Some Insurance carriers offer a graded price this makes coverage 40% less expensive now but you do not lock in your age or rate. For Example: If Dr. Patel buys $5,000 a month of disability insurance for $100 a month Level the price will never change. If Dr. Patel buys $5,000 graded the price is only $60 a month but now every year Dr. Patel ages the price will increase exponentially until it is leveled out. So if you wait two years to level out you might end up paying $120 a month to lock in the price. Even if you need to buy less to start you can always increase your coverage in the future so just make sure you never get trapped into a policy where the price can change. Treat it as if you were to get a loan from a bank fixed is always the safest and most reliable because there is zero chance of change.

There is a very important feature a Dentist/Dental Specialist needs to have in order to be protected with disability insurance. This feature is known as own occupation. If you become disabled with this feature you are then able to do any other job, make any level of income and the insurance company still has to pay you as if you are unable to do anything. Where this is important.. In Dental/Dental Specialty there is a lot of physical demanding labor to go to work. If one is disabled they may still want to teach dentistry or change from a specialist to a general dentist or from a clinical owner to a passive owner and hire an associate doctor to continue making a strong income. This feature protects you from not receiving payments if you can continue to work in another job within your field or another.

Companies will call this feature : Own Occupation , Regular Occupation , True Occupation or Pure Occupation. All are synonyms for the same thing just different for branding purposes. The only companies current that are known to offer this feature and have a strong financial rating are : MassMutual , Principal , Guardian and Ameritas.

All this means is that the insurance company is Guaranteeing the features of the plan. It grandfathers you into all of the riders/features that are purchased and their definitions even if the insurance company changes things in the future. This is very important as every few years contracts change so you want to make sure you never have to worry about those changes affecting your rates/payout or any other benefits in the insurance policy.

Another rider/feature that is crucial in building a dental specific disability plan. Partial disability allows the insured the get paid as long as they lose a minimum of typically 15-20% depending on which carrier they choose. As long as a loss in Wages/Time/Duties occurs the insured is then paid that portion of the benefit until their benefit period ends on the policy. 1 in 4 Dentist typically go on claim in their working career and most of these claims are muscle/skeletal claims (hands,neck,back). Given most claims are basic wear and tear they start out as partial claims and eventually turn into full payout/ total disability claims.

The increase option on the plan can go by many different names as listed above and each company has some little differentiation in how they work. On a basic level this feature allows the insured to increase their coverage without having to do the medical check again. This feature allows you to increase and keep the same rates, health and contract for your whole career which is probably the main reason anyone buys insurance in the first place. Locking in the discount is key as most dentists/dental specialists get preferred pricing if they buy as a student or resident in a program. The discounts are then locked into your contract even if you buy the most minimal amount of insurance. The main objective in buying insurance early is to buy enough coverage so that you can increase to the maximum level of coverage in the future so that way future health cannot prevent one from insuring their future needs.

Set at either 30, 60, 90 or 180 Days this is how long an insured must wait until they start receiving monthly benefits.

Set as low as 5yrs, 10yrs , until age 65, 67 or age 70 this is how long an insured is paid their monthly benefits.

There are some extra riders/features that come for free with each insurance company. There are also some features that you can buy with each company that we did not review. Typically when customizing your plan, your financial advisor will review all four of the approved plans and itemize the pros and cons of each one. There is no blanket best plan and no plan that pays better than another. Each plan has different advantages that may or may not matter to the insured. It is very important to review each company carefully and pick based on which one aligns best with your values and concerns.