Nobody’s Bulletproof

A year ago I had a fifty year old doctor with a huge lucrative general practice go out on total disability from a severe shoulder injury. Three years ago, another client in a multi-doctor specialty practice, suffered a nervous breakdown and was forced to retire prematurely. And just a month ago, another relatively young dentist had to sell his practice because of early onset Parkinson-like tremors.

In each of these unfortunate situations, the interactions and communications between the doctor and the disability insurance companies has been a nightmare. The fine print in the policies and the “definition” of disability becomes contentious. In each of these three cases, we have had to resort to hiring expert legal advice to force payment from the companies. It appears the insurance company is very happy to take your premium dollars year after year, but then do everything possible to embarrass you and discredit and contest a legitimate claim. You in fact become the enemy.

The statistics say that dentists at age 35 face almost a one in four chance of suffering a disability lasting 90 days or longer at some point in their career. It is imperative to seek expert advice when you purchase your disability coverage. These real life situations have taught me the value of the necessity to coordinate the benefits from multiple policies, and perhaps consider legal advice from disability experts other than the insurance agents who sell you the policies. And don’t overlook the tax advantages of purchasing the policies personally rather than through your dental company so that the disability dollars are tax free.