bankers life's predecessor, the hotel men's mutual benefit association, began operations on january 17, 1879. in 1935 john d. macarthur bought bankers life, and continued to develop it until his death in 1978. after studying how large american manufacturers branded and mass-marketed household goods and services, macarthur led bankers life in reducing the cost of selling insurance and in making insurance coverage more affordable for middle-income americans. by 1956 bankers life was one of the largest individual health and accident insurance companies in the u.s. the needs of america's growing senior market became bankers life's focus once president johnson signed the medicare bill into law. bankers life became one of the first insurers to develop and offer medicare supplement insurance. upon macarthur's death, control of the company passed to the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation, a major charitable institution in the u.s. the foundation later sold bankers life, and today, the company is a subsidiary of cno financial group, a holding company for a group of insurance companies operating throughout the united states. as of 2015, bankers life has $19 billion in assets under management. in 2012, bankers life processed more than 8.5 million claims and paid out more than $1.3 billion in policy benefits.