Disability insurance

[beddoc]

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I am about to finish my residency and become staff in July. Anyone have thoughts about which disability insurance to take ?

Lots of recommendations for AMA disability insurance but no one seems to own one.

 

[reanimatore]

I am about to finish my residency and become staff in July. Anyone have thoughts about which disability insurance to take ?

Lots of recommendations for AMA disability insurance but no one seems to own one.

Not sure if you've already done the basic research on this (other than what's on the AMA website), but if not a good place to start is here...

http://whitecoatinvestor.com/disability-insurance-introduction/

 

[cincincyreds]

Not sure if you've already done the basic research on this (other than what's on the AMA website), but if not a good place to start is here...

http://whitecoatinvestor.com/disability-insurance-introduction/

Agreed, read the white coat investor.

I think the two best are either Guardian or Metlife. Guardian is more expensive, but both policies have a really good definition of own occupation.

Whitecoatinvestor is a ER physician who runs a great website about financial matters.

 

[DocProtector]

If insurable I would recommend Metlife first. If un-insurable the Essential program is your best choice... It all depends on your health.

 

[MR Insurance]

Not sure if you ever did anything. One of the major things an Anesthesiologist will have to consider is whether a 24-month maximum benefit period for claims relating to mental/psychiatric issues is important or not. Statistically, these claims account for 9-10% of all long-term claims, but each individual still has their own opinion on this. At the present time, Standard's Protector Platinum, MetLife's OmniAdvantage and Principal's Transitional Own-Occ policy are the only ones that will NOT limit mental/psychiatric benefits for Anes. Guardian Plus & Limited, Principal's Own-Occ, MetLife's Income Guard, Ameritas, MassMutual and NML will limit the benefits to 24-months maximum.
Policy offerings are state specific however and you should verify with an agent licensed in your state.
There are a good number of comprehensive policies out there though. Just find an agent who knows the market and represents multiple carriers with no self-serving bias to any of them. Ask what portion of his/her business goes to which carriers, that should be a fairly good indicator.

 

[Sevo]

I use Berkshire/Guardian.

 

[beddoc]

Thanks all. I ended up choosing Guardian because the wordings were simple and easy to understand. The things I gave importance were definition of own occupation and riders like residual disability, COLA and future buying option. I didn't worry about mental/psychiatric illness and catastrophic disability.

I considered AMA but at the end of the day it is a group disability, own occupation is not defined well and they can cancel the insurance at any point of time. As a young attending I need good individual disability insurance as risk is high.

 

[lakerseven]

anyone use principal? policy seems fine to me, but there name doesn't come up too often as one that people have chosen.

 

[pjl]

My group is guardian (50% of my coverage), and personal is metlife (50%). Splitting it this way, for me made sense as if I leave my job I will retain the lower individual rates that I "locked in at" for the rest of my life, but I still get the full coverage (my group is substantially cheaper). I maxed out the group policy.

Also make sure if you do through employer that you get this AFTER tax. Big difference if you should have a problem.

 

[loveumms]

Guardian is a good company. I had to use my disability insurance for a few months and even though it was a total pain - took 6 months to get a decision for them to pay me; in th send they paid.

Let me just be very, very, very clear - do not omit anything in your history. If you have a claim, they will get your medical records from the time you are born until your claim. They will have 'experts' look through those records and will scour everything. I had to talk with a lawyer (b/c it was taking them so long to make a decision that I thought they were going to deny the claim) who said that they can use GERD as a reason to not pay for cancer later on in the policy. Of course, my situation was a little different b/c I had to claim it within the first two years of the policy. Anyway, I would just make sure you state everything that has been written in a medical record.

 

[Colba55o]

I'm a new grad and just signed on with Principal. I have no idea if it was a good decision or not, but it was cheaper than Guardian, still expensive though. Like $400/month for $10K/month coverage. I would totally believe it if the broker I used is a crook and got nice kickbacks from me going with principal, but I really got SO many different answers from so many different people I just went with this one.

I think asking people about this is like asking whats the best auto insurance company, or best automobile for that matter. Everyone has their opinions

 

[ChoiceFinancial]

Principal is a good carrier, however without knowing you specialty there maybe carrier that fits better. You should be fine with them and hopefully you rec'd a discount of some type. ie: association, med. school or hospital sponsored program.