By James Crook 7:59 pm MDT 9/14/2020

Offer quality group disability coverage to healthcare professionals to separate yourself from other benefits brokers

IDI carriers are reporting increased demand

According to the Council for Disability Awareness (CDA), COVID-19 has spiked the demand for individual disability insurance (IDI): “Individual disability insurance carriers are reporting extremely strong sales. One carrier indicated they have more applications and more pending applications for IDI than ever before. And some agents reported to one CDA member that their calls are being readily returned and their clients are more engaged and willing to proceed.”

Clearly, COVID-19 has caused all of us to start thinking about the realities of becoming disabled. Nowhere is this concern greater than within the healthcare…

By Courtney Lee 12:10 pm MDT 10/13/2020

Becoming disabled is never convenient. But when a business owner becomes disabled, it affects more than one person-the entire business is at risk. Not only are the owner’s income and assets in jeopardy, but their business partners and employees are also at risk of losing vital income.

The average disability episode lasts over 31 months. If there’s going to be a long absence, then financial considerations will need to be made. These are the reasons that business overhead expense Insurance coverage may bring many business owners peace of mind.

In particular, doctors, dentists…

By Lacey Trejo 9:40 am MDT 10/12/2020

On our Broker Advisor podcast debut, we were lucky enough to speak with Bill Buchholz, a highly regarded and successful disability insurance sales professional who served physicians and other healthcare professionals, who retired in June after a 53-year career. Bill shared insight on a wide range of topics, and in this first installment of our interview with Bill, here are a few lessons that helped guide his success.

Choose your market

Bill graduated in 1968 with a business administration and risk management degree from the University of Wisconsin’s School of Business -somewhat of an insurance education…

By James Crook 8:18 pm MDT 9/14/2020

Once a year in the month of May, we recognize the importance of disability insurance for Disability Insurance Awareness Month (DIAM). Created by Life Happens, a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating the public about financial planning, DIAM encourages professionals to take a hard look at the disability insurance policies in place — or not — and ensure clients have what they need ‘if’ something were to happen.

What would happen if a healthcare professional suddenly became disabled and couldn’t work? Here is what we know:

• According to the CDC, 61 million adults in…

By Keith Mangrum 12:03 pm MDT 9/18/2020

Selling in the healthcare professional disability insurance marketplace can be challenging in today’s highly competitive environment.

It’s important to recognize that some commercial carriers may use cost containment provisions, in the form of subjective and restrictive contract language, to enable aggressive pricing for healthcare professional group long-term disability (LTD) plans. These contract provisions can:

• Prematurely terminate a claim
• Reduce the expected benefit amount

Keep in mind, when a physician, dentist, surgeon, or other healthcare professional buys LTD, they are buying their next paycheck. …

By Lacey Trejo 10:12 pm MDT 9/14/2020

The challenges of maintaining medical and dental practices are considerable, particularly in today’s environment. Putting aside the obvious financial struggles due to current economic conditions, there are other challenges-not the least of which is the potential financial consequence of a disabling event.

Healthcare Professionals and Disability Insurance

The 2019 Milliman Annual Survey of the U.S. Individual Income Insurance Market reported that four different IDI carriers issued 40% or more of their total IDI to doctors and dentists. This is no surprise since much of their success-and income-comes from their ability to physically treat patients.

“Four different IDI carriers…

By James Crook 2:20 pm MDT 9/18/2020

Healthcare professionals are discovering that many group disability insurance policies are not so doctor-friendly come claim time. Many exclude policy language that would qualify them for the coverage they expect or include provisions that are detrimental to their interests.

The rub is that the features healthcare professionals value most — those gold nuggets that mirror and supplement their IDI coverage — are buried in contract language. These features rarely see the light of day on spreadsheets or proposals.

A big part of changing the conversation around healthcare professional group LTD insurance is knowing…

By James Crook 2:34 pm MDT 9/18/2020

Choice to work part-time

Once a claimant’s physician decides that he or she has recovered to the point that working part-time is possible, many traditional group long-term disability (LTD) policies force the claimant to choose to either work part-time or lose their benefits.

Many standard group LTD contracts include maximum capacity or “optimal ability” language that gives the carrier the right to assume that the claimant can work more than they are currently and offset the healthcare professional’s benefit accordingly.

What healthcare professionals need is a group LTD policy that supplements their existing Individual Disability Insurance (IDI)…