Disability Policies

[SuzySunshine]

Since I can't search I can't add this to what I'm sure we have an old thread on but wanted to share this:

http://whitecoatinvestor.com/why-not...iday-qa-series

We are in the process of dropping all of our NWM products and replacing the disability with The Standard and MetLife (like I should be cancelling it today if we get the final ok from Standard). We'll also be dropping our NWM life insurance but I'm not sure with who yet.

So this is just a word of caution read EVERYTHING you consider/purchase very carefully. We thought NWM was a good deal/idea when we bought it but have since gotten independent agent representation who works with many policies/many companies and have been steered in a different direction. My knowledge of insurance has reassured me that we are doing the right thing now and we should have read the policy more carefully before we committed to it. We were in our last year, trying to juggle a lot of balls and just getting it done was our priority - don't! Read carefully and consider ALL options.

[spotty_dog]

Yes, OWN OCCUPATION is key for physician disability insurance! You don't want to be disqualified from getting your benefit just because you *technically* could be working in an urgent care or something similar that pays a fraction of what your own specialty does.

Somehow we lucked out and our agent is one of the guys offering advice on that post, a frequent contributor to WCI. I don't even know where DH found him.

[SuzySunshine]

That is just it - we were TOLD ours was OwnOcc but when we got our independent financial guy and they reviewed it they say its not. Even after reading it myself I was confused and I used to read policies DAILY. So frustrating!!

[JaneDoe]

So true. We have seen first-hand the importance of this clause. One of Dh's partners developed (ironically) an eye condition that prevented him from doing surgery. Although he had to give up surgery, he is still able to see patients in the clinic. As a result, his income decreased.

He has a type of disability policy that they don't sell anymore. It has an own occupation clause that allows him to collect the full benefit even though he is able to still work in the clinic. I think disability policies today only allow you to collect a partial disability benefit if you are able to do some of your occupation. The own occupation clause is crucial.

[SuzySunshine]

The new one we are getting from the Standard has that kind of clause. If DH were to have to go to something like neurology because he couldn't operate he would still get a disability benefit in addition to his salary.

[JaneDoe]

Right. I think most if not all disability policies from the big companies (Standard/Mass Mutual, Guardian, etc) pay a partial disability benefit if the own occupation clause is invoked and the dr can still do some of his occupation. The difference in Dh's partner's case is that he is receiving a FULL benefit in addition to his clinic income. They don't sell policies like that anymore. It's more favorable to the policy holder than the insurance company.

[Alacrity]

We are a little oversubscribed to disability.
The compay wifie works for has good OwnOcc, but we purchased our own.
Our fear was that if she changed jobs we might not be able to get it. This way she can take it with her.
We have 60% through her job and 60% personal. So if she gets hurt we have 120% coming in.

We were warned to get our own before she officially accepted her new job. If she had 60% through her job then we could not buy 60% personal.

[SuzySunshine]

We were warned to get our own before she officially accepted her new job. If she had 60% through her job then we could not buy 60% personal.

That is a good point - DH had to get all of the disability information from his job to the personal policy people so they could make sure he wasn't carrying too much, etc. That is why they say get it in residency so it doesn't conflict with a post-job. Of course we thought we did that but with a crappy carrier - I'm SO over NWM!!

[Thirteen]

Man, I guess I need to read through his AD&D/Disab policy.

[Alacrity]

Very carefully.

Imagine if they said the doc. could still work in admitting and you still had the med school bills.

Could be the financial nightmare of residency for the rest of your life!

[OrionGrad]

Can someone explain why it's important to get OwnOncc disability insurance while you're still in residency? What is the benefit to doing it early, rather than waiting until after you've started your first job post fellowship?

[Michele]

In case you get disabled during residency.

I have an OwnOcc disability policy and when choosing between two companies my financial advisor figured out that one policy had time limit! It would only pay for OwnOcc for 5 years. The policy I went with is for 30+ years. It also pay partial if I'm unable to do surgery but can still run clinic.

[migirl]

Someone else correct me if I'm wrong, but you can also lock in lower rates if you get it when you're younger.

[TulipsAndSunscreen]

I would definitely recommend getting a specialty-specific recommendation on insurance type. We are with NWM (and have been happy with them) for life insurance. When we went to do disability, they recommended their insurance because they thought Urology wasn't as heavily surgery oriented as it is. When I explained that reimbursement-wise, Urology was very surgery oriented, they recommended a different policy through Principal which we are using.

We have as much as we can afford and will continue to up it as we can. DH also has some insurance through the hospital but that doesn't travel with him - so when he completes residency at 35 and he leaves, he'd have to start over, take a new physical, etc. We felt it was best to get some before he even started residency and was younger. He has OwnOcc and it will pay partially if he cannot operate.

He is not eligible for as much insurance because he's in residency as he will when he's an attending but we'll up it as soon as he graduates. It's a real PITA to be paying so much for disability now but worth it to protect us if he's injured after 10+ years of post-graduate school/training.

[OrionGrad]

Someone else correct me if I'm wrong, but you can also lock in lower rates if you get it when you're younger.

That's what I was thinking/hoping. I'll have to look into it more to find out for sure.