A dentist disability insurance policy is a must have for any dentist looking to secure their income. These plans come in many variations and can be tailored to suit your personal needs. Disability insurance for dentists is available as individual, group, supplemental, or business coverage. For some dentists, one policy may cover all of his or her needs. For those with large (defined as revenue, as the total number of employees, or both) practices, it may be necessary to purchase additional policies to cover all exposed risks. Please contact us today or complete the quote request on the left side of this page.
Financial experts agree that if someone should suffer a disability, and unable to return to work for a period of time, they will need about 65% of their monthly income to avoid financial problems.
This amount is also needed to ensure these high-income earners can maintain their current lifestyle.
Types of Dentist Disability Insurance Policies
First off, it is important to understand what types of policies are available to dentists.
Individual Disability Insurance For Dentists
Most dentists are self-employed and have their own practice. This means you probably have a primary disability insurance plan already in
force. If not, this is the first step in protecting your most valuable asset: your future income. If you don’t have a long-term individual disability insurance policy, then you should secure one immediately. An individual plan is the first line of defense against a sickness or injury that prevents you from practicing dentistry. It will replace up to 60%-65% of your income, tax-free, up to a certain amount (normally 17k-20k). If you don’t already have one of these disability insurance policies, we can help.
Your practice may be large enough to qualify for a group policy. Known as GSI or guaranteed standard issue, this policy is ideal for groups of 5-10+ employees/owners. These policies have very little underwriting which allows for those with health conditions to qualify and often have substantial pricing discounts.
Unfortunately, guaranteed standard issue plans often have predetermined benefits and shorter benefit periods, which isn’t ideal for a dentist trying to protect his or her future income.
If you already have an individual plan, then what needs to be determined in your primary dentist disability insurance policy are the limits put on the plan.
Review your policy:
What is the maximum dollar benefit payout allowed?
What percentage of your income is covered and are you at 65%?
Any exclusions for health or a high-risk avocation?
Do you have own-occupation coverage?
If you find you are underinsured, a supplemental dental disability insurance plan can fill these gaps in your existing plan.
Supplemental Dentist Disability Insurance Policies
What if 20k per month isn’t enough? Some dental practices make much more than 370k annually (the amount where you’ll likely be capped out in a traditional individual disability insurance policy) and those top-performing dentists have a lifestyle that reflects their success. To protect that additional excess income, purchasing a supplemental dentist disability insurance policy is highly recommended.
Like your personal policy, the definitions of disability play a role in the proper design of your policy.
There are two classifications of disability insurance for all occupations. Own-occupation means you will receive payments if you are disabled as long as you cannot perform your occupation. Any-occupation insurance means that the insurance company will pay but only if you cannot perform any occupation.
Our supplemental dentist disability insurance plans are built around the own-occupation definition of disability.
Dental Disability Business Policies
Besides protecting your income through a group, individual, or supplemental disability insurance policy (or a combination of the three), most dental practices will want to consider business coverage.
These plans can also be used for:
Key Person (such as a non-partner, high-earning dentist)
Buy-Sell Agreements
Loan and Lease indemnification
Business Overhead Expense ( BOE)
If you’re a sole practitioner, having business overhead expense (BOE) is critical. Between property costs, equipment leases, and staffing requirements, a dental practice is an expensive business to run. If you cannot run your practice for an extended period of time, how will those bills get paid?
BOE helps pay for those expenses should the insured be unable to work in their profession due to sickness or injury. Typically lasting a few years, business overhead expense policies are designed to keep the business afloat while the insured recovers or if recovery is not possible, then allow for them to sell it.
If you’re in a partnership, with multiple practicing dentists and hygienists, then having key person or a disability buy/sell will become very important. These policies provide the funding to buy out a disabled dentist and allow the business to maintain continuity and avoid disruption.
High-Risk Policies
Sometimes, it is impossible to secure a traditional policy due to what the carriers define as “high-risk”. We help dentists secure coverage in those situations as well.
Travel
If you or a business partner travel and do charity work in war zones or other high-risk countries, we offer kidnapping insurance. Click HERE for more information.
Avocation
Involved in a high-risk avocation such as scuba diving, private pilot, motorsport racing, etc? We can include or exclude avocations in your dentist disability insurance plan.
Health/Age
Health problems? We can customize the plan to address most health issues.
Advanced Age? Some carriers will decline someone due to their age. If so, we can help.
At www.highincomeprotection.com, we specialize in dentist disability insurance. We offer plans through all of the major carriers and Petersen International, a coverholder for Lloyd’s of London. We work with you to find the perfect disability insurance for a dentist policy.
If you have any questions about dental disability insurance or if there is any way we can serve you, please contact us today for a confidential conversation about your needs. You can call us toll-free at 888-636-2310 or use our contact form to make a request.