Disability protection for the short-term, otherwise known as STD, is a product offered by employers to provide income replacement for, as the name says it short periods of time, typically for 180 days or less.  Most minor injuries or illnesses that would not commonly qualify for a Long Term Disability, LTD, claim would then qualify.   When you consider that most of minor injuries or ailments that result in a claim are resolved in short periods of time, the out of pocket expense to own this policy is very costly.

For medical professionals, this sort of protection is typically not needed because of employment agreements and usually your employer will continue to pay you from 90 to 180 days.  When you are self-employed going without this type of protection is fine if you know you have receivables coming in the door for up to 180 days.

The one exception, to which I would recommend short-term disability income protection, is if you are a female professional and you intend to have children.  Depending on how long you plan to take maternity leave or what your employment contract states (if not self-employed), this type of policy might be beneficial.  However, the premiums can be quite high relative to other types of income protection.  The only way to determine if it is appropriate is a premium versus benefit analysis.  A professional specializing in disability insurance should be able to provide you with this and offer suggestions as to which direction to go.

Whether choosing Short or Long Term Disability income protection, making certain you are aware of the pros and cons to the many options available is both fiscally and intellectually wise.  Consulting an income protection specialist can provide you with the comfort and knowledge that you are getting the right protection.

Stacia Musleh

V.P.  Income Protection Specialist

While sitting here trying to get over my writers block, I began to wonder about the possible topics for this blog.  Of the numerous thoughts came to mind there was one that seemed to stick out above the rest, women and disability insurance as part of their overall risk management portfolio.  According to Pew Research, women account for almost half of the U.S. Labor force today that’s around 47%.  The employment rate of married mothers with children has increased from 37% in 1968 to 65% in 2011.  In another research that was gathering data on the percentage of Women graduating from medical school the findings showed much the same.  As of 2005, women accounted for 47.1% of all medical school graduates.  That was a large part of the medical population as of 10 years ago.  The stats are bound to be better today.  Many of these women have gotten married and now have children, which puts them into the Pew Research statistics.  This only drives home the point that the need for income protection where working mothers who are also physicians are concerned.

Think about your family structure as a finely tuned piece of medical equipment.  Each part takes on an independent role but one cannot work effectively or possibly at all without the other.  As a working mother myself, I am acutely aware of what can happen if a disability were to occur and how it would affect the family machine. Not only the obvious roadblocks such who is going to run the general errands or get the kids to their designated activities but the most crucial aspect of losing a chunk of money because your half of the in-come is not coming-in (little pun there).   When you think about your family in this way, it only illuminates the reality of what could happen to your lifestyle if part of the earning power was out of service.  Protecting your income is just as important to the overall stability of your family machine as college education planning for your children.

Maybe you are married or maybe you are not.  You might be just entering your career in medicine or perhaps you are already established, either way as a women you need to make certain that your number one asset (your ability to provide) is secure and protected.

Stacia Musleh

V.P. Income Protection Specialist.com

In the event of a disability your income stops but your bills don’t.  This is also true of your student loans which in the medical field can amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars. There are special disability protection programs available to cover those expenses.   Guardian Life Insurance offers one such program which is available to physicians, dentists, medical and dental residents, veterinarians, attorneys, and pharmacists.  It covers up to 100% of your monthly student loan payment in the event of a total disability to a maximum of $2000.

You will need to purchase or already own a disability policy in order to get this coverage.  Berkshire/Guardian requires that you have their ProVider Plus coverage.  This is a premier product offering true own-occupation definition.  True own-occupation states that “the insured is totally disabled if, solely due to injury or sickness he/she is not able to perform the material and substantial duties of his/her occupation.”

There are many advantages to owning the student loan protection.  Primarily it is coverage that pays your loan obligation if you are totally disabled. The payments are made for you so you don’t have to write the checks. If you have more than one loan you can have a separate policy for each and when one is paid off you can discontinue that policy.  The Guardian product covers you up to $2000 and their application process is easy.

I am a great believer in covering all your bases.  Although having a student loan coverage policy is not imperative it is a available option that is in my opinion just plain smart.  Let’s face it life happens and if you are like the majority of students your loans are pretty substantial. A disability can cause financial ruin without the right protection.  Let your standalone disability policy provide you with the coverage you need to maintain your lifestyle and take a serious look into adding  student loan protection as a way to make sure your school loans are paid off.

Written by:

Stacia Musleh

Vice President, Income Protection Specialist

There is nothing more damning to a financial plan than the 3 D’s: Death, Divorce and of course Disability. This is why insurance was invited, to protect you from two of these. Specifically in the disability insurance world, plans were originally designed to take care of your immediate needs such as mortgage payments and  monthly expense usually up to your 65th birthday. However, this poses a perplexing question; When totally disabled how will you fund your retirement account so that you can survive after age 65? The unfortunate truth is that contributions to these plans typically cease when you stop working, ie when you become totally disabled.  Recognizing this problem and the need for an immediate solution,  many of the top disability insurance carriers went to the drawing board in order to develop a solution. The final products are called by many names but essentially make retirement contributions in addition to your total disability payment when totally disabled.

These riders or stand alone policy’s are designed to help replace up to 100% of retirement plan contributions that would have been made to your eligible retirement program. Its  important to note these riders are not retirement plans, nor substitutes for them.  They are simply another insurance policy/rider designed to pay benefits to an account for your future retirement. For more information this or other similar policies, I suggest you contact one of our Specialists for a complementary consultation.

By: Kyle Musleh

VP of Operations

Income Protection Specialist.com

There is nothing more controversial in disability insurance than the benefits and drawbacks of uni-sex rates and guarantee issue programs. Advisors go round and round with each other about their stance on these plans. The intention of this blog is not to bash nor commend either program but rather display information allowing the reader to determine whether or not these tools are right for them.  Let’s start off with the basic definitions of each:

Guarantee Issue Programs (not to be mistake for Guarantee insurability or Guarantee increase) are a marketing strategy created by insurance companies to entice applicants with policies that are issued to without a medical examination or any questions asked.

Uni-sex Discounts are also a marketing tool. These “discounts” provide a single rate based on age and occupation class given to all applicants, regardless of sex, at massive teaching institutions and hospitals.

The most natural question at this point in time is, do these programs really benefit all that apply? The truth is, they do not and can be more harmful than good to some applicants.  Below is a breakdown of Program benefits and Drawbacks:

Guarantee Issue Programs – These programs are great for those individuals who have significant medical histories, or are on prescription drugs for ongoing medical and mental conditions. But if you are healthy, going through individual underwriting is most likely your best option.  Guarantee Issue programs are typically offered by smaller companies, who want to claim a larger market share, in turn accepting risk they normal would have declined.  A single Disability claim could amount to $10 million or more. Taking on bad medical risk can tie up a considerable amount of assets for a small insurer, thus putting healthy clientele in a risky situation. The purpose of insurance is risk avoidance, but Guarantee issue programs are in direct conflict with this mission.

Uni-sex Discounts – As stated above they provide a single rate for both sexes dependent solely upon age and occupation classification. Actuarially, women are viewed as a greater risk to insurers than their male counterparts. This is because women inherently have more opportunities to make claims, including pregnancy, menopause, post menopause, hysterectomies etc.  Thus a woman’s premiums are 40% to 50 %  higher than that of a man’s.  For this reason, Insurance companies decided that designing a program that lowered women’s rates A.K.A a Uni-sex discount would help them attract women to their company. While women’s rates decrease, Uni-sex programs do have a catch. Women’s savings are offset by the increases in cost faced by men. This increase helps the Insurer establish a rate to maintain profitability.

There are more to these programs than most people realize.  To recap; guarantee issue programs are great for people who have a significant medical condition but terrible for healthy applicants. Furthermore Uni-sex rates are wonderful for women but they do come at a significant cost for male applicants. If ever presented with these strategies by your advisor be wary, make sure you read up on the company, its programs and get a second opinion from a Specialist.  For more information on Disability insurance or Financial Planning topics for the Medical Professional visit Income Protection Specialist.com.

By Kyle E. Musleh

V.P. of Operations

Income Protection Specialist.com

In one of our recent blogs we spoke about general exclusions for disability policies including the acts of war declared or undeclared. Our brief synopsis of the acts of war exclusion sparked a lot of questions from medical professionals in the military. So to  enlighten subject as it relates to disability coverage we decided it would be a good idea to write a blog  for military doctors.

As stated above, the first and most important point to understand  is that acts or accidents of war will not be covered. What this means is if you become disabled due to an injury or sickness during any military activities, including drills and combat, the insurance company will not pay a claim. This  is standard for ALL insurers. However, many companies take this exclusion to the next level, and automatically suspend your professional disability coverage while on the active duty regardless of if you are paying the premium or not, eliminating all risk.

There are still options. Currently, one A+ and one A rated Insurance Company gives you the option to suspend your policy while fulfilling your military commitment as a medical professional. It is not a mandate and thus allows you to keep your policy in force covering you for accidents, sicknesses, or injuries that occur. Such protection  insures that your hard work and sacrifices to become a medical professional were not in vain. Though it is true that the acts of war exclusion will limit the coverage to non-military claims, some coverage is better than none at all.

Remember a disability policy could be worth upwards of $10 million to you! Please read your policies carefully and if needed ask a specialist for a second opinion. Feel free to contact Income Protection Specialist.com with regards to this subject matter or any other disability insurance questions. Additionally, we at Income Protection Specialist.com would like to take this time to thank all of our Veterans and current Troops for their service to our country.

Perhaps you have considered participating in a missionary program such as Doctors without Borders, or an assigned position abroad.  It is important that you understand that traveling outside the United States for a prolonged period of time can affect both your insurability and your benefits. We are blessed in the United States with modern medicine, technology and infrastructure this however is not the case for many countries.  For this reason insurance companies view travel abroad as risky and as such they grade countries by the perceived risk faced by American travelers.

Recently one of our young clients had accepted a position in an African Hospital as a prolonged sabbatical from her residency program. She had approached us wanting purchase more life insurance. After a lengthy conversation with her preferred insurance company, we had to break the unfortunate news to this young woman that the insurance company considers her uninsurable until her safe return. As far as the insurance company was concerned any country within the African Content poses too high of a risk for an American, warranting their refusal to provide her with coverage.

In a related situation a gentleman approached us to review his group disability policy to ensure he was covered for similar activities. After reviewing his policy we had to inform him that under his current plan, any claim made abroad would not be covered.

These situations illustrate the two important points:

• Make  sure you do your homework, understand what you are purchasing and what is covered under your disability policy
• Seek assistance from a Specialist before engaging in a dangerous, or potentially risky activities so that they can advise you appropriately

As Specialist Protecting Doctors Incomes since 1987 we are looking out for you and your dreams. For more interesting articles please visit our website incomeprotectionspecialist.com.