Disability insurance help needed

[chrisg202]

I would appreciate an advice please.

I'm a cardiology fellow and I was notified that disability insurance premium will be increasing soon by 25%-30% as MetLife won't be available anymore.

I am still going for interventional cardiology so i've few more years in training with a fellow salary.

- Is it true that it will be more expensive to get a disability insurance in the next few months, and it's better to get it now?

- Dos it make any difference if I'm a cardiology fellow vs. interventional cardiology fellow in term of premium?

Thank you

 

[Scott at MD Financial Services]

It does make a difference with some carriers but not all of them based on cardiology vs. international.  Met has certainly been good to a number of sub-medical specialties but not all of them.  With Met rates depending upon what you want you can certainly still get a great deal being with Met or another carrier.  In this forum there are several qualified reps to help you out, all of which all will do you a fantastic job of representation.  Let us know if we can help.

[LBKCLU]

MetLife works extremely well for male, medical cardiologists as their policy places your medical specialty in their top occupation class, has no limitation for claims related to mental/nervous and/or substance abuse disorders and when the GIO Rider (future increase option) is exercised the rate book, contractual provisions and all discounts associated with the policy remain intact.

For those that are already Interventional Cardiology Fellows, depending upon your state of residence, Berkshire has a new policy series (ProVider Choice) that has very clear and concise wording in terms of the definition of total disability which states that "If Your Occupation is limited to a Medical Doctor or Doctor of Osteopathy and more than 50% of Income is earned from Hands-On Patient Care, We will consider You to be Totally Disabled even if You are Gainfully Employed in Your practice or another occupation so long as, solely due to Injury or Sickness, You are not able to provide Hands-on Patient Care.

OR

If Your Occupation is limited to a Medical Doctor or Doctor of Osteopathy and more than 50% of Income is earned from performing Surgical Procedures, We will consider You to be Totally Disabled even if You are Gainfully Employed in Your practice or another occupation so long as, solely due to Injury or Sickness, You are not able to perform Surgical Procedures.

While for some medical specialties this will not have a major impact, for those that are doing a combination of both medical and surgical duties, this is extremely favorable. An Interventional Cardiologist that is doing both the duties of a Medical Cardiologist and Interventional Cardiologist at the time of claim (fellowship trained and doing both) would be a great example. If their income from procedures was in excess of 50% they could continue to practice as a Medical Cardiologist in the SAME PRACTICE and still be considered totally disabled and continue to collect full disability insurance benefits!

[chrisg202]

Thanks a lot for the useful information

I appreciate it