Insurance agency moves to new digs

Published 9:01 am Monday, October 13, 2008

Stensrud Insurance Services in Lake Mills recently celebrated a move and name change, formally Stensrud Insurance & Investments.

The company is now located at 103 N. Mill St.

Laura Stensrud, who was appointed by former Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad to the Iowa Board of Medical Examiners, started the business out of her home in 1996 after witnessing firsthand the tug of war between doctors and insurance companies. In her time on the board Stensrud came to the conclusion that the customer, your neighbor and mine, was often stuck in the middle of expensive decisions.

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“What I saw was you have insurance companies, and you have the doctors, and they’re pulling in opposite directions,” Stensrud said. “The people are the ones that get stuck in the middle; I didn’t feel the agents were doing a good job looking out for the people. That’s how this got started.”

Since starting out at home in 1996 Stensrud, along with her son Andy, have turned the business into the largest health insurance brokerage firm north of the Des Moines-Ames area. But as Andy puts it, there is costumer service, and then there is what you get at Stensrud Insurance Services.

“We didn’t feel there was anyone looking out for the average Joe,” said Andy. “It’s amazing, this industry was built on service, but no one services anymore. Not to toot our own horn, but we do a very good job for our customers. We will add and delete employees; we will do all the administrative work for them so they can focus on their own business.”

Besides the new name, Stensrud Insurance Services added some new lines of services that include home, auto, motorcycle, boat, recreational vehicles, farm and business.

“We offer all property and casualty lines of insurance through American National,” Andy said. “We chose them because they are so conservative, and it has the financial backing to keep rates low and to pay the claims they have. The big thing is that they don’t believe in debt, so nothing like AIG will happen with American National. What it boils down to is I think people are starving for someone that will shoot straight, just tell you the facts and let the customer make up their own mind, that’s what we do.”

Also working with Laura and Andy is Alison Flugum, who helps Laura with group and individual health plans, and Jill Flugum who takes care of customer service needs such as working with hospitals, doctors and insurance companies.