Wednesday, June 1st, 2011
Set for Life Insurance is proud to announce special discounts available at University of Virginia Health System. These discounts are available for physicians, medical residents and fellows, CRNAs, nurses and employees.
Discounted disability insurance can make a significant difference on your premium. These discounts range from 15-55% off the regular non-discounted rate. The discounts are greater for women as their rates are typically 40% more than rates for men. (more…)
Monday, May 9th, 2011
Set for Life Insurance offers specially discounted disability insurance rates on individual disablity insurance to medical residents, fellows, physicians, faculty and employees of Johns Hopkins University.
The discounted policies feature a true own occupation definition of disability that cover physicians in their medical specialty.
To qualify for the discounted rates, applicants must submit their application through Set for Life insurance while employed by Johns Hopkins. Therefore, if a medical resident is graduating, they must submit the application prior to their graduation date.
The discounts range from 15-55%. The discounts are greater for women because the rates are unisex. Women typically pay 40% more than their mail counterparts.
The discounts are permanent and apply to all future purchases.
For more information about discounted disability insurance at Johns Hopkins University or to request a quote, contact the Set for Life Insurance office today.
Thursday, January 13th, 2011
Set for Life Insurance, a nationally recognized disability insurance brokerage, offers special discounts on disability insurance for physicians, medical residents and fellows at Carolinas Medical Center.
Disability insurance can be very expensive. The typical cost is around 1-3% of gross income for males and 2-4% for women, assuming the policy is purchased while you are healthy and still in your early 30′s. Therefore, whenever possible, it can be a great advantage to obtain a policy at discounted rates.
Women pay around 40% more on their premiums than their male counterparts. With the discounts, women will save approximately 55% on their premiums. For men, the savings is around 15%.
These discounts are permanent and apply to any future increases regardless of place of future employment. Please note some companies offer discounts on the initial policy, but only apply to future increases if you are still employed by the discounted employer.
The discounted policies have a true own occupation definition of disability, covering you in your medical specialty.
To obtain the discounted policy, you must submit your application prior to graduation. For more information and to start the process, please contact Set for Life Insurance today.
As a resident or fellow, you may purchase a policy between $1000-$5000/month benefit regardless of income or group benefits in force. The policy has an option allowing you to increase the benefits up to $15,000/month benefit without future medical underwriting.
Graduating residents in their last 180 days of residency may also purchase up to $5000/month. The following medical specialists may purchase up to $7500/month benefit:
Physicians in their first year in practice may purchase up to $6500/month without financial underwriting.
For more information about obtaining a policy at discounted rates, please contact the Set for Life Insurance office today!
Thursday, June 3rd, 2010
It’s that time of year for graduating medical residents and fellows. All of your hard work is finally going to pay off, literally. With all of the craziness between packing, moving, graduation parties and work, most residents don’t have time to consider protecting their income with disability insurance. They decide to put it off until life settles down. Little do they know, this procrastination may cost them dearly.
Here are the top reasons for graduating residents to consider purchasing a policy prior to graduation:
1) No financial documentation required. As a graduating resident or fellow, you may purchase between $5000 and $7500/month benefit (depending on the company) regardless of your income and any group benefits in force. This may be more than you are eligible for if you are taking a position that offers group benefits.
2) DISCOUNTS. Set for Life Insurance has discounts set up at hundreds of hospitals and residency programs around the country. If you purchase your policy prior to graduation, you can lock in your policy at the discounted rates. The discounts will also apply to all future increases even if you are no longer at the discounted hospital. Depending on your gender and medical specialty, the discounts may save you between 20-55%. Women already pay approximately 40% more in premiums than their male counterparts. Since the discounted rates are unisex, this drops the rates by 35%. With an additional 20% employer sponsored discount, that amounts to 55%! For men, the unisex rates don’t help much, but the 20% employer sponsored discount is still significant.
3) If you are moving to a different state, evaluate your situation. Rates are not equal among the states. If you are moving to a more expensive state such as California, it may be in your best interest to purchase your policy in your current state to lock in those rates.
4) If you will be working for a governmental or state institution, your options may be limited after residency. Some companies only allow up to $2000/month benefits for state and governmental employees. If you will be working for your state university or VA, you may be limited in your disability options. However, if you purchase your policy prior to graduation, you will still be eligible for up to $5000-$7500/month benefit.
Before you say goodbye to residency, take a few moments to consider protecting your income while still a resident. It may save you in the long run.
· Who Needs Disability Insurance?
· Are You Prepared For a Disability?
· Disability Insurance Policy Provisions
· Individual vs. Group Disability Insurance
· Business Disability Insurance
· Disability Insurance Process
· Disability Insurance Glossary
Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010
March 23, 2010
Congratulations! Graduation is around the corner and the next phase of your life is beginning. You spent years training, and invested substantial resources to acquire your profession. You now stand to reap the personal and financial benefits of your chosen field of medical practice. As part of your transition planning, it is important to ensure you have prepared your insurance benefits to account for your new circumstances.
As a medical resident, or fellow, your disability, life, and health insurance benefits are typically chosen, and paid for, by your residency program. However, most of these benefits terminate on your last day or residency. As a locum physician, your employer may not provide these essential benefits, and you will need to take responsibility for your own insurance coverage. A failure to review your insurance plan could cause a catastrophic financial loss to you, or your dependents, in the event of a serious injury or illness.
As a graduating medical resident or fellow pursuing locum tenens work, what should I consider at this stage when it comes to planning?
Health Insurance
When you finish your medical residency, your health insurance benefits will probably terminate the last day of the month. Most residency programs will allow you to continue your health insurance. However, this can be very expensive.
If you, or your dependents, have pre-existing conditions, you will need to consider continuing your residency health insurance as you may not be able to qualify for individual coverage. It is important to sign up for this coverage prior to your departure.
If you are healthy and can qualify for individual benefits, you ought to consider applying for coverage prior to your graduation date. It may save you a significant amount on your premiums. Depending on the length of your locum work, you can apply for a short term, major medical policy (up to 6-12 months), or an individual policy where the rates are guaranteed for up to a year and the coverage is more comprehensive.
Health insurance rates, policies and provisions vary from state to state.
If you have dependents, then you need to consider what would happen to them financially if you die prematurely. Life insurance is strongly recommended for you. No one likes to dwell on the worst, but avoiding responsibility for those you love, and who depend on you for their economic well being is unimaginable. Don’t procrastinate about this issue!
However, if you are single, and have no dependents (husband, wife, significant other, children, parents, siblings) that rely on you for financial support then life insurance may be unnecessary at this stage of your life.
As a physician, you are more aware than most people in the general public of the tragedies that can unfortunately occur since you deal with the sickness, and injuries, of your patients daily. Few of your patients ever expected their medical condition to occur to them, don’t be naïve and assume that it couldn’t possibly happen to you.
New physicians spend a long period of time training and, most likely, a large amount on educational expenses. Further, you deferred significant earnings until this point in time in the expectation that your future earnings in medicine would recoup your significant investment. If you suffer a premature death, then that expectation will never be realized. You will be gone, but your family will lose the economic value that you, through your earnings in medical practice, would have brought to them. No one can replace you, but life insurance can shift the risk of economic loss from your loved ones to an insurance company.
The good news is that life insurance rates have actually come down over the last decade as life expectancy has improved. The decreased rate of mortality experience is translated to you in the form of lower premiums for life insurance.
There are two general types of life insurance; permanent and term, but a discussion of all the varieties is beyond the scope of this article. Permanent life insurance (such as whole life, and universal life) covers you for the duration of your life, and if properly implemented, will be there to pay your beneficiaries a death benefit whether you die in the near future, or decades from now. Permanent life insurance, depending on the type, may also develop cash value at guaranteed rates which can be used on a tax favored basis to supplement income in retirement, pay state and federal estate taxes upon your death, or provide cash for your liquidity needs in the future. Permanent insurance is also generally the most expensive since it will definitely pay a claim. Term insurance provides a set death benefit for a specific term of coverage, generally, 10, 15, 20, or 30 years. Term insurance does not accumulate cash value, but it has significantly less expensive premiums. If you have a large near term insurance need (typically with young children), and are just starting out, then term can be an effective form of coverage.
The first step, regardless of the type of life insurance you are considering, is to determine the appropriate death benefit. This is absolutely vital, and also the most difficult and individualized part of life insurance planning. If you have inadequate life insurance coverage, then you insurance plans will not be realized. You should always plan as if your death was going to occur now. Why? Because you don’t know when your death will occur (barring the prescience of a Cassandra) and the failure to plan for the worst contingency will leave your plan underfunded, and thus unable to achieve your goals. An individualized insurance plan should analyze your human life value, accounting for your liabilities (such as a home mortgage and other debt that remains after you’ve died- most public student loans die with you, but private ones may not!), capitalize your future earnings through your anticipated age of retirement, estimate the probable growth of your future earnings, account for the effects of inflation, and finally it should arrive at a present value using discount rates. Other factors may also be appropriate to include in the analysis, such as receipt of pension, or government benefits.
Obviously, no person or computer simulation will be able to precisely calculate all of these future unknown variables, but a plan should provide adequate flexibility to allow for variances. General rules of thumb, such as having a life insurance death benefit equal to a certain multiple of your earnings, such as 10-20 times earnings, are imprecise. But, in the absence of individualized planning are better than nothing at all!
Finally, it pays to shop around for life insurance! It can be difficult to compare between the type of products, and companies, in permanent life insurance since there are many variables to consider. However term life insurance is easier to comparison shop. Therefore, be aware of the premiums and what you are getting in return. Don’t overextend yourself on premium commitments on permanent policies, since you don’t know what your future holds. Also, especially in light of recent developments in the financial world, investigate the financial ratings of the life insurers you are considering. And remember, life insurance should primarily be about the death benefit. Don’t buy a life insurance product that inadequately insures your family with death benefit.
Right now, your biggest asset is your ability to work and produce an income. Statistically speaking, you have approximately a 1 in 3 chance of becoming sick or injured and not being able to work at some time between ages 30 and 65. Therefore it is important to protect your current and future income to be able to sustain your lifestyle and pay back your student loans.
Most residency programs offer a group disability policy that covers you during residency if you become totally disabled. Some of these programs allow you to convert the policy to an individual policy. However, it is important to shop around and make sure this convertible policy is the most suitable for your situation compared to purchasing a policy on your own.
Reasons to purchase a policy before graduation:
What to look for when shopping for disability insurance.
Individual policies are portable. You can take them with you throughout your career even when you settle down with a full time position.
Taking care of your health, life and disability insurance needs prior to graduation will provide you with the protection and peace of mind needed to pursue the next, most exciting phase of your career. Best of luck!