Personal insurance for doctors, surgeons & medical professionals
Personal insurance for doctors, surgeons & medical professionals has greatly improved over the past decade. Ensuring levels of adequate doctors life insurance and income protection insurance has been vital in the past, and it is still important to this day; and for medical professionals who run their own practice, then keyman insurance is also an important type of personal insurance to help keep the business going.
It's no wonder that medical professionals understand that their family and patients depend on them for their good health. And for those running their own practice, there may be business partners and employees who also rely on the boss's ability to work.
Medical professionals like doctors and dentists can't always control the circumstances impacting their health, but they can control what doctors insurance is used to protect:
- themselves;
- their family; and
- their business.
Personal insurance considerations
What would be the financial consequences of an illness or injury that left you, or a key business partner or employee, unable to work for three months? How about a year? And what if you were permanently unable to earn an income?
- How would your family survive?
- How would your business survive?
Statistics on critical illness
The statistics around serious illness can be sobering:
- Over 6300 Australians under the age of 50 will suffer a heart attack each year1
- Stroke is the leading cause of long term disability, affecting 60,000 Australians each year, or one stroke every 10 minutes2
- 1 in 3 men and 1 in 4 women will be diagnosed with a malignant cancer before the age of 753.
- Every working Australian has a 1 in 3 chance of becoming disabled for more than three months before reaching retirement age4.
What do medical professionals claim for?
Examples of personal insurance claims recently paid to medical professionals by a top Australian life insurance company5 include:
|
Age |
Profession |
Condition |
Income Benefits Paid |
|
41 |
Surgeon |
Carpal tunnel syndrome |
$237,000 |
|
31 |
Physiotherapist |
Post Viral Fatigue |
$173,000 |
|
34 |
General Practitioner |
Chronic Migraine |
$66,000 |
|
44 |
Psychologist |
Broken ankle |
$55,000 |
|
56 |
Chiropractor |
Shoulder surgery |
$20,500 |
What type of personal insurance policies would suit a medical professional?
- Life insurance to cover personal loans, mortgages
- Income protection insurance to meet day to day personal living expenses, groceries, electricity, school fees, fuel bills, mortgages etc
- Trauma insurance and TPD insurance to cover against increased medical expenses
And if you run your own practice, you may also need to consider:
- Business expense insurance which continue even if you couldn't work, such as rent, staff salaries & fixed business expenses
- Keyman insurance, also known as key person insurance for key employees
- Buy sell Insurance, for yourself and your business partner.
Tax effective personal insurance
A qualified financial adviser can also help ensure your plan is structured in the most tax effective way possible, in terms of both tax deductibility of premiums and tax treatment of any benefits paid. Issues that generally need to be considered include the implications of policy ownership and beneficiary structures.
A definition of disablement tailored to the medical profession
When considering income protection insurance, keyman insurance and business expenses insurance, it is important to ensure that disablement definition reflects the unique characteristics and circumstances of your profession.
For example, a surgeon with HIV or Hepatitis may be symptom free and physically capable of performing all the aspects of their normal occupation, but:
- are prevented from doing so by a health authority or professional association; or
- are required to disclose their health status, which results in a loss of custom.
In these circumstances, it is important to have a definition of disablement based on 'loss of income'. A common definition of disablement based on physical ability may not offer cover in these circumstances.
Similarly, some insurers now also offer a 10 hour definition. This has proved popular with those running their small practices, as it allows the life insured to return to work for up to 10 hours per week without jeopardising a claim.
Needlestick insurance
Needlestick insurance can help those in the medical industry protect themselves. Despite procedures and equipment designed to minimise the risk of needlestick injury, the number of needlestick injuries each year remains significant, with the latest figures showing there are around 18,000 reported 'sharps' incidents in Australia each year1.
The chance of being infected with one of the following viruses through
a sharps accident is:
- one in every 200 for HIV
- two in five for Hepatitis B
- one in 10 for Hepatitis C.2
Just as there are steps you can take to reduce the risk of a sharps incident, there are steps you can take to minimise the financial impact of potentially devastating conditions acquired through such incidents.
A number of insurers now offer specialised needlestick insurance, providing a tax free lump sum in the event of a covered needlestick injury. This could provide vital financial support at a time when your ability to work, and earn an income, could be compromised. This type of cover can be very affordable and easy to apply for.
Explore cover for medical professionals today
If you are a medical professional who would like doctors insurance, or would like to compare your current policies, contact xLife today. We can help determine if you have sufficient coverage should disaster strike, and help ensure your personal insurance policies are competitively priced.
References:
1. AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database, Separation statistics by principal diagnosis in ICD-10-AM, Australia, 2007-08
2. Source: 'What is a stroke?: Facts, figures and statistics', National Stroke Foundation Website 2009
3. Source: 'Australia's Health 2008', Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2008.
4. Calculations are based on data from the Institute of Actuaries of Australia 2000. Interim Report of the Disability. IA Aust: Sydney.
5. Zurich Australia Life Risk claims analysis 2010.
Source: Zurich 2010
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September 2010
