[Editor's Note: This post is written by Joel Schofer, MD, MBA, and his colleagues Andy Borgia, CLU and DK Unger of www.DI4MDS.com. Joel is an Emergency Physician and Commander in the US Navy who blogs about personal finance for military members at MilitaryMillions.com. Andy and DK are disability insurance specialists for physicians. Their company, DI4MDS is a regular advertiser on this site. I get variations of this question all the time and try to answer, but these guys were able to write this post much better than I could have. ]
Statistics show that approximately one in three people will be disabled during their working career and more than one in four of today’s 20 year-olds can expect to be out of work for at least a year because of a disabling condition before they reach the normal retirement age of 65.[1] The most common temporary or permanent disabling conditions are musculoskeletal disorders (29%), cancer (15%), pregnancy (9.4%), mental health conditions (9.1%) and injuries (9%).[2] For this reason, until a physician is financially independent, individual disability insurance for physicians, defined as a policy that will pay a monthly benefit in the event of a disability, is a necessity and universally recommended.
Is the Military's Disability Insurance Enough to Cover a Physician?
Military service, while known for its substantial benefits package, has one area where its benefits package is inadequate for physicians…disability insurance. This is even more of a critical situation for military physicians about to leave the military. When their service ends, so does their disability protection. Due to this situation, it is imperative for military physicians to seriously consider establishing disability protection that will remain in effect when their military service ends.
If a military physician becomes disabled, any military disability pay received will not include physician-specific bonuses and other forms of additional income such as incentive pay or moonlighting. Obtaining supplemental individual disability insurance to cover this income gap can be quite a challenge when you’re in the military. For some reason, perhaps because of things like deployments and war, the majority of individual disability insurers will not insure military physicians. The Veterans Administration (VA) has a disability system that would compensate a disabled military physician, but would that compensation be enough? If not, can a military physician even get supplemental individual disability insurance? Let’s find out.
An Example of a Military Physician’s Income
One of the authors (Dr. Schofer) is a military Emergency Physician. He graduated from medical school in 2001 and from emergency medicine residency in 2006. Here is how his approximate annual income shakes out:
Monthly Income: $16,000
Annual Lump Sum Bonus: $40,000.00
Annual Total: $230,000
If he was to be 100% disabled, what would the VA pay him? That’s a good question because as he wrote this sentence he really had no idea!
The VA Disability System
VA disability benefits only cover base pay and do not include incentive, special, or bonus pay, allowances, or income earned while moonlighting. These extra forms of income often provide the majority of a military physician’s pay and should and can be protected until financial independence is achieved. For example, Dr. Schofer’s base pay is $100,000 or 43% of his annual compensation. It would comprise an even lower percentage if he moonlighted (but he doesn’t).
From a disability planning perspective, a military physician is at a much higher risk of suffering from the financial consequences of a disability due to being underinsured than a civilian physician. This is where individual disability insurance can help fill the income gap.
The military system uses a disability severity rating and the number of dependents you have to determine the monthly benefit you receive. This is similar to the definition of disability to qualify for Social Security Disability. Each type of disability is given a rating based on severity (10% being least severe and 100% being most severe). The maximum monthly payable benefit ranges from as little as $133 (10% disability with no dependents) to $3,447 (100% disability with multiple dependents). Considering all components of pay (base/special/incentive/bonus pay, civilian pay, etc.), those disability benefits are probably far from adequate. In Dr. Schofer’s case, the max benefit would cover only 18% of his annual compensation. Experts recommend having at least 50% of your income insured with disability insurance.
There is an additional program called the Special Monthly Compensation (SMC) that is paid in addition to regular disability compensation. To qualify, you must have incurred the loss or loss of use of specific organs or extremities as a consequence of your military service. The payments range from $3,617 to $8,859 per month, depending on the nature of the disabilities. You can find additional information on this program here.
As previously indicated, military physicians should be aware that the day after they resign or retire, VA disability coverage will cease and they will be completely unprotected without supplemental individual disability insurance.
To answer the original question…how much would the VA pay Dr. Schofer if he was 100% disabled? Since he has multiple dependents, it seems it would be approximately $3,447 per month. Perhaps he’d get extra compensation from the SMC, as high as another $8,859 per month, depending on the nature of his disability. This ranges from $41,364 to $147,672 per year, which is 18% to 64% of his annual income.
You Probably Need Supplemental Individual Disability Insurance
As you are likely aware, as a physician your greatest asset is your ability to practice your specialty. As we’ve established, military physicians are not adequately protected in the event they become disabled from practicing their specialty. To make certain you and your family are protected, it would be prudent to establish a supplemental individual disability insurance policy.
The individual policy contractual provisions should protect you in your chosen medical specialty for the entire benefit period, provide both total and partial disability benefits, allow for an increase in coverage upon completion of duty without additional medical requirements, and be non-cancelable and guaranteed renewable. This means that the policy cannot be canceled, premiums changed, or contractual provisions altered by the insurance company. Residents and fellows may be eligible for discounted policies if they are established prior to the completion of training.
What Supplemental Individual Disability Insurance Options Exist?
For years Dr. Schofer struggled to find supplemental disability insurance. At first, he used the American Medical Association (AMA) group plan because they’d give him up to $2,500/month of additional coverage and it was all he could find. Per a recent e-mail exchange with them, this is still their policy.
In addition to the $2,500 maximum monthly benefit, their website notes, “No monthly benefit will be paid for disability due to…a declared or undeclared war or an act of war.” Many of the ways a military physician could get disabled would likely fit this definition and be excluded. Furthermore, the AMA disability plan premium rates increase with age, the policy and its contractual provisions can be canceled/modified, and it doesn’t pay benefits for partial disabilities until after total disability benefits are received which eliminates coverage for virtually all illnesses.
He continued with this $2,500 AMA coverage until he contacted another one of the authors, Andy Borgia, CLU, who has written a Military Physician Disability Insurance Guide, available on the site. Mr. Borgia was able to get Dr. Schofer the amount of supplemental coverage he needed, which was $6,000/month of extra coverage that protected him in his medical specialty.
Currently, there are two companies offering specialty specific coverage to military physicians/dentists – MassMutual and Lloyd’s of London. Of the two, MassMutual is the only one which offers a non-cancelable and guaranteed renewable policy to age 65. The Lloyd’s policy is non-cancelable and guaranteed renewable for a 3 or 5 year term and then must be renewed. It does contain many of the same contractual provisions including a specialty specific definition of disability as well as benefits for partial disabilities.
Recently, MassMutual released a new policy series containing a provision specifically excluding coverage for disabilities caused or contributed to by active military duty. Partly due to the efforts of the authors, this provision has been removed from all future policies and any policies issued with the exclusion have been sent an Endorsement removing the exclusion.
Agents who specialize in disability insurance are able to provide a solution to the military physician under-insurance problem by designing plans with supplemental monthly benefits that enhance the disability benefit protection. They can also design plans with a lump sum benefit if additional protection is desired. For example, Dr. Schofer’s Lloyd’s plan included a $500,000 lump sum payment if he was still disabled after 5 years.
As a military physician, you must also consider pre-emptively protecting yourself from the loss of your military disability coverage when you retire or resign your commission. By then, it may be more difficult for you to establish disability coverage because of injuries and/or disorders that developed during your time in the service. While the government will provide a percentage of disability benefits for such conditions, any individual disability insurance policy you obtain will likely include exclusions or your coverage will be declined entirely. For example, by the time Dr. Schofer received his policy he had a herniated disk in his neck. His policies would not cover any conditions related to his neck. That is why it is critical for you to establish coverage while young and healthy.
What’s the Bottom Line?
We recommend that all military physicians immediately explore establishing supplemental disability insurance. Doing so protects you while you’re in the military and from the risk of not medically qualifying for additional coverage after completion of service. It also secures your coverage at lower premium rates when you are young and healthy.
*NOTE: The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Navy, Department of Defense or the United States Government.
[1] Social Security Administration, Disability and Death Probability Tables for Insured Workers Born in 1997, Table A
[2] Integrated Benefits Institute, Health and Productivity Benchmarking 2016 (released November 2017), Long-Term Disability, All Employers. Condition-specific results.
[Editor's Note: Great article huh? One other option, and the one I used, was to buy a policy BEFORE going on active duty. I was assured by the company that my policy would cover me for any disability that occurred while I was on active duty, so long as it didn't involve an act of war. Since I was far more likely to get a concussion from playing disc golf than to get mortared in Chile, I thought that was still worth paying premiums for.]
What do you think? Are you a member of the military with experience purchasing supplemental disability insurance? What was your experience like? Have you been frustrated with the limited options available? Which insurance company did you end up going with? Would you recommend them to readers? Comment below!
I’m active duty, currently stationed in Japan. I didn’t realize before moving here, but it’s next to impossible to sign up for a policy while overseas. I wish I had known before moving here. Now I’m crossing my fingers I stay healthy until I move back to the states, at which point I’ll only have a year left on my contract.
Question for the group: are premiums higher for military for the same level of coverage? Or is the only difference the “act of war” exclusion. I’m wondering if I’ll need to re-negotiate my policy once I’m fully out of the military.
Mike,
It is the same rate, there is no ‘premium load’ for military physicians.
I’ll let my co-authors who actually sell the insurance answer your specific question, but I would say that because there are such limited options available to military members the price is probably higher. There is less competition, and I would bet Lloyds of London is not a low-cost option, which is what I had to go with for part of my insurance needs.
Mike,
Thank you for your service. There is no additional charge for military physicians but as Joel stated, there are a limited number of companies with discounts offering coverage and so the same premium discount available to your civilian counterpart may not be available to you.
First, thank you for serving. To answer the second and probably more important portion of your question. It is not possible to re-negotiate disability insurance polices after they are in effect. This is true whether the policy was obtained while you were in the Military or not. Premiums are determined by age and with individual Noncancelable policies are guaranteed to either age 65 or 67. Your only option upon leaving the military would be to apply to another carrier and be subject to rates based on your older age and health. We do not advise planning on that possibility.
Man did we dodge a bullet! I’d always shrugged off the need when we were active duty, saying “We’d get VA disability.” I knew it was a smaller amount of money but expected we’d have the other MD spouse to keep bringing in the bacon. So we dodged the horrible but small risk that both of us became unable to work as docs- which would’ve really affected our family fortunes- and the higher risk that instead of his Army pension and Tricare he might only get VA disability and the pitiful looking family health insurance coverage from the VA, and I’d be working hard as a doc into my 60s or 70s while having a disabled husband. Semi retired in our 50s now that looks like a horrible fate.
The issue of uninsurability is brought home now when I recently compared a life insurance policy on husband adequate to replace survivor benefit plan and found that his dx of htn makes it almost impossible to get term life on him (not a good idea to forego SBP anyway on many levels- especially losing the COLA increases). Not to mention that almost no physician disability policy will cover a female doc of a certain age working part time and any history of illness.
In my next life I’ll go ahead and get own specialty increasable coverage at the level I can afford, oh, in med school? And would forego getting it, if no military coverage, only if I were planning on surgeon general track.
Jenn,
Thanks to both you and your husband for serving. We can help secure your husband a life insurance policy even with the dx of htn. We have successfully done so on number of occasions in the past. You are correct in regards to establishing disability coverage while working less than 30 hours per week. This is true whether you are male/female or military/non military. However if you already have a policy and reduce your hours, you can maintain coverage until age 65.
Really appreciate this post. My med school had made a big deal about signing up for disability insurance as we graduated, so I had a policy that would cover $2,500 per month. Then as I was getting to the close of training I tried to get he supposedly guaranteed increase to$4,500 per month and got a whole bunch of garbage from the company since my primary employer was still US Army. Now I feel like I know at least one name to talk to when looking for a little more Insurance than that.
One question that has never been clear to me, how does Social Security Disability play into all of this?
KFM,
Unless you buy an individual disability policy that has a SIS rider on it then Social Security has no effect or benefit offset to the distribution. If however, you are talking about a group policy then those will typically (99%+) be reduced dollar for dollar against any social security benefit received by you, your spouse and your kids for your disability, ouch! An example is that I have a client with a social security benefit of about $3,100 per month, she has triplets under 18 so they each get $600 per month due to her disability for a total of $4,900 in benefit. Her employer has a $5,000 per month group plan but after her social security benefits are paid and offset taken into account the net check she gets from her group plan is $100. As I often say, know what you have and know the way it is going to behave at claim time.
Thank you for your service. Social security would be a separate claim and is less likely to pay subject due to the more restrictive definition of disability. Let me know if you would like to explore a more liberal company for increasing your personal disability coverage.
KFM,
Unless you buy an individual disability policy that has a SIS rider on it then Social Security has no effect or benefit offset to the distribution. If however, you are talking about a group policy then those will typically (99%+) be reduced dollar for dollar against any social security benefit received by you, your spouse and your kids for your disability, ouch! An example is that I have a client with a social security benefit of about $3,100 per month, she has triplets under 18 so they each get $600 per month due to her disability for a total of $4,900 in benefit. Her employer has a $5,000 per month group plan but after her social security benefits are paid and offset taken into account the net check she gets from her group plan is $100. As I often say, know what you have and know the way it is going to behave at claim time.
Unless you have SIS as a rider on your individual disability policy then Social Security Disability does not come into play. If you have a group policy then you will have a dollar for dollar offset to the benefits being paid to you from the group disability policy based on what you, your spouse, and your children receive from Social Security Disability.
Thanks for this awesome and super helpful read! My current situation is as follows. I am currently a 3rd year FM resident finishing my training at the end of June. I begin Active Duty with Air Force July 3rd. My question is what are the recommended individual disability insurance companies I can begin exploring now to get ahead of the game and secure a solid supplemental disability package to mount on top of my military disability coverage? To Dr. Dahle can you share which company you were able to procure a policy with before your Active Duty kicked in. I do plan to go a full 20 years in the military for now so would like to ensure the best financial situation for my family and I before we hit the ground running. Again tremendously insightful and greatly appreciated.
Dr.Wallace
Dr. Wallace, thank you for your service. Since you have been alerted for active duty, MassMutual and Lloyd’s of London will be your only options unless your training institution has a guaranteed standard issue program available. If you provide your training hospital’s name, we will check for you.
Mine was with The Standard, but it was a long time ago. The company told me it would pay, otherwise I would have suspended or cancelled it when I went on active duty.
It really depends on what you want the policy to do. Mass is great for $2,500 of monthly benefit regardless of active duty, deployment, or stationed. Ameritas is great for coverage while you are stationed in the US and not deployed so we can certainly get coverage for most while doing their training. If either you get stationed outside the US or deployed the policy typically just goes dormant and premium is suspended since the policy is suspended.
For any active duty military physician residents, it is critical to explore establishing coverage prior to being alerted to where you will be deployed/stationed. If you are completing training 6/30 and will be stationed in Japan, Guam, etc as of 7/1, you will not be able to apply for coverage since the insurance companies are not registered to issue policies outside the US. You will have to wait until you are stationed stateside.
Thanks for the great info, however, do you all have any recommendations for docs in the reserves or guard? I’m about to go into the USAFR and I’m wondering about disability coverage during reserve duty, and especially during any short term deployments on active duty orders. I currently work for a university and have maxed out my coverage with them. Not sure if it covers me during military duty, but I’m guessing it doesn’t. Thank you.
Thank you for your service. It is imperative to establish an individual disability policy with an option to increase the coverage in the future without medical qualification. No insurance company will cover you while you are actively participating in war. However, some of them can be suspended (no coverage and no premiums) while you enter active service and/or become an active participant in war.
Most of the Big 6 will issue policies for you but some will go into suspense if called into active duty.
I am a reservist (physician) that has been mobilized/deployed. What are my options on Disability Insurance (IF ANY) since I am now outside the USA? Thank you.
I’ll let my co-authors respond, but I don’t think you’ll have many options until you return.
DRV, thank you for your service. Unfortunately you will have to return to the USA to apply for any disability insurance policy. This is because the insurance companies/policies are regulated by each state’s insurance department. The companies are not set up to write policies outside the USA. Once you return, we can provide you with quotes.
Hello, I am current Active Duty EM doc in the Navy, and have a great disability policy established through Ameritas, I highly recommend you check them out when you’re a resident, as you can lock in a lower rate. They’ll insure you despite being in the military, but they do include the clause about “no acts of war are insured”.
Ameritas does some cool things for military docs and you even get an extra 15% discount from the rack rate so be sure to ask about that.
Any comment on Andy’s reply below? I feel like none of this is very clear.
Does Ameritas cover military docs or not? If so, what are the exclusions?
Mass Mutual gives coverage to military docs, but there’s a clause that says your disability won’t be covered if “caused or contributed to by a declared or undeclared act of war.” Arguably any kind of training is preparation for war, and in the more operational fields, like emergency medicine, an awful lot of what we do could fall into the above exclusion clause.
The Ameritas underwriting Guide specifically states that Active Duty Military are not eligible. There are also questions on their application regarding , military duty. If these questions are answered accurately, coverage will not be issued so be very careful. The object is to obtain protection not a policy.
To clarify both Scott and my previous reply’s. I need to make a distinction of what insurance companies consider “Active Duty”. If you are a resident or fellow at a non military hospital, you are not considered “Active Duty” by Ameritas and Standard as long as you meet certain qualifications regarding the length of time before completion of training. If you are a Military Physician out of training, at a military hospital or in training and not able to meet the non “Active Duty” requirements, then Mass Mutual and Lloyd’s are your only options for individual disability insurance .
Would love to hear some success stories from other military docs regarding disability policies. I’m a GMO currently in the Navy. Out of curiousity I’ve shopped with a couple agents for DI for MassMutual as Lloyds appears to be cost-ineffective. One agent was oblivious to active duty even being covered. They then fact-checked and agreed yes they do, quoted a $6000 monthly benefit. Spoke with different agent/different company for MassMutual and they were aware of active duty physician coverage but states monthly benefit caps at $2000 regards of income. That would severely impair any active duty physician from getting coverage for income gap if they wanted go to full career until military retirement. Any one else getting different gouge?
One way to make Lloyds policies cheaper is to pay up front. I’m not sure that is still an option, but I saved 20% by paying a lump sum.
Thank you for service. To clarify, the $2,000/mo benefit cap with MassMutual only applies while you are in training. You can establish up to $7,500 per month with Ameritas if you are not within 60 days of completing training. Both MassMutual and Ameritas offer riders which allow you to increase the monthly benefit in the future without medical underwriting. I highly recommend purchasing this rider. Feel free to contact our office if you have any additional questions.
I am active duty physician about 3 years from retirement. Aside from wishing I had a time machine to have done this earlier, I am looking at buying disability insurance now. I found the AMA group insurance with 2000/month max. But the question I had that it took a long time for them to answer, is: if disabled (not in war, etc) when would they start paying the benefit, with the assumption that I would stay in the military doing something even if disabled to get a 20 year military retirement? The answer was after I stop getting an active duty military pay check (actually after the selected exclusion period after the military retirement). That seemed a little crazy to get the DI at that point, because I couldn’t use it for the next 3 years, then at that point I could actually get DI that would meet my full needs.
Anyone else with experience with this?
I’m considering just buying the AMA group recognizing the “limitation” above, and then buy more later?
It has been so long since I used the AMA policy that I don’t remember the details of the policy. Sorry.
I’m lost. Why is the AMA one more attractive to you than the Mass Mutual one?
WCI, Sorry for the confusion, after my initial search I had only come across the AMA policy; after reading more here and other places I read about the others (Mass Mutual, Lloyds).
Do you have experience or an opinion on one vs the other?
Thank you for your service. Ameritas is also an option if you are in training and not within 60 days of receiving your call up orders post-training. Feel free to contact us through our website and we can provide detailed illustrations of your options.
Because of this post I was recently working with DK Unger to obtain disability insurance. I am currently a resident in Aerospace Medicine. Unfortunately due to being on flight status as a flight surgeon as well, I seem to be uninsurable.
I guess that makes sense. It’s pretty tough to buy this stuff as a pilot anyway. I can’t tell why they sometimes decline you completely and other times offer a rider/exclusion. For example, my individual DI policy simply doesn’t pay if I am disabled climbing.
According to a senior underwriter, it “isn’t just about the risks of flying it is also about the types of medical conditions and disorders that could prohibit or restrict him from flying. If he was unable to pilot a plane, he would be unable to perform the duties of his job. We cannot rider out occupational duties, sorry.” I argued that piloting isn’t a material and substantial duty of his occupation since no compensation is provided for it. Unfortunately this didn’t change their stance. There is still a possibility that Lloyd’s of London would consider coverage after residency is completed.
Yup, I brought up your climbing rider that you have mentioned previously.
I’m active duty Army (last year of residency, anticipated 4 years active post residency) and recently received a quote for the MassMutal disability insurance.
It states
“SUSPENSION OF POLICY WHILE IN MILITARY: This policy may be suspended if You are in active military service of any country or international authority or reserve component of the armed forces of the United States, including the National Guard, for more than 90 days. If You are released from active duty within 5 years, coverage can be restored within 90 days of Your release. We will not require proof of insurability.”
Does this mean they will not provide coverage while I’m active duty or just that they have the right at a later date to suspend my coverage if I am still on active duty? I don’t see the point of purchasing insurance if 6 months from now they’re going to suspend the policy.
Thanks for the help!
Policy owners may choose to suspend the coverage while engaged in active military service. You are not required to; but keep in mind that disabilities due to participating in a war are not covered. Therefore suspending the policy should be a strong consideration if you were to enter a warzone, for example. There is a document from MassMutual that clarifies this. I hope that helps.
Even if you go to war, you’re still far more likely to be disabled doing non-war stuff than getting shot, especially as a doc. I think you can probably count the number of docs shot in a war zone in the last 20 years on one hand.
A suspended policy is better than none. Sure, it doesn’t provide any coverage, but you have it locked in for when you get out and you don’t pay premiums while it is suspended.
I am currently working with a broker for disability insurance. I have a small amount of VA disability with a few medical issues. We decided to go with Mass Mutual. They gave me all riders except for future insurability option rider and the automatic benefit increase rider. This is disappointing as I am currently in fellowship and would only be covered for about $4500 if I was granted a full disability claim. Have any other veterans experienced this and have you found a way to get these riders added? I would be fine doing a health exam now if necessary. Thanks!
Sounds like you’re going through the process the right way with an independent broker shopping you around to the various companies. Unfortunately, if your insurability isn’t good, you may not be offered an “ideal” policy by anyone.
I agree, with health issues, that may be as good as you can obtain. You should definitely look into Lloyd’s, they may be able to offer you additional coverage.
Absolutely terrific article. Thank you! I am an active duty USAF EM doc that just got out of residency. I actually started with an additional $1000/month policy through Standard during residency but when I tried to increase it, my agent said they wouldn’t let me increase it since I was going active duty. This is/was pretty frustrating to say the least but I really appreciate you writing on this. We are going to look at MassMutual and Lloyds of London.
Happy to be of service and thank you for yours. Mass Mutual will be your optimum solution and only use Lloyd’s as a supplement if necessary.
Hi – I’m currently in the military and completing my first year of residency at a small program in Philadelphia. I️ met with two insurance agents recently, the first recommended a DI policy through Ameritas. When I️ met with the second, he explained that Ameritas will not cover me as active duty military, and explained that MassMutual was the only “true own occ” carrier that would. (Even sent me a WCI article referencing it.)
I’m trying to figure out who to believe… WCI HELP!!!!
You didn’t believe the article I already published? 🙂
The second agent is correct.
Lol I️ did, but through my own research I️ found a comment on WCI that referenced that if I️ was not completing my training at a military hospital then Ameritas would not consider me active duty and I️ would be able to obtain a discounted policy with higher coverage limits. Does that mean I️ can obtain the policy as a resident, but it won’t cover me once I️ become “active duty” by Ameritas’s standards?
You’d have to check with an agent or Ameritas for that answer, but I can tell you what Standard told me. I bought during a civilian residency and they said it would still cover me on active duty unless I was disabled as a result of an act of war.
I co authored the article for WCI to which you were referred. Like all of the information on WCI that I am familiar with, the information was thoroughly vetted and accurate. As an active duty military, Mass Mutual is really your only option unless you are doing a civilian residency that offers a pre approved individual Standard policy. The Ameritas application has the question “belong to or intend joining any active or reserve military, naval or aeronautic organization”. In addition the policy has the exclusion “Benefits are not payable for a sickness, injury, or disability caused or contributed to by war, declared or undeclared, or any act or incident of war, or as a result of military service when scheduled active duty is more than three months”. Seems clear that even if you were to obtain an Ameritas policy you will not be covered during active duty. Standard by the way only mentions act of war as an exclusion.
There are lots of disabilities you could get that aren’t a result of military service.
When should military doctors/trainees explore the aforementioned disability insurance options? During residency? After residency?
The sooner the better, no? Especially if you’re going into an active duty residency where you won’t be able to buy them.
I am an Army MS3 HPSP student likely heading to an active duty residency when it comes time. I did not realize that I could pick up a disability policy, as a medical student, that would continue to cover me during my military career.
Interestingly, my medical school has successfully billed a student disability insurance policy as a mandatory school fee to DFAS every year. I should probably look into this policy, as I do not know the coverages.
Most disability insurance companies will issue a policy to third or forth year med students with monthly benefits up to $2500/mo. and a Future Increase Option. However the policy will either be suspended when you are active duty or you will not be able to utilize the Increase Option until your leave active duty. Depending on if your residency is at a civilian or military hospital, Ameritas and Standard may issue coverage. The only company that will allow you to increase or obtain coverage while on active duty during residency at a military hospital is Mass Mutual.