Disability Insurance

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hunterjumper14

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Hi all,

Incoming ortho intern, here. I just got a quote for disability insurance today (in addition to the GME coverage offered through my program) and it was a bit of a kick in the gut. $100/month for $3K/month coverage. With my budget already planned down to the dollar this premium is more than I was anticipating. I have no experience in this area, but I suppose it makes sense that it is more expensive than a medical specialty... I assume I can "shop around" for some other quotes. I'm just hoping to get a sense of how reasonable this premium is. Because it could be crazy cheap or way too expensive and I'd have no idea at this point.

Thanks in advance!

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Hi all,

Incoming ortho intern, here. I just got a quote for disability insurance today (in addition to the GME coverage offered through my program) and it was a bit of a kick in the gut. $100/month for $3K/month coverage. With my budget already planned down to the dollar this premium is more than I was anticipating. I have no experience in this area, but I suppose it makes sense that it is more expensive than a medical specialty... I assume I can "shop around" for some other quotes. I'm just hoping to get a sense of how reasonable this premium is. Because it could be crazy cheap or way too expensive and I'd have no idea at this point.

Thanks in advance!

I pay $105 a month for $5k. This varies, of course, based on health and age. These people will start to hit you up more and more once you start residency, so definitely be sure to read up on different policies. White Coat Investor has some great info.
 
Hi all,

Incoming ortho intern, here. I just got a quote for disability insurance today (in addition to the GME coverage offered through my program) and it was a bit of a kick in the gut. $100/month for $3K/month coverage. With my budget already planned down to the dollar this premium is more than I was anticipating. I have no experience in this area, but I suppose it makes sense that it is more expensive than a medical specialty... I assume I can "shop around" for some other quotes. I'm just hoping to get a sense of how reasonable this premium is. Because it could be crazy cheap or way too expensive and I'd have no idea at this point.

Thanks in advance!
Hey man. Also don't know anything about insurance. For me, I used this really good online marketplace thing my friend told me about for comparing doctor disability insurance. It gives some pretty good quotes and this kinda solves the problem of not knowing what to compare it to, because the marketplace thing basically gives me a bunch of quotes to compare at once. Made it a heck of a lot easier. Maybe it'll help. Physician disability insurance quotes | Compare best rates | LeverageRx
 
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Hey man. Also don't know anything about insurance. For me, I used this really good online marketplace thing my friend told me about for comparing doctor disability insurance. It gives some pretty good quotes and this kinda solves the problem of not knowing what to compare it to, because the marketplace thing basically gives me a bunch of quotes to compare at once. Made it a heck of a lot easier. Maybe it'll help. Physician disability insurance quotes | Compare best rates | LeverageRx

Not everyone going into ortho is a man ;)

Thanks for the resource, though. This helped me get in contact with an insurance agent that was able to answer all my questions. :thumbup:
 
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Not everyone going into ortho is a man ;)

Thanks for the resource, though. This helped me get in contact with an insurance agent that was able to answer all my questions. :thumbup:
There are 6 companies today that have a true own specialty definition of disability, just make sure you look at all 6, level premiums, step rated premiums and graded (increasing) premiums along with resident discounts.
 
Paying $134/mo for 5k/mo DI with all the riders I want (ortho intern on the West Coast). Make sure you use a good independent disability agent as they will essentially apply discounts to all the big companies policies and they have to be smart/know enough to apply the correct discounts to get you the best rate.
 
Paying $134/mo for 5k/mo DI with all the riders I want (ortho intern on the West Coast). Make sure you use a good independent disability agent as they will essentially apply discounts to all the big companies policies and they have to be smart/know enough to apply the correct discounts to get you the best rate.
That is not a bad rate depending on your age and design factors.
 
you eventually want own occupation insurance by one of the elite companies (berkshire hathaway etc). there are only two that currently provide true own-occ policies. they are not cheap, i bought mine towards the end of residency.

insurance is for the things in life you can't replace. if you become disabled you cannot replace your years spent in training. protect your investment.
 
you eventually want own occupation insurance by one of the elite companies (berkshire hathaway etc). there are only two that currently provide true own-occ policies. they are not cheap, i bought mine towards the end of residency.

insurance is for the things in life you can't replace. if you become disabled you cannot replace your years spent in training. protect your investment.
Warren B. would not like it if he thought he was in the disability insurance business....Berkshire Life is not Berkshire Hathaway at all. The Big companies that offer an Own Specialty Definition of Disability are Standard, Berkshire Life/Guardian, Ameritas, Principal, Mass Mutual, and Ohio National. In some states certain companies don't do business in other states certain companies don't have a true own specialty definition of disability so it really does come down to location as to what is available to you.
 
Warren B. would not like it if he thought he was in the disability insurance business....Berkshire Life is not Berkshire Hathaway at all. The Big companies that offer an Own Specialty Definition of Disability are Standard, Berkshire Life/Guardian, Ameritas, Principal, Mass Mutual, and Ohio National. In some states certain companies don't do business in other states certain companies don't have a true own specialty definition of disability so it really does come down to location as to what is available to you.
@MD Financial Services Scott does Northwestern Mutual no longer write "own specialty" policies?
 
Warren B. would not like it if he thought he was in the disability insurance business....Berkshire Life is not Berkshire Hathaway at all. The Big companies that offer an Own Specialty Definition of Disability are Standard, Berkshire Life/Guardian, Ameritas, Principal, Mass Mutual, and Ohio National. In some states certain companies don't do business in other states certain companies don't have a true own specialty definition of disability so it really does come down to location as to what is available to you.

sorry for that. thanks for clarifying. yes berkshire life. northwestern was the other one that i was told had the only legit own-occ policies left. at least with respect to credible companies. i'm sure there are others as you've pointed out.
 
sorry for that. thanks for clarifying. yes berkshire life. northwestern was the other one that i was told had the only legit own-occ policies left. at least with respect to credible companies. i'm sure there are others as you've pointed out.
Just so you know Northwestern actually does Not have a own occupation definition that would pay 100% of the benefit if you can't do your specialty and are off doing another occupation that makes the same money or more than you were making. They have what we call an income protection plan rather than an Own Occupation/Own Specialty plan. If you can't do your specialty with them they will pay 100% of your benefit assuming you are not doing any other occupation and making less than 20% of your pre-disability income.
 
@MD Financial Services Scott does Northwestern Mutual no longer write "own specialty" policies?
Correct, they stopped writing them in about 1998-2000 depending on where you live. They developed another "medical occupation" definition Title. The way you can make your way through the weeds when talking to a rep is to simply ask the question of "If I can't do my specialty in Medicine but I post my disability became X (I like to use book author like J.K. Rowling) making millions, how much does my policy pay in benefits for me NOT being able to do my Medical Specialty which is why I bought that policy"? What you will typically find is the rep will start to talk about how that 'really is not a possibility' and that 'why would you want to start a different occupation', so on and so on. Right now there are only 6 companies that have that Specialty language since MetLife stopped writing new disability insurance business as of September 1 2016.
 
Correct, they stopped writing them in about 1998-2000 depending on where you live. They developed another "medical occupation" definition Title. The way you can make your way through the weeds when talking to a rep is to simply ask the question of "If I can't do my specialty in Medicine but I post my disability became X (I like to use book author like J.K. Rowling) making millions, how much does my policy pay in benefits for me NOT being able to do my Medical Specialty which is why I bought that policy"? What you will typically find is the rep will start to talk about how that 'really is not a possibility' and that 'why would you want to start a different occupation', so on and so on. Right now there are only 6 companies that have that Specialty language since MetLife stopped writing new disability insurance business as of September 1 2016.
Thanks for the detailed reply. Luckily we bought ours before then and have kept them current.
 
Thanks for the detailed reply. Luckily we bought ours before then and have kept them current.
As long as you don't have their ARDI series where the rates go up each year then you should be in good shape with a premium of $3k +/- annually per $10k of benefit since those policies were bought in the 1990's.
 
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