Everything you need know about dentists disability insurance and how to find the best and most affordable dentist disability insurance

Like most members of other professions, dentists generally have insurance policies to protect their houses and cars and businesses, but far fewer have an insurance policy to protect something that is worth much, much more – the value of their future earnings. An accident or injury can lead to lost income, and that can lead to serious financial problems.

That’s where dental disability insurance comes in. These policies are designed to replace a part of your lost income when a disability strikes, and as a professional, there are several key factors that you should pay close attention to.

Occupation-Specific Benefits

All disability contracts provide benefits when a policy holder is unable to work for a period of time. But not all policies define an inability to work in the same way. As a dentist, your policy should require benefits payment if you are unable to work in your specialty, even if you choose to work in another occupation.

Much less-favorable policy definitions result in your not receiving benefits if you are capable of working in any gainful occupation, such a waiting tables or washing cars. As someone who has spent years in education, training and building a practice, it’s critically important that you protect your ability to do the work you’ve spent years preparing for.

Occupational Classification

The areas of dental practice in which you specialize will determine which “occupational class” and insurance company puts you in. Your occupational class determines which rates and policy features an insurance company will offer to you.

Group Disability Benefits

Rather than purchasing an individual dentist disability contract, many dentists choose to participate in group dentist disability programs. While some coverage is certainly better than none, there are some important distinctions to consider:

• Group coverage can be altered or even terminated at any time and beyond your control. At a time when you need it most, you may find yourself without the protection you want.
• Few group plans are “portable,” meaning that if you leave your employer, your dentist disability coverage does not follow you to your new place of business.
• When employee benefits are provided and paid for by an employer, the proceeds from those benefits are taxed. Individual policies, which are paid for with after-tax money, are not taxed during benefit period.
• Many group plans have extremely limited definitions of disability, and pay benefits only if a policy holder is completely disabled. Individual policies not only cover total disability, but may include partial disability as well, which is the much more common type of disability.
• Group plan benefits may be reduced by income received from other sources, such as workers’ compensation and social security.
• Group plans, in general do not have cost-of-living riders to keep pace with inflation.

Business Overhead Expense Policies

When you are a sole practitioner and a disabling illness or injury occurs, the business income may decrease, but the expenses of running the business continue. Business Overhead Expense Insurance provides the money you need to cover the ongoing costs of running your practice while you recover from a disability. You can concentrate on getting better, without having to worry about how you’ll keep the practice going.

Dentist disability insurance is our specialty here at BeamaLife. We have a distinctive understanding of dentists’ needs, schedule and preferences, and we’ll work with you to design a disability plan specifically modified to meet your unique needs. Please call (866) 972-3262 to speak with an experience disability income insurance specialist to learn more about disability insurance and the best & most affordable rate quotes or complete the Disability Income Insurance Quotes request now.