Joel Schofer's Career Planning Blog

Guest Post – Strategy for Establishing Disability Insurance for Military Physicians and Dentists

Posted on May 28, 2024 Updated on May 19, 2024

Becoming a military physician or dentist requires many hours of intense study and preparation. The result is an expert professional that is a combination of exacting physical and mental skills coupled with the ability to perform in stressful, sometimes life or death, situations. This ability is a military physician or dentists’ greatest asset and should be protected as such. It is imperative that military physicians and dentists establish this coverage as soon as possible, there is absolutely no advantage to waiting.

As you age your income will increase and your health will deteriorate. According to insurance statistics your chance of becoming disabled and unable to practice your chosen specialty are three times as likely at age 55 as they are at age 30. This makes it essential for military physicians and dentists to insure their current and future income. The solution is establishing a personal disability insurance policy. However, the complexity of the military pay and disability system as well as disability insurance policy contractual provisions complicates this task.  Adequate protection is crucially needed since the military does not provide own occupation disability insurance. Government benefits are determined by base pay only and this gap is even larger when moonlighting income is received.

Establishing coverage requires guidance from an experienced professional insurance broker who can help you navigate the twists and turns of disability insurance and help you with unforeseen obstacles that may come up during the approval process:

1. Selecting the proper company – Currently MassMutual and Lloyds are the only companies that will insure active-duty physicians and dentists. MassMutual is the first choice due to its competitive provisions. Lloyds is a better option for those with more serious health issues.
2. Maximize your benefit – Military disability benefits are determined by base pay only, so it is imperative to insure all your income, including moonlighting, which can only be achieved by establishing an individual disability insurance policy.
3. Utilize all discounts to which you are entitled – An experienced agent will make certain your policy includes all your income and have access to special discounts for military physicians and dentists. The discount will apply to future benefit increases.
4. Timing – Apply for benefits early in your career and before any health or avocation issues arise, or receipt of deployment orders. There is absolutely no advantage to waiting. This will not exclude you or limit coverage based on medical issues.
5. Include Future Insurability Option (FIO) or Benefit Increase Rider (BIR) – This benefit guarantees you will be able to increase coverage in the future, such as when you complete your military commitment and have a larger uninsured income. An experienced agent will effectively guide you in deciding if the FIO or BIR is best for you.
6. Make certain to add own occupation coverage to guarantee protection in your specialty. The military does not provide this protection.

One crucial fact to be aware of when obtaining disability coverage is the medical underwriting requirement. Since military medical exams are extremely thorough and document any medical condition, it is important to establish coverage early in your medical career before any conditions or ailments appear. Depending on the medical condition you may be declined coverage, issued a policy with a waiver/exclusion for the pre-existing condition(s) or issued with an increased premium. Even a combination of the latter two is possible. This can be avoided if you apply now so you can have the protection you need later. A policy with an option that will allow you to purchase additional coverage in the future regardless of health and can be established to fit any budget. A graded premium structure can also be used for someone 35 or under to reduce the initial premium outlay for residents and medical students.

Below are some examples of the starting benefit amount a military physician/dentist can qualify for based on insurable income:

There is no better time than now to establish the type of policy you need to protect your medical or dental career in the event of disability. Thank you for your service commitment, and we look forward to helping you with this valuable protection.

DI4MDS – Andy Borgia, CLU and D.K. Unger – www.DI4MDS.com

info@di4mds.com
858-523-7529

(Note – I receive no compensation if you use DI4MDs.com. I just post the info because it is helpful, and they are the company that got me my DI policy.)