Disability Insurance

This is the foundation of your policy. It states what is considered a disability, how long you need to be totally or partially disabled before you can receive benefits, usually referred to as a waiting period, and how long benefits will be paid for, usually called the benefit period.

This is an added feature to the base policy. While the base policy will usually consider you to be disabled if you can not work in your medical specialty, it will only continue to provide benefits as long as you are disabled AND not working in any capacity. The True Own Occupation Rider enhances this base definition and allows you to receive benefits for as long as you are disabled and not working in your particular specialty, even if you choose to work in another specialty or occupation.

For example, if you are an ER Physician who can no longer work in the ER due to an injury, you will receive your benefits for as long as you can not work as an ER Physician even if you decided to work in another occupation such as hospital administration.

This rider enhances the base definition and allows you to receive partial disability benefits once you begin losing 15-20% of time spent working in your specialty. It will also provide partial benefits once you begin losing 15-20% of your normal income due to disability. The benefits paid are usually a proportion of the amount being lost.

For example, if you are working 50% of your normal hours due to a disability, then you would receive 50% of your normal disability benefits. The same goes if you were losing 50% of your normal income due to a disability.

This rider allows you to increase your coverage in the future without having to re-qualify medically. You will simply need to provide proof of income to increase your coverage.

The Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) Rider will increase your monthly disability benefit by 3% each year that you are on a disability claim in order for your policy to maintain it's value against rising costs of living.

This rider will provide an additional benefit if your injury/illness prevents you from performing 2 out of the 6 activities of daily living (ADLs).

Some carriers offer riders that will reimburse student loan payments or retirement account contributions (including those made by your employer) in the event of a Disability.

Some carriers will offer other riders that can be added to your policy. Please feel free to ask if you have any questions about these.