[Editor's Note: This is a guest post from Joshua Thompson, CFP, EA, who has his own financial planning firm in Tampa, FL. In this post, he explains how to use a valuing system to compare various disability insurance contracts you may be considering. We have no financial relationship.]
Wearing dual hats as an advisor and as the spouse of an OB-GYN, I specialize in physician-specific financial needs, but I also have to evaluate for personal purchase the same products that I offer doctors. The purpose of this guest post is to help those without my knowledge of these products to be able to evaluate and compare the value of different disability insurance contracts. I am not going to go into the intricacies of each contract; there are other great posts on the WCI blog that go over the different terms and options that the “Big 6” offer.
With this in mind I am going to show you how I value contracts, especially for the mostly residents and fellows in Florida that I work with. The contract terms can and do vary between states and my recommendations would change based on state of residence or future employment. My valuation exercise today only considers 4 options: Guardian, Principal, Ameritas, and Standard insurance. I am an independent agent and am not tied to any of these companies in any way. I was not trained by any of these companies and I don’t have desk space, “free” rent, or any ties to their securities dealers. My only conflict of interest here is that I want to help young physicians with their disability insurance needs and get paid the commission from that sale. This example uses a 32 year old female cardiologist in Florida. Obviously features and prices vary for doctors of different ages, specialties, and states.
The highlighted parts of the spreadsheet are items that I feel are most important in a disability contract. The non-highlighted options are “extras” that the various companies may or may not offer but I wouldn’t consider these options as absolutely needed. The Standard price is an estimate; this is the endorsed program that my clients have access to so I am not allowed to price it out. It has been my experience that the pricing of that program is almost the same as the Principal price. The endorsed Standard option is a guaranteed issue program, so the buyers don’t have access to an inflation rider. I do have a multi-life group with Principal at the residency so that helps the price for females; again, I had to buy a contract for my wife and some of her partners. If you are in a residency program you may be in a similar situation where you have access to a guaranteed issue product without inflation protection.
Company financial strength is important. I don’t advise clients to purchase solely on financial strength alone but it should be considered in the valuation of a contract. There are 5 ratings agencies that rate the financial strength of insurance companies. There are 21 levels of ratings from AAA to C (there is no F) and there is no standardization between these ratings agencies. Enter the Comdex, the Comdex score is an indexed score given to insurance companies (with at least 2 ratings) that is used to compare the financial strength of the various insurance companies, the score goes from 1 to 100, the higher the score the better. If a company receives a score of 95 that means its indexed score is better than 95% of other insurance companies.
In addition to company financial strength I highlight the following as being most important in your disability buying decision:
- Maximum benefit period. You should have a contract to at least age 65. The price difference between “to age 65” and “to age 70” may not be much
- True own occupation for physicians
- Non-Cancelable
- COLA/Inflation protection
- Residual disability
The spreadsheet is for a 32 year old, female Cardiologist in Florida. The pricing and benefit structure for the policies shown on the spreadsheet are as follows:
- Benefit period is to age 67
- $5,000 per month/ $60,000 per year
- True Own- Occupation
- COLA (Cost of living/ inflation protection)
- Residual disability
In this spreadsheet, I show how I value the contracts, the main reason for this guest post. Value is important to see how much benefit you are getting for your expense.
In this case I take the maximum value of the contracts, i.e. a doctor buys a contract and the next month they are hit by a bus and cannot practice medicine ever again and received maximum, inflation-indexed benefits to age 67. The maximum benefit for this doctor (purchasing right out of residency/fellowship) with inflation protection is approximately $3,627,000. The values for maximum contract value and a 10 year claim period are approximate calculations (the results will vary based on birth month and disability start).
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- Take this amount and divide it by the annual cost and this gives me the basis of value (maximum amount of benefit per dollar spent).
- Now, I added an extra 10% of value to the contracts that offer “specialty language”. Remember that while all the contracts listed (as well as MetLife and MassMutual) have “true-own” occupation for physicians, not all of them add the extra sentence to clarify that your specialty is “your occupation”. There is another post on WCI about Occupation Class ratings so you can see that when you buy the contract all the companies take your specialty into consideration. While I believe that “True- Own Occ” is what is most important I wanted to add some value for the companies that do go that extra step in declaring the specialty language. If you feel “specialty” is worth more then you can make your own adjustment.
- Next I make an adjustment downward for the companies with lower Comdex ratings. I took each company’s Comdex score (as of July 2104) and indexed them against Guardian's score and subtracted the percentage from each company’s base value.
- Next I made an 5% adjustment increase for items where Guardian is stronger than the other companies regarding residual and inflation protection, this is the Guardian Provider Plus contract
- Finally I added 2% value for a Principal benefit for lump sum payment for stroke, heart attack, and cancer. This is a payment in addition to disability benefits.
- These values are then added together to get the total value score. The higher the better. I then repeat the process for a more sensible 10yr claim.
The value proposition changes a little bit when valuing the contracts for males and different medical specialties.
All of the contracts are good contracts and you should certainly own a contract when leaving residency. All of the contracts would pay if you can’t perform your specialty and you wanted to work in another field. Disability insurance is nuanced and hopefully seeing this on a spreadsheet helps you visualize the differences.
[Editor's Note: I accepted this guest post because I think it shows a unique and useful way to think about each of the features of a disability insurance contract. Basically, he is taking the features he cares about, and assigning a value to each of them, then adding up the total. Obviously, these values may be different to each person. Each individual may also assign a value that is different from what an actuary may value that particular feature at. For example, how do you know that “specialty language” is worth 10%? You don't. It might be worth 1% or 20%. You would need large amounts of actuarial data that even the insurance companies may not have to truly price that feature. Even if the companies have it, they aren't going to share it with their agents or with you. So, while I like the idea of using a spreadsheet to compare each of your possible disability contract options, this entire process is subject to the “garbage-in, garbage-out” phenomenon. When you make your own spreadsheet, be sure to consider what features in the contract you really care about and enlist the assistance of your agent (who is being paid handsomely to help you with this purchase) in the process.]
What features in a disability contract are most important to you? How would you assign values to each of them when comparing a contract? What process did you follow when purchasing a disability insurance contract? Did you do anything this formal, or just ask the agent what he thought was best? Comment below!
A few comments/observations for those that might use these charts as a means of comparison when purchasing disability insurance.
It is very Florida specific (as stated by the author) as Standard’s “old” Protector Plus policy is what is offered in that state. As a result, Guaranteed Standard Issue (GSI) or not, unisex rates are available to females. There is a 15% discount for GME plans and a 10% discount for association members (even if they are purchasing their policies individually). For association members, this is not the case in other states. This policy, like MassMutual’s, also does not have a limitation for claims outside of the United States.
When looking at chart 1, Principal is illustrated with an age 70 benefit period, and the others are illustrated with a to age 67 benefit period (age 67 is the only option in FL besides 2 or 5 years). For an “apples to apples” comparison, all should be illustrated to age 67. Keep in mind that some carriers are better deals compared to others for longer benefit periods.
Where inflation protection is mentioned as “Yes” or “Not Available”, the maximum is not listed. For example, while CPI tied, Ameritas has a 6% maximum while the others were probably illustrated with a 3% maximum which would lead to an unfair cost comparison in chart 2.
Under the Residual Disability Rider, the trigger for Ameritas is 15%, not the 20% illustrated.
Under Future Purchase Option, it uses “Capped” or “No Cap”. This could lead a purchaser to believe a “No Cap” is better than one that is “Capped”. Keep in mind that certain carriers will issue up to $17,000 month and others will issue up to $15,000 month (currently). Therefore, a “Capped” $17,000 is more favorable (at least for now) to a “Capped” $15,000 (looking only at this area and not pricing overall).
Under the discounts available, depending upon the hospital, a 10% Student and Resident Discount may be available for Berkshire. Ameritas offers discounts to all physicians regardless of hospital affiliation or if one is a Resident, Fellow or Attending Physician. This is a 15% gender distinct discount.
MetLife is the only carrier that offers a true “Own-Occupation” definition of total disability for physicians in the State of Florida and, as such, would certainly be a reason that their policy must be included in the analysis.
So, as a result, personally, I do not use these types of spreadsheets in my practice. However, conceptually, the idea of assigning a value score to each carrier is a good idea as a means of comparison.
A quick clarification: (age 67 is the only option in FL besides 2 or 5 years) for Standard’s policy.
My prior MetLife comment should include a true “Own-Occupation” definition of total disability coupled with full coverage for mental/nervous and/or substance abuse disorders in the State of Florida.
Finally, as for medical specialty language, all else being equal, I would take it. Otherwise, there is no difference if a policy is true “Own-Occupation” that includes specialty wording or not.
Larry,
I really hate to keep promoting Principal but there is an option with Principal to not have the M/N limitation if the doc takes Trans instead of Reg Occ. This is only with Multi-life groups. I have this at my wife’s group but not for my residency group. Trans would not be good for residents/ fellows if they actually get disabled during training. Every other company has the M/N limitation on it in Florida so it is only a disadvantage against Metlife.
Believe it or not, many residents that I work with already have issues to where MetLife (and all others) would exclude M/N from the get go.
I am very familiar with the Transitional Occupation definition of total disability but I’m still not a fan (although I do have a few clients that were comfortable with it) – especially for those physicians in practice that could potentially change jobs and, assuming they don’t have group LTD at the time of the purchase, might potentially find themselves in a different situation in the future.
As such, with the exception of New York State, those group LTD benefits would be used to reduce the amount of income that could be earned in another occupation or medical specialty.
As I mentioned before, especially for females, if the price savings was not as significant as it is with unisex rates and multi-life discount, the conversation of “Trans Occ” vs. “Reg Occ” would never even take place.
Similar to your comment about specialty language, if all else is equal then take the specialty. Unfortunately, Trans occ with Principal is the only contract without the MN limitation here in Florida with the lone exception of MetLife. With the price being higher for MetLife, the value of Principal and Guardian is still higher in my eyes. Met is on my analysis outside of the area.
JT,
This may be the case with certain medical specialties, and mostly with women, but it’s important to note that MetLife is still a major player in FL. I would hate for anyone currently in the market to read this and discount MetLife, because of it. They look great in a lot of circumstances.
This was a nice post, btw, and definitely offers a unique perspective on evaluating disability policies. I think most consumers and agents (at least the objective ones) inevitably do this in their own way. I personally just feel that the decision making process can be much easier than this portrays. Perhaps this is more complex than things need to be. That said, if it helps you in your practice, and in turn helps your clients secure the most appropriate coverage for their situation, keep running with it.
Michael,
Thanks for the comment. I agree, MetlLife is a player in the medical DI market here in Florida. My comparison is for my local area where cometition is fierce and if i dont address the short comings of Standard, and to a lesser extent Ameritas, then i wouldn’t sell any policies. My comparison sheet should be looked at like living breathing document. Anyone going throuh the DI buying process could recre
Oops. I was replying with my new Samsung tablet and my reply disappeared and ended up here.
Anyone going through the DI buying process can recreate this spreadsheet for their own use or with the help of their agent. They can assign their own values to the contract but total maximum contract value and price will be the same no matter who the agent is. From there I would index the base value by the company Comdex scores. One could stop here or keep adding or subtracting value on what is most important to them. I think seeing 3-4 comparisons on one sheet helps a lot.
If Principal gets sloppy and loses the best value (in my eye’s) designation I will replace them as soon as their score drops.
I handled the purchase of a DI policy on my 33-year old husband this summer. He did a primary care residency and a sports medicine fellowship. He took his first “real” job this summer at $180,000 salary. Many thanks go to WCI for basically teaching me everything I needed to know about buying DI. The agent I worked with mentioned I was the “most knowledgeable” client he’d worked with when it came to DI. So, thanks for that WCI. That said, here’s the basics of our policy (and I know I’m about to get backlash for one aspect of it, but I’ll explain.):
Company: Ameritas
Type: True own-icc, guaranteed renewable… but not non-cancelable… just wait
Benefits: $8350/mo after 90 days to age 65 (we won’t have a financial need for this policy after age 65.)
Annual Premium (after a 15% AMA discount): $2670.39 (we pay in a lump sum annually to avoid a higher monthly premium)
Along with the policy’s base features, we chose these riders:
FPO
COLA (3%)
Residual Disability
Catastrophic Disability
Now, let me explain why we didn’t end up with a non-cancelable policy. We received quotes several different companies, and Ameritas gave us the best annual premium at $3142.29. He said that if I did a guaranteed renewable but not non-cancelable policy the premium would go down by $417 a year. Small potatoes to some… not to us at the time. I asked him about the history of Ameritas and how often they raised their rates on groups. He looked into it for me and let me know that they had NEVER raised rate. I understood that this did not mean it would never happen in the future, so I asked him if he could do some digging on some of the other companies he’d quoted to me to see if/when they had ever raised rates and if so, by how much. It was very, very, very rare… probably because the companies don’t want their customers to give negative feedback to other potential buyers. Using the info he found, we decided that even if in the unlikely event Americas did raise rates, it may only be once in the lifetime of the policy, and then, the difference would not amount to $417 annually. I understand that this is all conjecture, and speculation, but we felt comfortable opting out of a non-cancelable policy, and we will face the consequences (good or bad.) Again, this is our personal experience with buying DI, and I am not advocating that everyone follow in our footsteps.
I had the same issue with my policy. I didnt know if it was worth finding another that was non-cancelable or not.
I did the same thing, but my savings was $1000. I figured even if the policy price doubled in 10 years then I could simply replace it, if I needed it, or cancel it, or decrease the benefit. This one thing cut my policy premium by almost 20%, and was worth the risk that it may go up in the future, (which the company has never done before…)
I think that the non-cancelable cpntract can be as a scare tactic sometimes. I just wish that I had known about it before as I have already replaced 2 contracts as my needs changed and health was still very good. I could have saved a lot over the years if I had known about this earlier.
I certainly don’t think that feature is worth 20%. I’d rather have a policy with a 20% higher payout!
This was written about on the blog a while back: https://www.whitecoatinvestor.com/is-noncancelable-really-worth-it/
Everything has a price, including a non-cancelable feature, and you don’t want to overpay for it.
Attached is a link to an article called “The Mythical Value Of Non-Can DI” which is worth reading.
https://www.thechittendens.com/Content/Content/85/Documents/201011Mythical%20Value%20Of%20Non-Can.pdf
However, keep in mind, only Standard, Ameritas and Northwestern Mutual (not one of the “Big Six”) offer this option.
Purchasers must also compare the cost of a Guaranteed Renewable policy with one of these carriers to those Non-Cancellable and Guaranteed Renewable available with other carriers that may even be the same cost or less.
As stated before, this will vary with age, gender, medical specialty, geographic location and discounts available.
I would check the COLA provision to see if it mentions that it is simple. The other companies offer compounded interest COLA. Ameritas only offers compounded COLA with their 6% option. The same 33 year-old family practice resident in my group could have gotten $8,350 benefit, with 3% COLA, non-can, and the heart attack/stroke/ cancer benefit for $2,740 to age 67.
Larry,
Thanks for your reply to my guest post. I think I can clear somethings up here for you.
1)Yes, not only is this State specific but it is also gender specific and really only works for residents/fellows who are being pitched the Standard product without COLA. As you well know, the value score will change from female to male, Principal still comes out on top (not by design by the way) but Guardian is more valuable for males than females.
2) The top of the sheet was just to compare features that each contract has, not so much to make Principal look better. I actually state in the guest post and on the sheet that my comparison is to age 67 for all the companies. I do this for my clients to because if I show to age 70 but someone else is showing to age 67 then my quote looks a little more pricey.
3) I don’t recommend 6% inflation protection so I just left the inflation at 3%. Principal also has 6% compounded inflation. I priced Ameritas with only 3% inflation, not only that, but Ameritas only offers 3% SIMPLE inflation. I didn’t specifically knock down Ameritas for that because the company Comdex score and price of their contract do enough damage. I only show Ameritas because another group who sells to docs sells the Ameritas contract for some reason. Their value proposition is not high for either female or male docs.
3) For the residual with Ameritas, the 15% is an optional rider, the basic is 20% and that is what I used for price comparison. Again, didn’t want to kick them while they are down. In fact, I just re-ran the quote for Ameritas and with the 3% Simple COLA and basic 20% residual for this prospect and it is $376 per month. So, yes, my spreadsheet for Ameritas is off but not in their favor. It doesn’t really matter to me though because their cost is high, the Comdex is low and the value just isn’t there. I just re-ran it as a non(non-can) and it is $337 per month.
4) No argument from me on the Cap vs Non Capped issue. I don’t really talk about it other than to say each company allow’s you to buy more in the future without going through medical underwriting again. I explain how they work, i.e. each company requires financial underwriting to use this benefit which limits their ability to use up that entire amount of FIO. I don’t highlight FIO because it isn’t something that I would say is absolutely necessary.
5) It is my understanding that both Guardian and Ameritas requires a group to get the discounts you mention. Either way, I am not sure that Ameritas is a great value. For males, Guardian with a 10% discount could be a decent value. I will probably add a Guardian discount next year for my male docs and those who absolutely want a “specialty” language contract. A 10% discount would increase the value score 10% so that is something anyone can do.
6) As for MetLife, I agree that it should be on the sheet and it is for those not in my area. I don’t have it on here for 2 reasons. I have to address the 2 companies that others are selling, Ameritas and Standard. That leaves me with 2 spots, I think too many companies on the sheet gets more confusing to look at. I have a discount with Principal and I like the contract all things being equal. I added Guardian because I feel this is considered the Cadillac contract. I sell MetLife as well. If I didn’t have the competition down here I would use Guardian, Principal, MetLife, and Mass on my spreadsheet. Finally, insurance agents make more money as the cost goes up, I would certainly make more money for myself by selling more Guardian or Ameritas contracts but I have found Principal to be the best value here in my area.
Again, I would only use this sheet for my local residents who are being shown these contracts. I would not use these companies for all residents/fellows/attendings in other cities or states.
JT-
I am definitely not stating that you created the comparison to be misleading in any way or to steer clients in the direction of Principal’s policy.
After all, for a female with a unisex rate and discount, you really don’t have to do much. While agents can make an argument for the merits of other carriers and some product features, at an additional cost of 40-50%, I don’t think they are really justified.
It is for this reason, that I avoid using these types of comparisons in my practice. It can cause clients that have not met you to come to conclusions (that may or may not be what you had in mind when you put it together).
At the end of the day, as you know, these policies are more similar now than they have been for years. Other than price, there are only vary in a few areas that differ. Once the purchaser has an understanding of those areas, what they like or don’t like (risks they are willing to retain vs. transfer to the insurance company), their decision is pretty easy.
Larry,
I didn’t think you meant that but I could see where some may think I am skewing the numbers so maybe I am a little defensive here with my value sheet. I can talk about value all day long but showing the docs the value on this single sheet helps a great deal. The spreadsheet speaks for itself, I can’t make up the max value of a contract, its price, or the Comdex score.
It was almost shocking how different the scores were when I developed my sheet, especially Ameritas. I know Ameritas has some unique features but its not even close. There is a well known group of financial advisors in my area who sell Ameritas for some reason, I am still trying to figure that out. It’s not a GSI and the females who buy from them are really getting hosed. The males aren’t far behind either.
To WCI…
Thanks for posting this. I agree with the Garbage in Garbage Out Phenomenon.
I wanted an easy way to show clients the differences between the contracts and how to value the contracts. Some of this is science and some is art. The science part is the maximum contract value / price and then indexing the values for company strength scores. Sure, the rest is my opinion and I state that on the sheets.
I think this could be used as a template for both disability and life insurance comparisons. For me, a life insurance (term) comparison would be face amount divided by price per year and then indexed for financial strength. The highest score wins.
For DI, I don’t value the “specialty” language but that doesn’t mean clients don’t. As I say in the post, if you feel specialty is worth more then add that value instead. As Larry said, all things being equal go for specialty, but things are not equal and this sheet is just a way of equalizing the contracts.
I honestly didn’t create this to make any company look better than the others. If Principal changes its pricing or its Comdex falls then the value will suffer and that will present itself in the valuation. I am independent and would love to sell more higher priced disability insurance, my wife would like that too!
Not sure if anyone is going to read this but would you take this policy?
Its through guardian, disability, will cover 5 years per claim because I am currently being treated for anxiety disorder. Haven’t gotten the final details but my guy says it’ll be around $100 a month. He states we can go back in a couple years when I get off meds and have the plan reassessed to try and get more years per claim. My guy states most claims for disability are between 3-6 years. Obviously if I won’t have catastrophic with this plan and have COLA is also not going to be necessary with only a 5 year pay out period. What do you all think? 330K in student loans, I fully funded my 2014 Roth IRA this year, using PAYE making payments on my loans and plan to live like a resident and pay off these loans quickly when I graduate in 2017.
I’m not sure you’re following the right process for buying disability insurance. Here is the right process: http://www.hcplive.com/physicians-money-digest/personal-finance/Dahle-4-Critical-Steps-in-Purchasing-Resident-Disability-Insurance
Are you referring to the fact that I am not looking at multiple companies and just one? I feel like I kinda shot myself in the foot with this anxiety disorder and I don’t really see much a way around it. I was told this would limit the payout period on the policy regardless.
Yes, mostly. A good independent agent should be showing you 2-6 policies and then giving his opinion about which is best for you and why. They’re getting a big commission, so it’s okay to expect them to put in some time for you. Besides, they’d rather spend their time working with you than prospecting for new business.
EM Intern,
Going to a new agent and asking for new quotes will do you no good. Anyone can show you an age 65 benefit period, but it doesn’t mean that you’ll medically qualify for it.
Assuming your agent has done good work, and seems trustworthy, you should ask him to prescreen your medical history with a few of the other insurance companies out there, like: MetLife, Standard, Principal, Ameritas, etc.
Generally speaking, most insurance companies underwrite fairly similarly when it comes to mental health stuff. These claims make up approximately ~10% of the claims out there, so it is no surprise that the insurers are cautious. That said, this type of issue is always worth investigating further.
You indicated that you are treated for anxiety – is this new, or have you been treated and controlled for a while now? Have the meds/dosage been consistent or fluctuated? How many meds? These are the details that will impact your insurability.
Guardian has a 10-year benefit period – depending on how good or bad of a history you have, in the eyes of the insurer, your agent could at least try getting that instead.
It all comes down to the details of your medical history. Since your current agent already has the details, he might be best suited to screen your options with other carriers too. I would advise against automatically submitting another application though – could just lead to a big waste of time and effort. Have your agent do his homework up front.
Just FYI, Guardian is not always the best option for EM physicians today. I would agree that it is often one of the better options, but to make a blanket statement like that definitely seems a quite biased.
Push your agent to do more investigating for you. If you get the feeling he isn’t being honest or actually doing the work, get a second opinion.
Thanks! Thats a great idea and I’ll ask my insurance guy to run the info by the other companies to see if anyone would consider even giving me a longer benefit period. I think the major issue is that this is a relatively new diagnosis, actually probably have had it for years but intern year def brought it out and thats when I started seeing a psychiatrist. Meds are influx currently trying an SSRI and have been on a long acting benzo which our plan is to taper once I get to a therapeutic SSRI dose. So as you can see it’s probably not an ideal situation I wish I woulda known how negatively this would impact my ability to gain D.I. before I went down this path..although I suppose being able to function and make it through residency is more important haha
I know how you feel. I regret mentioning the fact that I enjoy climbing during the insurance application process too.
I wouldn’t blindly accept that. Your agent should shop for the best offer from all the companies. Some companies will offer a longer benefit period than others. Go to my website to request a quote if you want to see what is available for you.
Well I haven’t gotten the official paperwork yet but it was taking a few weeks so I gave my insurance guy a buzz and he told me that paperwork should be coming through any day now and that this is what it will likely be. He also stated guardian is usually what he works with for ER docs but he does have access to all the major companies although we didn’t apply to them since he thinks guardian is the most comprehensive (albeit the most expensive). I don’t think there is a conflict of interest this guy does tons of physician DI policies every year but who really knows. I’ll inquire about this when I get the actual policy data in my hand. Any other thoughts?
I ran into a resident last year with a limited benefit period with Guardian for taking prescriptions for anxiety. Principal offered to 67 with cost of living but exclusion for all mental nervous and no future purchase option.
I always prescreen clients before applying. I bet another carrier would give a better offer than Guardian. If your agent didn’t pre-screen the other companies then something is wrong.
Have your agent get you the quotes and then put them on a spread sheet side by side like I did in this guest post. This should help you make an informed decision now. Buyers remorse stinks.
Thanks for all the advice! I spoke to my agent and he is going to send my app out to the other companies and see if I can get a better deal. Appreciate everyone’s input!
If you are in a hospital that offers Standard’s Graduate Medical Education (GME) Guaranteed Standard Issue (GSI) plan, I would strongly suggest that you go that route.
They state that “the applicant must not have been declined or postponed in the seven years prior to application date, for any individual disability income insurance coverage with Standard Insurance Company,
or with any other insurance company”.
Therefore, exclusion riders and/or other policy modifications do not preclude an applicant from being able to apply for a GME policy.