Military Physician Disability Insurance Guide

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Military Physician Disability Insurance

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  1. American Council of Life Insurers, Assessing Americans’ Financial Retirement Security, unpublished data from study released in September 2017 as https://www.acli.com/-/media/ACLI/Public/Files/PDFs-PUBLIC-SITE/Public-Industry-Facts/Assessments_Report_082917.ashx?la=en ACLI found that 54.3% of non-retired households (51.3 million in total) did not report having disability insurance. Assuming there is at least one adult in each household, this means the number of “uncovered” adults is at least equal to the number of “uncovered” households.
  2. Federal reserve, “Money in the Bank? Assessing Families’ Liquid Savings using the Survey of Consumer Finance,” FEDS Notes, November 19, 2018 https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/notes/feds-notes/assessing-families-liquid-savings-using-the-survey-of-consumer-finances-20181119.htm, Table 1.
  3. Federal Reserve, Update on the Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households: July 2020 Results. https://www.federalreserve.gov/publications/2020-update-economic-well-being-of-us-households-overall-financial-security.htm, Figure 2.
  4. Social Security Administration, Disability and Death Probability Tables for Insured Workers Born in 1999 https://www.ssa.gov/oact/NOTES/ran6/an2020-6.pdf, Table A.
  5. Integrated Benefits Institute, IBI Benchmarking Analytics Series: Which Diagnoses Drive STD Incidence, Costs and Lost Time? https://www.ibiweb.org/which-diagnoses-drive-std/
  6. AskGMS, a group benefits market research firm, reports that 96% of in-force group short-term disability plans provide coverage for non-occupational disabilities only. https://www.askgms.com/disability-and-life-insurance.html.
  7. Integrated Benefits Institute, Health and Productivity Benchmarking 2019 (released September 2020), Short-Term Disability, All Employers. Condition-specific results. https://files.ibiweb.org/uploads/general/Sample-Reports.zip.
  8. Integrated Benefits Institute, Health and Productivity Benchmarking 2019 (released September 2020), Long-Term Disability, All Employers. Condition-specific results. https://files.ibiweb.org/uploads/general/Sample-Reports.zip

Military physicians often don’t receive the same praise and attention that their civilian counterparts do. Unfortunately, this means that they don’t receive the level of service that they deserve. In the context of disability protection, this has deleterious effects on their financial security and well-being. Military physician disability insurance mitigates those deleterious effects.

As a military physician, you are at a greater risk of suffering the financial consequences of a disability because the U.S. government only provides disability coverage for base pay. This means that non-base pay like incentives, allowances, and civilian pay are not covered. Non-base pay can make up a significant amount of your total compensation. Additionally, the fact that disability benefits received are taxed means that coverage is further reduced. Ultimately, you may only have 30% of your income covered in the event of a disability.

As a military physician, you must also prepare for life after service without the U.S. government-provided disability insurance. Waiting until after completion of service to obtain an individual policy is risky because disorders that resulted from time in the service can lead to a policy with exclusions or coverage being denied entirely. That is why, while you are young and healthy, it is important to establish a specialty-specific, non-cancelable, and guaranteed renewable policy with the ability to increase coverage in the future without a medical exam. Doing so secures you a guaranteed level and cost-effective premium rate that protects you for your entire medical career. It also guarantees you the ability to increase your coverage regardless of any health changes that may occur during your time in the service.

Thank you for your commitment and service to this country. We strive for the same in our service. That is why we created our military physician disability insurance guide.