Where can I buy increased liability coverage?

[Ergo]

My American medical school does not provide adequate liability coverage for the most competitive institutions. I began a campaign and mobilized the deans to increase our coverage, but it is a statewide problem, and it goes right up to the board of regents of the university system. So, this may take too long for me to get registered for competitive away electives.

Where can I buy increased liability coverage? Its not available through my school. I talked to the Student Affairs office at one program today, and they assures me that coverage is available "but they would not recommend an insurance carrier. Try searching the internet."

Nice answer.

Come on - search google for liability insurance medical and visiting student - not relevant results....

Apparently this problem has been overcome by multitudes before me...anyone who has experience with this problem - please advise.

Where can a student buy adequate (1 mill/3 mill) insurance for a few months of electives?

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[doc05]

the first place to look would be the place you'll be doing your away at. they may offer to cover you, or at least point you in the right direction. and what state are you in that your school doesn't cover 1 mil/3 mil? that's pretty standard.

 

[Ergo]

Some state medical schools believe that the lower the liability coverage the smaller and less appealing the target. And realistically, we arent doing much as med students or are heavily supervised.

Maybe things will finally change by next year, but as for my situation: SOL.

The five programs I have contacted do not offer supplimental coverage. some programs allude that there is coverage students can purchase from insurers, but wont provide detailed information? Very frustrating, and Im sure others have overcome this. So, Im writing here to ask with help, because Im too tired to reinvent the wheel.

Ideas? Info? Please contribute...

the first place to look would be the place you'll be doing your away at. they may offer to cover you, or at least point you in the right direction. and what state are you in that your school doesn't cover 1 mil/3 mil? that's pretty standard.

 

[Ergo]

Our coverage is $25,000/$75,000. So, thats about $950,000 short.

 

[Celiac Plexus]

do i understand correctly that you need liability coverage to do an away rotation??

i had no idea that was necessary. when i was a 4th year student, the subject of liability coverage never even came up with respect to away rotations. is that just a texas thing, or is that everywhere? weird.

 

[DocTan]

My American medical school does not provide adequate liability coverage for the most competitive institutions. I began a campaign and mobilized the deans to increase our coverage, but it is a statewide problem, and it goes right up to the board of regents of the university system. So, this may take too long for me to get registered for competitive away electives.

Where can I buy increased liability coverage? Its not available through my school. I talked to the Student Affairs office at UW Seattle (not my school) today and they assures me that coverage is available "but they would not recommend an insurance carrier. Try searching the internet."

Nice answer.

Come on - search google for liability insurance medical and visiting student - not relevant results....

Apparently this problem has been overcome by multitudes before me...anyone who has experience with this problem - please advise.

Where can a student buy adequate (1 mill/3 mill) insurance for a few months of electives?

Hi. I am also doing rotations which require insurance. It cost me $1455 for the whole year, 1M/3M. Check averco.com. They were very nice and I did everything through email. Good luck.

 

[doc05]

do i understand correctly that you need liability coverage to do an away rotation??

i had no idea that was necessary. when i was a 4th year student, the subject of liability coverage never even came up with respect to away rotations. is that just a texas thing, or is that everywhere? weird.

no, it's everywhere. the 1 mil/3 mil is standard pretty much everywhere, so chances are you didn't have anything to worry about.

 

[Ergo]

Thnak you for the information. I contacted averco.com, but their website was not up. The page read "down for maintenance", hopefully this is temporary.
Ill keep checking back, but any other intel on insurance carriers would be great.

 

[SocialistMD]

Ergo-

Try asking the fourth year students at your school who did away rotations. I was told of a company that offered it fairly cheap, but I can't remember the name; I'm emailing the person who told me about it and I'll post the website when I hear from him.

I ended up searching until I found a program in which I was interested that did not have such high requirements. If they did not explicitly say they needed $XXX, I went on the assumption that I was fine with my coverage.

Hopefully I will have more later today.

 

[Ergo]

Socialist:

That is a great suggestion, however, it did not provide answers. So, I have turned to this forum to locate someone who has solved this problem already.
Thank you for asking your colleague.
E

 

[SocialistMD]

So, the person I know who used this was a PA prior to entering medical school, so she could do this. She failed to mention this to the person who told me about it, so I don't know that you can use it without being a little dishonest. The company is called CM&F Group (website here ), but they only provide insurance to PAs, NPs, and techs, or students of said fields.

I'm sorry I couldn't be more help. Good luck, and thanks for the honor of citing me in your sig line.

 

[Ergo]

Socialist and others,

Thank you for suggestions so far. CMF only insures non-doctor medical professionals. So, they will sell liability coverage for everyone from nursing students and physical trainers to PA, but not to a med student.

Still looking...

 

[DocTan]

Socialist and others,

Thank you for suggestions so far. CMF only insures non-doctor medical professionals. So, they will sell liability coverage for everyone from nursing students and physical trainers to PA, but not to a med student.

Still looking...

Hi. If the website is not working, you can call them at 312-922-7570. Or write them at averco 550 w. van buren, suite 1200 Chicago, Illinois 60607. Or email [email protected]. They were able to cover me the whole year at sinai, st john's episcopal, and mcv. Good luck.

PS- if you give me your email I can email you the application.

 

[ManuNastai]

can't you buy malpractice insurance for just a couple of months?

 

[Bitsy3221]

I had the same problem at my own school--CeliacPlexus, MOST schools provide the $1 mill/$3 mill coverage, but not all and yes it is a HUGE issue for those of us who do not have enough coverage! My school initially did not provide the coverage but after my class put up such a high stink the university convened a special meeting w/ their lawyers and insurance company and at the last minute increased the limits for us.

In the mean time, I do know there are companies out there as some of my classmates resorted to buying their own coverage for around $1500 before our coverage was increased (as far as I know, you can only buy malpractice for a year at a time, not for a few months as a previous poster suggested) I am trying to locate them, and if I find them I will let you know.

This website will let you know how much coverage is required by each insitution, so worst comes to worst you can find a program that does not need the high coverage amounts:
http://www.aamc.org/students/medstudents/electives/start.htm

I strongly urge you and your classmates to get together and raise a HUGE fuss about this--the inability of top students to go out and make important connections for their residency, which may in turn lead to them not getting top residency positions, which in turn reflects poorly on the school, etc. Get specific--email administration specifically which programs have denied you and forward them the websites/emails detailing their specifics. Also, apparently Emergency Medicine requires a letter from an outside faculy member (I don't know specifics as I applied to surgery; ask your classmates who are doing ER) and this was a big reason our school increased our coverage. Keep the pressure on and maybe they will HAVE to do something about it NOW. They did not increase our premiums until the beginning of our fourth year, and although it left a lot of us that did not buy our own malpactice previously scrambling, most of us were still able to secure the externships we wanted/needed. They initially told us we were SOL as well, but don't take no for an answer! We didn't!