|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Physician Disability Insurance |
|
|
Without question, the amount of work and training that goes into becoming a physician is staggering. For those who specialize, it can be even greater. Unfortunately, the environment for physicians these days is challenging. An example of this is malpractice insurance. Premiums for malpractice insurance make up a substantial percentage of many physicians budgets. However, malpractice insurance is essential to have. Without it, lawsuits could force many physicians into bankruptcy. Now imagine a malpractice insurance policy that only paid for certain types of lawsuits. Assume you had to pay a very large claim for damages and the fine print of your malpractice insurance resulted in a denial of the claim by your insurance company. This could be financially devastating.
In a very real sense, there are many plans of disability insurance for physicians that more or less do the same thing. In other words, there are many disabilities that just are not covered by disability insurance policies that are group insurance plans or even some individual disability insurance plans. Disability insurance for physicians should be comprehensive and able to cover most forms and degrees of disability. Disability insurance for physicians should also cover their specialty.
An example of this is residual disability insurance coverage. Through a rider, a good individual disability insurance policy can provide you with benefits if you lose income as a result of a partial disability, even if you never had a period of total disability. This type of disability insurance for physicians is not available with many group plans.
Disability insurance for physicians is essential. If you are under age 35, chances are one in three that you will be disabled for at least six months during the course of your career. Men have a 43% chance of becoming seriously disabled during their working years and women have a 54% chance. Another statistic is that at age 42, it is 4 times more likely that you will become seriously disabled than you will die during your working years.*
We believe that true "own-occupation" is extremely important for any good plan of disability insurance for physicians. Many disability insurance policies for physicians have either no "own-occupation" or a watered down version of "own-occupation".
We do not think that an "own-occupation" definition that will stop paying you if you are working in any capacity is true "own-occupation". The best definition of "own-occupation" is one that can keep paying benefits even if you are working in some other capacity. For example, assume a psychiatrist in practice for 15 years suffers from severe depression and can no longer treat patients. Some individual disability income polices may cover her as long as she can not practice psychiatry and while she is not working. Others may not treat mental and nervous disorders the same as other illnesses.
However, when she returns to work in any capacity, she may no longer be entitled to full benefits (or any benefits). Physicians need the best possible protection for their specialty. The best definition of "own-occupation" for disability insurance for physicians (and most other professionals) is one that will pay full benefits for as long as one can not perform their specialty, due to illness or injury. Berkshire's ProVider Plus makes for outstanding disability insurance for physicians because its "own-occupation" definitions are very favorable. For many, the "own-occupation" definition can allow benefits to be paid to age 65, or even for life. For other specialties, "own-occupation" is available for up to 5 years. Benefits could still be payable after 5 years, but only if the disability either continued to cause a reduction in earnings or the physician could not work at all as a result of sickness or injury.
Of course, individual disability insurance for physicians should be non-cancellable and guaranteed renewable. Any disability insurance for physicians that is not could put the physician at risk for either losing coverage, facing increasing premiums, or both.
Unlike medical malpractice insurance, once a good plan of disability insurance for physicians has been purchased (assuming it is non-cancellable and guaranteed renewable), the physician need not worry about escalating disability insurance premiums.
However, one thing should be mentioned, individual disability insurance for physicians that is non-cancellable and guaranteed renewable may have increasing premiums if the policy has graded premiums. This is a technique to have lower premiums presently at the expense of higher premiums later. Depending upon circumstances, this could be desirable. However, it is important to know if you are being quoted a plan like this.
We would be glad to review and or assist you determine if any quotes you have received are graded premium quotes as opposed to guaranteed level quotes.
The discussion of disability insurance for physicians should also include disability overhead insurance. For those physicians with practices where there are overhead expenses such as assistants salaries and other overhead expenses, there are surprisingly inexpensive policies to cover those expenses. Some of the better plans, like ProVider Plus, can also cover at least part of the salary for a professional temporary for you, such as a doctor paid to fill in during your total disability. This can help assure you that you will have a practice to return to when you recover.
For our assistance or to order quotes, contact us
* “Why Disability” booklet, published by National Underwriter |
|
Policy Forms 0100, 1100 and 2100 are underwritten and issued by Berkshire Life Insurance Company of America, Pittsfield, MA, a wholly-owned stock subsidiary of The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America ("Guardian"), New York, NY. Policy Forms NC111 and NC112 in CA are provided by Guardian. Product provisions and features may vary by state. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
