Friday, February 3, 2017

Disability Insurance KY During Medical Residency

By Sarah Moore


Even with some employees, small business owners can still be seen as single person operations. This is so because no matter how much you pay someone to help you manage, market, or produce items for your small business, no one is as invested in its success and revenue generation as you are. If you should become ill, injured or otherwise unable to work for medical reasons, you may no longer be able to contribute to the success of your business. This is why all small business owners must invest in both short- and long-term disability insurance KY policies.

As a medical resident or fellow, you are likely to be in practice for over 30+ years, and likely will also maintain your dis-ability income coverage that long as well. It is therefore critical to be certain that the policy you purchase provides high quality income protection. Below are three questions that young physicians should ask before purchasing a Disability insurance policy.

The factor of age is simple - every year you delay purchasing Dis-ability insurance will cost you about a 4% increase in premiums. In other words, the cost of coverage will increase by about 3-4% each year you wait. If a Dis-ability policy will cost $1,000 per year today, in three years your premium will likely be about $1,125. Since Dis-ability insurance can be designed to maintain a level premium for the duration of the policy life, it is beneficial to purchase coverage at a young age in order to secure a lower premium, for your entire professional career.

One of most important benefits of having a D/I policy as a small business owner is that you can buy a policy with a looser definition of dis-ability than the SSA allows. The SSA considers individuals to be disabled when they're no longer able to conduct the duties of any occupation. With your individual dis-ability insurance policy, you can choose a definition of disability that is reflective only of your ability to do the work of your current occupation.

Often referred to as modified own-occupation, this definition refers to a person totally dis-abled if he/she is unable to perform the material duties of his occupation solely because of illness or injury and must not be gainfully employed. The second and more reputable definition, known as true own-occupation, considers an individual totally dis-abled if solely as a result illness or injury, he/she is not able to perform the material duties of his/her occupation, even if he/she is employed in a different occupation.

A third reason why residents should consider purchasing D/I during medical residency is in relation to the quality of coverage available on an individual basis versus that available with group coverage. Although it may be your good intention to purchase individual Dis-ability insurance once you leave residency and become an attending, you may no longer qualify for as much individual Dis-ability insurance as during residency.

You also get to determine your own limits when buying a D/I policy. You may not be able to get full income replacement from insurers but you may be able to replace up to 80 percent of your income. The closer you want your benefit to be in terms of your actual income, the higher your premium will be.

Does this policy include the necessary riders for my circumstances and future? There are many optional policy riders that can be included in one's dis-ability insurance contract. Policy riders are enhancements that aid in protecting against some additional level of risk associated with experiencing a long-term dis-ability. Young physicians that consider purchasing coverage during medical residency should be aware of three specific riders to include in their policy.




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