have learned. From speaking to Laurice Nahas, if that were to happen, that would fulfill one of the primary reasons that Art Of Strength Insurance Solutions was even conceptualized.

Business benefit

Art Of Strength Insurance Solutions is a prime example of a business built to try to solve an issue. The founders Laurice Nahas and German Hernandez started an insurance company that aimed to provide affordable solutions to people and that is what the company does. Art Of Strength Insurance Solutions focused on insurance for individuals for a while and has grown their company to also offer affordable deals to companies who are looking to provide their employees with insurance. This new product that they offer has been successful and they have been able to help several small businesses insure their employees at a reasonable cost. Laurice Nahas shared that for a small business they recently helped, they were able to save the company over $6,000 in insurance costs. Laurice Nahas and German Hernandez were able to start a small business and become profitable by simply trying to solve a problem they saw in the world around them.

Social and environmental benefit

Art of Strength Insurance Solutions' work benefits society by working to provide information and solutions on affordable insurance. Art Of Strength Insurance Solutions believes that every individual has a right to know how detrimental not having insurance can be to one’s life if something goes wrong. Since its conception, Art Of Strength Insurance Solutions has worked to educate individuals on the impact not having insurance can have on someone’s life. Art Of Strength Insurance Solutions has also worked to provide individuals with affordable insurance options. These efforts encompass why the company was started. Art Of Strength Insurance Solutions was created to find a way to help people through information and affordable insurance plans. An example that Laurice Nahas talked about that was very inspiring was of a gentleman who she educated on the importance of health insurance and was able to get a reasonable insurance plan for him that covered him and his family. The following month, he had a heart attack and, because he had health insurance, he and his family were saved from paying around $50,000. Another story that Laurice Nahas spoke of is how Art Of Strength Insurance Solutions has helped real people; she and her colleague educated a young personal trainer they know of the importance of being covered by health insurance. He assumed that because he was healthy and young, he did not need to spend money on health insurance. They helped him with an affordable insurance solution and a couple of months later, he was hospitalized due to heart conditions brought on by excessive energy drink consumption. Had Laurice Nahas and her partner not spent the time to educate this individual on how important health insurance was, he would have had to pay off a large medical bill out of pocket.

What Art Of Strength Insurance Solutions does is help people and put them in a position where, if something terrible does happen, the cost that would incur without insurance would not be an additional hardship to an individual or even their family. Art Of Strength Insurance Solutions believes that every individual should have a right to know what their insurance options are and that all individuals should be protected from the financial hardships that can follow horrible circumstances.

Interview

Laurice Nahas, President, COO