Guardian Disability Insurance Brokerage

Disability Insurance for Dentists

Guardian is one of the leading providers of individual disability insurance in the country for dentists. The ProVider Plus policy just may offer some of the most comprehensive disability insurance a dentist can own today. It offers competitive rates, true own-occupation coverage with dental specialty language in the base policy, some of the longest recovery benefits in the industry, and monthly benefits up to $17,000. Our agency is also able to provide many dentists with association discounts.

ProVider Plus Highlights For Dentists

• Own-occupation disability insurance for dentists, and dental sub-specialties to age 65 or 67.
• Optional Graded Lifetime Indemnity for Total Disability Rider¹.
• Monthly Benefits Up To $17,000.
• Recovery provision built-into the Residual Disability Benefit Rider¹ with potential benefits for up to the entire Benefit Period.
• Possible Association Discounts
• Cost of Living Adjustment Riders² Available

Own-Occupation Disability Insurance For Dentists

As a practicing dentist, you have received extensive education and training to be able to perform the required duties of your specialty. Whether you completed additional training through a residency program to become a prosthodontist or went straight into private practice as a general practitioner, we understand that your disability insurance policy needs to conform to the type of work that you are performing. Your hands are your livelihood!

That is why the individual disability insurance policy ProVider Plus, available through Guardian, offers true own-occupation coverage with specialty language built into the base policy. Quite simply, this means that if solely due to sickness or injury you are unable to perform the material and substantial duties of your occupation. You will be considered totally disabled — even if you are working in another capacity. Many carriers offer a true own-occupation definition, however no other carrier offers dental specialty language in the policy, Guardian provides dentists this specialty language.

Most Common Optional Riders1 for Dentist Clients Based Upon the Age, Gender, & Benefit Amount Selected Above 1. Residual Disability Benefit Rider This rider provides a benefit when solely due to sickness or injury‚ you suffer a loss of 15% or more of your income. There is no loss of time or duties requirement. This rider also has a recovery provision whereby‚ if you recover and return to work but still suffer a loss of income of at least 15% of your prior income‚ you will continue to be eligible for this benefit for the full duration of the benefit period. Most agents feel this is a must have rider on every policy. 96.40% 2. Future Increase Option Rider This option allows consumers the ability to obtain additional disability coverage in the future regardless of any adverse changes in their health. Many people believe that their incomes will continue to rise over the years‚ and this rider allows you to buy more disability insurance coverage in the future each year on the policy's anniversary up to and including age 55. The rider also includes special option dates that allow off-anniversary increases for events such as the loss of group long term disability coverage. While medical information is not required when exercising this option‚ applications to exercise this option will be financially underwritten taking into consideration both current income and all other disability insurance in force for the insured has applied or is eligible to receive. 63.54% 3. 3% Compound Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) Rider2 Cost of Living Adjustment rider will increase your total monthly benefit every month you are on claim up to 3% after you have been disabled for 12 months. 56.05% 4. 4-Year Delayed COLA Rider2 This Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) rider will help to increase benefits during a claim. The 4-Year Delayed option is less expensive than a normal 3% COLA rider because you are essentially self insuring the first 4 years of COLA increases during a claim. 16.68% 5. Catastrophic Disability Benefit Rider This rider provides additional benefits to you should the disability be so severe that is causes you to be unable to perform 2 or more of the Activities of Daily Living including: bathing‚ dressing‚ eating‚ transferring‚ toileting‚ or continence or you suffer a cognitive impairment requiring substantial supervision. 8.83% 6. Automatic Benefit Enhancement Rider This rider is at no cost‚ and will increase your monthly benefits by 4% every year for six years‚ with no proof of income. While the rider itself is provided at no cost‚ additional premiums are required... for coverage added by the rider. 7.38% 7. Social Insurance Substitute Rider This is a monthly benefit that coordinates with payments received from the Social Security Administration ('SSA') for a disability‚ as well as other similar government programs. If you receive Social Security Disability Insurance‚ the insurance company will reduce the amount of benefits payable under this rider dollar for dollar from $200 to $1‚500 . This rider is often purchased to reduce the total cost of coverage‚ while helping assure an adequate level of disability protection. 3.24% 8. Unemployment Waiver of Premium Rider An inexpensive rider that waives the premiums for your DI policy for up to one year should you be on unemployment and receive unemployment compensation for at least 60 consecutive days. 1.78% 9. 6% Compound Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) Rider2 Cost of Living Adjustment rider will increase your total monthly benefit every month you are on claim up to 6% after you have been disabled for 12 months. 1.34% 10. Basic COLA 3 0.84%

Why Dentists Choose Guardian

There are several reasons so many dentists choose to have their disability insurance with Guardian. ProVider Plus may offer some of the most comprehensive disability insurance protection on the market for a dentist, and the rates are competitive in the industry. Guardian's disability insurance policy offering is also endorsed by many state and local dental associations, offering a 10% discount to members of these associations.

One Of Guardian's Most Competitive Advantages

ProVider Plus has a recovery provision for up to the entire benefit period through the Residual Disability Benefit Rider. Some disability insurance policies from competitors limit the recovery benefit for a limited time period or pay a lump sum benefit. The ProVider Plus individual disability insurance policy also starts paying benefits under the Residual Disability Benefit Rider at a 15% loss of income, vs the competition who require a 20% loss of income. This allows Guardian to pay benefits sooner, and longer for residual claims.

Let's say you are disabled and not working for 18 months, and you magically recover overnight. How long would it take you to establish your current practice? Would your patients be able to wait 18 months to come see you again, or would they go elsewhere? Would it take a long time to rebuild your practice all over again?

It may take a long time to recover from an 18 month disability, and with this policy you would be eligible for residual disability benefits until the age of 65 or 67 as long as you suffer at least a 15% loss of income due to injury or sickness. You are buying disability insurance to protect your income, your income still needs to be protected after you physically recover from a period of total disability. Guardian is one of very few carriers to offer this recovery provision for up to the entire benefit period to dentists.

Monthly Benefits Up T0 $17,000

The majority of our competitors, including most association sponsored plans, in the individual disability insurance market have a maximum monthly benefit of $10,000/month. The maximum participation limits with other companies available through Guardian allows a dentist to have a combined total of $25,000 a month in individual DI protection, with up to $17,000 available with ProVider Plus. You could have $8,000 a month from an association disability plan, and up to $17,000 of ProVider Plus available with Guardian.

Optional Benefits Available

• Graded Lifetime Indemnity For Total Disability Rider: This rider provides a monthly lifetime indemnity for continuous total disability, payable after the policy's benefit period.
• Future Increase Option Rider: With this rider, insured individuals have the opportunity to increase their monthly disability benefit without having to go through the burden of additional medical underwriting; however, you must provide evidence of your income, as well as all other disability insurance that you have applied for, or are eligible to receive.
• Cost of Living Adjustment Rider: Three different Cost of Living Adjustment Riders adjust your policy's monthly benefit annually during a period of disability to help keep pace with inflation.
• Automatic Benefit Enhancement Rider: This convenient, no-cost rider helps keep your disability insurance benefit aligned with normal, annual income increases you might experience when healthy. It is applied automatically to eligible policies and provides an annual 4% benefit increase each year for six years, with no proof of income required. Each increase will include an additional premium based on your then-current age.

Special Needs for Practice Owners

We understand that in addition to your duties as a dentist, you must also fulfill your role as a business owner. For this reason we invite you to visit the Small Business Owner section of this web site. There are needs that you must address in addition to your individual disability income insurance planning, such as:

• Overhead Expense Insurance: To assist in paying the monthly bills associated with your practice should you ever become disabled. This policy provides benefits to reimburse monthly overhead expenses, such as utilities and employee salaries during a claim.
• Business Reducing Term: Offered exclusively through Guardian, this policy helps protect business and/or equipment loans in the event of a disability. This policy is designed to conform to the specifics of your loan, and may be used to satisfy disability insurance loan requirements from your lending institution (i.e. Matsco, HPSC, AFTCO, etc.). In addition, the policy is significantly less expensive to purchase than your average disability income insurance or business overhead expense contract.
• Disability Buy-Out: This policy provides cash to assist in the purchase of a disabled partner's or shareholder's business interest by the remaining owners.