COVID Impact on Life and Disability Insurance for Military Physicians – One Year Later
Like seemingly everything else, the insurance industry has been forced to adapt since the onset of the COVID pandemic in March 2020. Most, if not all the major companies have allowed their employees to work from home. Despite the technological advances that made this possible, processing of all the tasks required to maintain a major company were delayed dramatically. The underwriting of applications and the claims process took twice as long. Fortunately, that is all behind us as the insurance industry has implemented the new technology to make it easier and quicker than ever to obtain coverage. Due to the increase in claims and the insurance companies’ expertise in risk management, we expect some rate increases in the future so now is the time to lock in your protection for both life and disability insurance. One thing that hasn’t changed is the difficulty in obtaining coverage for applicants with orders to deploy outside the US. Coverage is typically postponed if you have orders for deployment outside the US, so it is advisable to obtain coverage before receiving new orders.
The pandemic has accelerated the implementation of digital processes that have streamlined the underwriting process and eliminated physical human contact. It wasn’t that long ago when all applicants had to schedule a time for a stranger to show up at their home or office to stick them with a needle and ask invasive medical questions. Now, an applicant can apply for disability and life insurance coverage using online applications which can be completed anytime on either a phone or computer. This is possible now because insurance companies have adapted to utilizing 3rd party data that when taken as a whole, provides a more than sufficient and accurate picture of morbidity/mortality risk than a medical exam provides.
Now, military physicians can obtain up to $3,000,000 of life insurance and up to $10,000/month of disability insurance without a medical exam up to age 50. The medical history application can be completed electronically. Some companies will even approve a qualified applicant almost immediately for life insurance
Contrary to what you may have heard, the only standardized exclusion for life insurance is suicide for the first two policy years. Death as the result of war or military service is covered. There may be specific exclusions added due to avocations such as mountain climbing, piloting, etc.
For disability insurance, the 25% discount for military physicians is still available from knowledgeable and experienced brokers. This discount is not widely available to civilian physicians in practice so waiting to obtain coverage until after you separate from the military means that you will pay higher rates. Not to mention that your military records and VA disability process may contain adverse information that could result in a declination or other adverse underwriting decisions. Also, since rates are based on age, you will pay a higher rate due to being older. Each year you wait to establish coverage results in a minimum of an approximate 5% increase in premium. We calculate that you will pay approximately two full years more premium for each year you delay establishing coverage.
Thank you for your service and dedication. For specific questions please contact us via email below. You can also obtain more information and request personalized life/disability quotes by visiting:
Physician Disability Insurance Quote Comparison
Andy G. Borgia CLU – andyb@di4mds.com D.K. Unger – dku@di4mds.com
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