All Branch Topic (ABT) Disability insurance for military dentists

[drill-and-fill]

Hi all. I read from somewhere on here that if we want to have a disability insurance other than the craptastic one offered by the VA, we have to purchase it before we go active duty, i.e. when we are still in dental school? Can anyone shed any light on this? Thank you

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[Nat426]

Yes, before you have your written orders you should be looking into this. The Standard is the only company I have seen write a policy that will cover you during your active duty time. All other companies will suspend your coverage during active duty time. This was all true last year when the guys in the class ahead of me went active duty, could have changed since then.

 

[drill-and-fill]

I see... so you can't sign up for one once you're in active duty?

 

[coolslugs]

Things have changed, many companies will no longer cover active duty or suspend policies. Mass Mutual will also cover you while on active duty.

 

[drill-and-fill]

Ok so Mass Mutual and the Standard are the two companies that will cover us while we are active duty... good to know, thank you for the info.

 

[Hedgy]

If you are disabled while on AD you most likely will qualify for Veterans' Disability which may/may not be a good thing. To be honest, I wouldn't do it. It's based on last 2 years income, so it won't be that substantial a benefit (generally 2/3s what you earn and non-taxable). It's expensive and may be better to look at when you earning more, like as an 05/06.

 

[drill-and-fill]

I see, so it wouldn't do much good for me if I signed up right after dental school... Still, I heard that I won't be able to sign up once I go active duty so the only time where I could sign up would be while I'm still in dental school, right? Or can I still sign up later once I'm active duty?

 

[Hedgy]

I see, so it wouldn't do much good for me if I signed up right after dental school... Still, I heard that I won't be able to sign up once I go active duty so the only time where I could sign up would be while I'm still in dental school, right? Or can I still sign up later once I'm active duty?

I still don't see why it would be an issue while on AD. They said I would not qualify for life insurance while active duty other than the SGLI, but I had no trouble getting it through USAA (and I got 30 year term for cheaper than 20 year term from other companies). I'd check into them for disability while on AD.

P.S. I do not work for USAA, but I've had really good luck with them with car, life, and homeowner's ins.

I'm not sure about anyone else on here, but I don't know of any dentist that had disability ins while in the service.

 

[drill-and-fill]

Thank you for your insight Hedgy! I'll surely look into that later. I'm interested in getting a disability ins in the navy because a) I'll probably make a career out of the navy since by the time I'm done with my HPSP obligation I will have 10 yrs of service (prior enlisted) and b) I'm an accident prone guy so I'll probably need some sort of ins in case something happens : )

 

[MD Financial Services Scott]

For the best contracts you will need to get it done before you get out of training and head into AD. USAA is a great carrier but they don't offer Disability insurance any longer and in fact over the years had outsourced it to other carriers for them to hold the risk. Let me know if you need any further help.

 

[kdentg]

I was talking to a disability insurance broker and none of the plans she had were available until after my military obligation. I was told I had to wait until I got out of the service to get my disability insurance...

I'm accident-prone and do activities where I could possible injure myself. So if I can get a good disability insurance plan before I head to AD this summer, that'd be ideal.

 

[ongoingdat]

I was talking to a disability insurance broker and none of the plans she had were available until after my military obligation. I was told I had to wait until I got out of the service to get my disability insurance...

I'm accident-prone and do activities where I could possible injure myself. So if I can get a good disability insurance plan before I head to AD this summer, that'd be ideal.

 

[ongoingdat]

You can get DI before

 

[ongoingdat]

You can apply for DI before you receive your written order. I got through Standards last year. There are 3 company out there that you can still get disability insurance while you are in AD.

Standard
Mass Mutual
Ameritas

 

[Tirekicker]

Anyone care to go into the specifics of their coverage? Are you covered on AD or are your benefits suspended until you separate from the military? I spoke to an agent last month and he didn't think any companies would cover me while I'm in (though he really didn't seem like he knew for certain).

I am graduating in May and am going into the Army this summer (direct commission). I plan on being in for at least 10 years (PSLF), maybe longer. I'm hoping the agent I spoke to was misinformed, and based on the previous comments this seems to be the case. Is there a certain company that anyone (or any of your colleagues) can recommend that provides DI coverage on AD?

@The White Coat Investor @krmower @AirborneDentist @vellnueve

 

[vellnueve]

That's what the VA is for.

 

[MD Financial Services Scott]

Anyone care to go into the specifics of their coverage? Are you covered on AD or are your benefits suspended until you separate from the military? I spoke to an agent last month and he didn't think any companies would cover me while I'm in (though he really didn't seem like he knew for certain).

I am graduating in May and am going into the Army this summer (direct commission). I plan on being in for at least 10 years (PSLF), maybe longer. I'm hoping the agent I spoke to was misinformed, and based on the previous comments this seems to be the case. Is there a certain company that anyone (or any of your colleagues) can recommend that provides DI coverage on AD?

@The White Coat Investor @krmower @AirborneDentist @vellnueve

You can buy the coverage while not active duty but all of the big 7 carriers will suspend premiums due and coverage while deployed.

 

[Incis0r]

You can buy the coverage while not active duty but all of the big 7 carriers will suspend premiums due and coverage while deployed.

Do assignments overseas and on a carrier count as deployments in the eyes of an insurance company? Or are deployments actually setting foot in a combat zone?

 

[MD Financial Services Scott]

Any active duty actually suspends the policy, it does not matter where that active duty happens. My opinion is to buy the policy, lock it down, if you go active duty then suspend the policy thus the premiums. By doing this you lock in your age now vs. sometime in the future (disability rates increase at about 5-8% per year until a contract is locked down), you also are then not subject to new underwriting upon discharge since you are just simply re-activating a policy. It is a great way to get a quality contract, lowest price and then control it post active duty without regards to medical changes.

 

[2th Doc]

Just as a point of discussion, I'm currently working with a MassMutual agent who stated and showed me information stating we can pay premiums and be covered while on AD, can optionally suspend for up to 5 years if we don't want the double coverage, and will be mandatorily suspended while deployed to a war zone. Seems like a pretty decent offering from what I can tell, with the majority of the riders you'd want, for a fair price.

 

[wookiee]

Sorry to revive this thread, but I'm wondering if there is anyone on here who has gotten disability insurance through Mass Mutual before active duty.

I'm currently talking with two advisors from different companies (a local company and a national company) about the EXACT SAME Mass Mutual policy. One is about $15 more per month. The advisor offering the more expensive one (from the local company) claims that Mass Mutual doesn't offer any sort of discounted rates for military policies, while the advisor offering the cheaper policy (from the national company) claims that Mass Mutual does in fact offer discounts regardless of if you're military or not, but they're only offered through certain companies, i.e. his company.

I'm going to try to speak with someone from Mass Mutual directly on Monday to try to get to the bottom of this, but I don't know if that's something that a random phone support agent would be able to answer. I'm wondering if anyone on here has any guidance, or has received discounted rates for their DI policies while in the military.

 

[distressstudent]

Any active duty actually suspends the policy, it does not matter where that active duty happens. My opinion is to buy the policy, lock it down, if you go active duty then suspend the policy thus the premiums. By doing this you lock in your age now vs. sometime in the future (disability rates increase at about 5-8% per year until a contract is locked down), you also are then not subject to new underwriting upon discharge since you are just simply re-activating a policy. It is a great way to get a quality contract, lowest price and then control it post active duty without regards to medical changes.

I am talking to some disability insurance agent, and they told me I have to be on their plan for at least 1 year before AD in order for me to lock in my age and would suspend my premiums until I discharge.

How common is that in the industry? I can't really find the written terms for it, so I don't know if I am being lied to or not by the agent.

 

[MD Financial Services Scott]

I am talking to some disability insurance agent, and they told me I have to be on their plan for at least 1 year before AD in order for me to lock in my age and would suspend my premiums until I discharge.

How common is that in the industry? I can't really find the written terms for it, so I don't know if I am being lied to or not by the agent.

That is not common, not sure which carrier he is talking about but most just state you have to make the first payment which is 1 month but that is it. We do it all the time for our clients because it is a great thing to lock in age and health before AD.

 

[MD Financial Services Scott]

Sorry to revive this thread, but I'm wondering if there is anyone on here who has gotten disability insurance through Mass Mutual before active duty.

I'm currently talking with two advisors from different companies (a local company and a national company) about the EXACT SAME Mass Mutual policy. One is about $15 more per month. The advisor offering the more expensive one (from the local company) claims that Mass Mutual doesn't offer any sort of discounted rates for military policies, while the advisor offering the cheaper policy (from the national company) claims that Mass Mutual does in fact offer discounts regardless of if you're military or not, but they're only offered through certain companies, i.e. his company.

I'm going to try to speak with someone from Mass Mutual directly on Monday to try to get to the bottom of this, but I don't know if that's something that a random phone support agent would be able to answer. I'm wondering if anyone on here has any guidance, or has received discounted rates for their DI policies while in the military.

Most likely it is due to the place of employment where you are at the time. Calling Mass will probably be a big waste of time since the discount codes are kept in the policy issue department and they don't openly share those with just anyone not even if you are a Mass mutual rep. I would ask a more direct question of exactly how is that a discount, is it tied to your military, hospital, residency, med school, etc. It sounds like you want to work with the local rep so have them do some homework and find out how to get you a discount, they should be able to obtain one pretty easy.