disability insurance
Guest Post – Critical Update: Disability Insurance Protection for Military Physicians and Dentists
As a military physician or dentist, you have the same valuable skillset that needs to be protected as your civilian counterparts. A recent change in the pricing for the most comprehensive plan makes establishing protection more urgent than ever.
Why Immediate Action is Critical
The only comprehensive “to age 65/67” own occupation disability insurance plan has recently reduced the available premium discount for dentists. While physicians can still obtain the higher discount, there is no guarantee that the higher discount will remain available to them. This development makes immediate action even more crucial for military physicians, who already face unique challenges:
- Military disability benefits only cover base pay, creating a significant protection gap
- The gap widens further for those who moonlight or plan to moonlight
- The military doesn’t provide own-occupation disability insurance
- Military separation physicals impair your ability to obtain coverage
- Your risk of becoming disabled and unable to practice your specialty triples between age 30 and 55
The Time to Act is Now
There is no advantage to waiting. In fact, delaying could cost you significantly:
- Your fixed/level rate is based on age when you start coverage, the older you are, the higher the rate will be, meaning the longer you wait to obtain coverage, the more you will pay for less total years of coverage.
- Due to required periodic health assessments, there is a higher likelihood that military physicians will be penalized based on discovery of medical conditions.
- Premium discounts may decrease or disappear
- If you receive orders for overseas deployment, you must wait until you are back in the US to establish coverage
Navigate the Complexity with Expert Guidance
Working with an experienced insurance broker is essential to:
- Understand which policy features fit best for your situation
- Navigate the underwriting process effectively
- Secure the most favorable rates and terms available
Take Action
Don’t risk the career you’ve worked so hard to build. Recent changes in the insurance marketplace make it more important than ever to secure comprehensive coverage while the best rates are still available.
Email DI4MDS today at info@di4mds.com or request your quote here to learn more and establish your personal disability insurance protection.
Thank you for your service
Andy G. Borgia CLU
DK Unger
10505 Sorrento Valley Rd #250
San Diego, Ca. 92121
858-523-7518
858-523-7511 after 5pm
fx.858-622-1883
Guest Post – Strategy for Establishing Disability Insurance for Military Physicians and Dentists
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:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
| Medical resident: | Active duty attending physician: | Active duty attending physician with moonlighting income: | |
| Base Pay: | $92,781/year | $97,536/year | $97,536/year |
| Save/specialty pay: | $8,000/year | $58,000/year | $58,000/year |
| Moonlighting pay: | – | – | $50,000/year |
| Total insurable pay: | $100,178 | $155,536 | $205,536 |
| Tax-free starting monthly disability insurance benefit: | $2,712 | $4,905 | $7,155 |
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.)
VA Disability Interaction With Disability Insurance Q&A
Someone emailed me and asked these questions, which I thought others could benefit from reading:
“How active should military doctors be about maximizing disability percentage at military separation? I think many military doctors view the disability payments as a sign of weakness or something to avoid (for example me I’m zero %), but the financial benefits of the high percentage disability are remarkable.
Are you aware of any resources that give tips to active duty doing what they need to do (documentation etc.) to ensure they are awarded a disability percentage commensurate with their disability? For doctors who plan to apply for private disability insurance (DI) after military separation, does a military disability rating hurt that application?”
Here was my answer:
“I think everyone should try to maximize their VA disability, but I don’t know how it might affect DI as a civilian. I CCed DI4MDs.com, and they’ll know.
I know service organizations assist with VA claims:
https://www.dav.org/get-help-now/va-benefits-help/
https://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/programs/benefits-services
https://www.vfw.org/assistance/va-claims-separation-benefits“
Here is what DI4MDs.com said:
“This is an excellent question and one that can create a problem and cause a loss of entitled benefits if not strategized for properly.
The main issues are military disability benefits are not based on a physician’s entire salary and a military physician will earn substantially more as a civilian and will need a higher level of disability insurance to protect that income. I agree with Joel that you should maximize your VA disability because any condition that would qualify for VA disability will be excluded with private disability insurance companies and may even result in a declination. Also, insurance companies have issue and participation limits for disability insurance and any VA disability benefits received will reduce dollar for dollar the amount of individual disability insurance you would otherwise qualify for based on income. A general rule is you can obtain 50% of your income with disability insurance minus any benefits received such as the VA. This is the calculation even though benefits for the condition you are receiving VA Disability for would be excluded.
A simple solution which we utilize to solve this lack of coverage is to obtain a disability policy while the military physician is young and healthy, usually early in their career, and include an increase option on the policy that guarantees when they need to increase coverage in the future such as when they complete their Military service, they can do so and have any conditions that have developed during their military career insured.
Be happy to assist any military physicians and thank you all for your service.”
Guest Post – The 2023 Update for Military Physicians’ Disability Insurance
The Holidays and 2022 are over and we are entering the time of year to take care of financial matters. For military physicians that means protecting their most important asset, the ability to practice their chosen specialty. The military does not provide disability insurance for active-duty physicians, only disability ratings that determine benefits for conditions that will make the physician unfit for duty and fulfill their military responsibilities, not their specific ability to practice their chosen medical specialty. Government benefits are determined by base pay only and do not include allowances, special or bonus pay. Adding in any civilian/moonlighting income increases this income protection gap. Fortunately for the astute military physician, there is a viable solution on the marketplace, an individual disability insurance policy. However, this may not be as easy to obtain as it appears.
When to establish coverage:
To qualify for coverage most insurance companies exclude active-duty physicians, individuals who have call-up orders, physicians who have received overseas deployment orders, physicians currently deployed outside the USA, medical
residents and fellows within six months of graduation from a civilian program who have a military pay back obligation, medical residents in a military residency or hospital, and medical students who have been accepted into a military residency or hospital program. In addition to these restrictions an individual needs to qualify medically. Even if you have the foresight to establish coverage prior to any of the restrictions mentioned there is a strong possibility that your policy will be suspended while you are on active duty and will provide no benefits in the event of disability during that time.
Fortunately, there are two insurance companies that will provide personal disability insurance for active-duty physicians, MassMutual and Lloyd’s. The MassMutual policy is the same as offered to non-active-duty physicians and is non- cancellable and guaranteed renewable which means the policy can never be cancelled by the insurance company except for premium non-payment, policy contractual provisions cannot be altered, nor can exclusions be added after the policy is in effect. Premiums are also guaranteed level/fixed to age 65. The policy will pay benefits if you are either totally or partially disabled in your medical specialty for the entire benefit period. In addition, you may increase the policy benefit while on active duty at regular intervals, and the policy can be continued after your military obligation is over. Significant premium discounts are also available and remain on the policy even after you leave the military. To establish coverage, you must qualify medically and have not received notice of overseas deployment or be currently stationed outside the USA. In most instances, an exam is not required but you will have your medical history reviewed.
The Lloyd’s policy has many of the same provisions, but the maximum time you can receive benefits is five years, and you must requalify medically every three to five years. However, you can still establish coverage even if you have received notice of deployment which provides a stopgap option until you return to the USA. Medical underwriting tends to be more lenient so many times this may be the only option if there are pre-existing health issues.
Your time is valuable, and it is critical that you have a specialized insurance agent guide you through the process and make recommendations based on expertise and experience. Feel free to contact us, we are here to help.
As always, thank you for your service.
Andy Borgia & DK Unger
DI 4 MDS
858-523-7518 / info@di4mds.com
Guest Post – Disability Insurance for Military Dentists
Disability insurance is critical and necessary for any professional. This is even more important for General Dentists. Statistics indicate that General Dentists are almost 20% more likely to experience a disability compared to dental specialists and 30% more likely than some physicians. As a result, one of the major disability insurance companies recently increased their rates for General Dentists due to past and expected future poor morbidity. Others are certain to follow. Dentistry requires finely tuned motor skills and being able to maintain the same position for long periods of time. This often leads to musculoskeletal disorders, which are the leading cause of disability. The time to protect your income with disability insurance is when you are young and healthy. Being in the military limits some options but there is a solution.
Active-duty military dentists are provided limited coverage from the VA disability program. The program doesn’t cover all components of pay, which means that a disability would significantly impair long term financial goals. The maximum VA disability payout is typically about half of base pay, and that’s assuming you are rated 100% disabled. Your retention pay, incentive pay, and any moonlighting pay are not protected.
MassMutual is the only insurance company that provides active duty dentists and dental specialists non-cancelable and guaranteed renewable specialty-specific / own occupation coverage. A premium discount is also available. If you are an inactive reserve at least 90 days out from going active, you can apply to a select few other insurance carriers, but there are limitations with those carriers; for example, requiring that the policy and coverage be suspended while you are on active duty.
It is important to note that dental specialties like Orthodontist, Periodontist, etc. as well as AEGD trained dentists pay a lower rate than General Dentists. If you plan on becoming a dental specialist, it might be more cost-effective to wait until you are in advanced training to apply for coverage. This may however be offset by having to pay a higher premium due to age as well as the possibility of a health change. An experienced agent will be able to run the numbers and determine whether it makes economic sense to wait or not. Generally, the sooner you establish coverage the better.
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 military dental 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 to guarantee the protection you need later. Don’t think that you must maximize your coverage right away. Obtaining what you can afford now will allow you to purchase what you need later. There are options you can add to your policy to guarantee you can increase your monthly benefit in the future regardless of health.
There is no better time than now to establish the type of policy you need to protect your dental career in the event of disability. Our contact info is:
Andy G. Borgia CLU
D.K. Unger
888-934-4637
Disability Insurance for Reservists
Here’s a link to this White Coat Investor article:
Guest Post – Military Physician Disability Insurance Enhancements
The only insurance company, Massachusetts Mutual, that will provide active duty military physicians and dentists individual specialty specific, non-cancellable, guaranteed renewable disability insurance coverage has announced some policy and underwriting enhancements to take effect at the end of April. Military physicians/dentists will be able to protect a larger amount of future income utilizing the Future Insurability Option (FIO) Rider. This Rider guarantees the ability to increase coverage in the future based on income regardless of health. This protects against adverse health changes being excluded from coverage. For policies with the Benefit increase Rider (BIR), instead of being limited to increasing coverage only every three years, “off anniversary” increases are allowed under certain circumstances. For example, when military service completes, or income increases significantly (30% or more).
The 24 month mental/nervous disorder maximum benefit period can be extended to age 65 or 67 for an additional 15% premium for all specialties except Anesthesiology, Pain Management and Emergency Medicine. These enhancements are available to new policies only. This is consistent with the discount for military physicians and dentists that Massachusetts Mutual announced last year and will remain in effect.
Disability insurance continues to be a foundational solution to protect military physicians, dentists, and their families by providing financial security not available elsewhere. One key factor to remember, the coverage CANNOT BE ESTABLISHED WHILE ON OVERSEAS DEPLOYMENT OR AFTER RECEIVING ORDERS TO DEPLOY OVERSEAS. For that reason, it is critical to contact us before you expect to receive orders.
*not available in California, District of Columbia, New York
Andy G Borgia CLU
D.K.Unger
Throwback Thursday Classic Post – My Guest Post on White Coat Investor – Disability Insurance for Military Physicians
Figured this is a good repeat due to the update we posted on Monday about disability insurance. Check out my guest post on the White Coat Investor site:
Guest Post: Important Update Regarding Disability Insurance for Active Duty Military Doctors and Dentists
[Editor’s Note: This is a guest post/update from the company that was able to get me supplemental disability insurance (DI), which can be a challenge when you are Active Duty. I have no current financial relationship with them and they did not pay for this post, although in the past I received some restaurant gift cards when referring people to them. I asked them to provide it so they could explain recent changes in the disability insurance market for Active Duty personnel. If you want to read about DI, you can go to my Personal Finance page or some other posts like this one or this one.]
As you are likely aware, as a physician/dentist, your greatest asset is your ability to practice your specialty. Military physicians and dentists are not completely protected in the event they become disabled. Those who are informed of this risk exposure have been able to insure themselves by establishing individual disability insurance. Currently, there are two companies offering specialty specific coverage to military physicians/dentists; MassMutual and Lloyd’s of London. Of the two, MassMutual is the only one which offers a non-cancelable and guaranteed renewable policy to age 65. This type of policy cannot be canceled by the company, have its premiums and/or contractual provisions modified, exclusions added, etc. This is the type of policy we recommend to all physicians and dentists regardless of military status. MassMutual has eliminated this policy’s availability in all states except the following:
- California
- New York
- Florida
- Connecticut
- Montana
If you reside in one of these states and wish to protect yourself by obtaining the type of policy that will protect your medical career in the event of disability while you are in the military and while you are out, it is highly advisable to act now. To protect your medical career in the event of disability, please contact us below:
Andy G. Borgia, CLU (andyb@di4mds.com)
D.K. Unger (dku@di4mds.com)
10505 Sorrento Valley Rd., # 250
San Diego, California 92121
888-934-4637
858-523-7511 after 5pm
858-622-1883 fax
Joel Schofer's Career Planning Blog 