FAQ

InsureSTAT is the recognized leader in providing medical residents and fellows,  practicing physicians and nurses with access to the most competitively priced and comprehensive individual disability and loan protection insurance products in the United States. We represent all major insurance companies and can bring these often difficult to understand policies to you with permanent maximum discounts. In some cases, we are the exclusive provider of Guaranteed Issue and Unisex rate options for GME programs such as Wake Forest Baptist Health in Winston Salem, NC.

The InsureSTAT team includes insurance professionals with over 60 combined years of independent specialization in the disability and life insurance marketplace. Our insurance agency’s founder, Jeffrey Mensh is the son and brother of Gastroenterologists and the majority of our company focus has been on income protection insurance needs of physicians and nurses throughout the United States. All service and marketing professionals are trained to anticipate the needs of medical professionals who may be graduating and on the move…from one medical institution to another. Therefore, our proposals, policy design, underwriting, and policy delivery are streamlined to provide immediate information and access to assistance in this once-in-a-lifetime purchase process. Yes, we can help you secure discounted coverage now that you keep with you for the rest of your career. InsureSTAT has been designed to help one specific group of critical medical professionals…YOU, the physician in training, the practicing physician or the nurse as you prepare for the rest of your life.

There is no cost to you as a medical professional to learn from our site, request proposals or other specific information, or to email and contact us in any way. We don’t charge for our time at all and we provide all information via email or mail at ZERO cost to you. We are compensated by insurance companies after our clients secure the policy that best fits their needs.

Yes…Absolutely. We know that physicians and nurses are often forced to move where the demand for their medical talents may take them. You may complete training in North Carolina, move to Tennessee but wind up in Arizona. All carriers that we provide access to offer Non Cancelable and Guaranteed renewable insurance policies to fix and levelize costs for the life of the policy in any state. In some cases, benefits can be payable if overseas, though, the majority of policies will require that the insured be back in the United States for benefits to be paid. For individual disability insurance policies we typically see contracts in force to age 65/67…the Student Loan plans are designed to protect for 5 years and then can be renewed at the insured’s request.

There is MOST DEFINITELY a BIG difference between “us and them!” We focus almost ENTIRELY on the needs and urgency of the resident and fellow, practicing physician and the nursing population versus sites that help every occupation.  Due to our experience walking the halls of medical centers, speaking at grand rounds at 6am, presenting at Human Resource orientations, educating program coordinators, or even providing seminars for spouse associations, InsureSTAT knows the pressures and mindset of the physician and nursing professional. We know these time-strapped individuals want the most up to date information, product comparisons, immediate pricing, helpful education concerning specialty own occupation vs regular own occupation definitions, access to maximum discounts and streamlined medical review (or avoidance altogether in some cases) and the ability to leverage more coverage down the road as their income increases. We are built to provide all of that PLUS assist in other critical areas such as protecting student loans and even the lowest available fixed Term Life insurance.

Disability insurance can be the key to protecting your assets if you have a car accident or a serious illness. If you have people who depend on your salary – it’s a must.

Working Men: Believe it or not a male age 35 has a 32% chance of disability.

Women: The statistics show that a female age 35 has an over 52% chance of becoming disabled for at least 90 days prior to age 65. That’s over half of all females. So that’s why Disability Insurance is so important for both men AND women.

Head of Households: if you are the major breadwinner in your family, you need Disability Insurance. For example, a 35 year old making $150,000 today will earn over $7.1 million dollars during their working career up to age 65. Should an injury or illness occur, where will money come from to help pay for ongoing mortgage, car, and ongoing expenses?

Employees with a Group Long Term Disability Plan: Most employers will offer or provide a Group Long Term Disability plan (GROUP LTD). The typical structure is designed to pay 60% of your pre-disability income to a maximum of $5,000 or $10,000/month. If we look at the $5,000 monthly cap, that means that anyone who is earning more than roughly $8,000/month in gross earnings will be limited to $5,000 of income. If you are one who is limited by this type of monthly cap, you could be well underinsured…suppose you are earning $12,000/month and are capped at $5,000? With 60% of your $12,000 equal to $7200/month but capped at $5,000, you are in the hole $2,200 per month. That might be the difference in car or equity line payments or other ongoing obligations.

Here’s what’s worse…since most employers pay for the Group LTD plan and deduct the premiums as a business expense, any benefit received will be taxable as ordinary income to the recipient. So, if we use the example of the above individual earning $12,000/month gross, not only do they lose the difference between the $5,000 monthly cap and their 60% replacement of $7,200, the $5,000 will be taxed leaving the disabled employee with somewhere close to $3000/month net…this is hardly reflective of the pre-disability $12,000 monthly income.

The real key in this planning area is to ask questions…ask if your company provides a Group LTD plan; ask what the monthly cap is; ask what percentage of lost income it replaces, i.e. 60% or 66/23%. Then, we need to look at your income and see how much of a taxable loss there might be and also how much additional protection you can obtain from an individual supplemental plan so that your full working income is protected.

Just like any medical practice, we don’t share your personal information with anyone.  But, we DO need the basics such as Name, Gender, Age, State of residence, Current medical institutions, Medical specialty and Date of graduation (if applicable) in order to prepare the most accurate quotes from our carriers. Additionally, if you are interested in the Medical Loan or Life Insurance products that typically accompany the traditional disability insurance, you will be prompted to answer a few more questions. Depending upon your request, you may see an immediate cost estimate for the requested protection amounts. In other cases, we need to do a little bit of homework on our end before sending you the best cost options via email within a day or so of your visit to the site. Our team will review your information and prepare the best match for your requests available in the industry. Be on the lookout for follow up emails from an assigned InsureSTAT team member with answers to your questions, your quotes, your application materials and, ultimately, your approved policy.

There is always a cost to adding the Own Occupation riders from all carriers. More often than not, we see a cost difference to include the “specialty” wording which is also not available from all insurance carriers. We have all that do offer this feature, so, no need to look elsewhere. Here’s a list of specialties that we see an overwhelming majority of residents or fellows make sure to include the “Specialty Own Occ” language:

• All Surgeons
• Anesthesiologists
• Interventional Radiologists
• Emergency Medicine
• Critical Care/Pulmonologists
• Dermatologists who perform surgery/MOHS procedures
• OB/GYN
• Cardiologists
• Urologists

All medical fields are critical and every individual should evaluate the available features and benefits of a disability insurance policy. Among the listed fields, we help many secure policies that DON’T INCLUDE the “specialty” definition but have language that is the perfect fit for the given situation. Likewise, we help Pediatricians, Family Practitioners, Psychiatrists, Pathologists, and all others who seek the “specialty” wording.

From the moment you land on our site, to getting educated, to ultimately placing your first disability insurance policy with us, we want to be directly involved with all questions and servicing. While you are always free to go directly to the actual insurance carrier for questions, we hope that you will find us to be even faster in response and easier to reach when you need us. So, for address changes to new EFT Bank draft forms and increased benefit amounts, CALL/EMAIL us right away! We are your team for as long as you maintain your policy. After graduation and depending upon the product that you have purchased, you will have the option either annually or every 3 years to increase your monthly income protection levels. We can guide you through this process and package the required short forms and income verification to the carrier for you. Just let us know when you are interested or reply to our annual reminders and we’ll take care of it all for you!

You are a medical professional and you’ve heard regular mention of the term “Specialty Own Occupation”…what in the world does this mean?

Ok disability insurance, Total Disability defined goes a little like this…

“If you are unable, due to accident or illness, to perform the material or substantial duties of your occupation, you are deemed to be totally disabled…so long as you are NOT GAINFULLY EMPLOYED. “

You probably noticed the BOLD ending to the definition above. This language is referred to as Modified Own Occupation total disability. If you can’t do what you were doing and you aren’t earning any income doing anything at else, the insurance company will pay the benefits every month. In most professions, including many executive based occupations like accounting or marketing, this definition can work just fine and provide appropriate protection.

However, for you as a resident or fellow who is wrapping up years of school and training and maybe even additional years learning a finite craft, the Modified Own Occupation language simply doesn’t cut it…not for  a pediatrician or hospitalist and in no way for a surgeon!

So, most companies offer an “Own Occupation” rider to increase the flexibility of the definition of Total Disability. This rider removes the “gainfully employed” wording completely. This means that if you can’t perform your pre-disability duties and have a 75/80% loss of income due to the illness or accident, you will receive your full monthly benefit EVEN IF YOU ARE EARNING OTHER UNLIMITED AMOUNTS OF INCOME. Voilla, we have just protected your income as a trained physician even if you could now teach or work in any other medical field or occupation whatsoever.

Now, let’s take this one step further…what if we add this line to the policy definition for Total Disability?

“if you have limited your duties to a medical specialty we will deem that specialty to be YOUR OWN OCCUPATION.”

Now, you have included a “SPECIALTY DEFINITION” Rider to your discounted Disability Insurance policy from InsureSTAT.

First of all, Disability Insurance is designed to protect your number  1 asset as a physician…your ability to EARN an income. But, in order to even get to your graduation date, lots of time and a HUGE amount of money has been invested in your training. The average debt for graduating residents and fellows in 2016 was $188,000!!!! So, many younger physicians enter their practices under large debt loads yet haven’t begun to grow money to repay those obligations. Additionally, should a disabling event occur before the debts are paid, most loans AREN’T forgiven as they are upon death. This catastrophic scenario leaves the physician in a dire situation if insurance benefits aren’t available to offset the risk. Based on this possibility, here are several key reasons to buy policies NOW!

• The fixed cost of disability insurance is locked in at your purchase age and the younger you are, the lower the annual cost.
• GME programs or special offers from insurance companies can provide a 30 year old graduating resident with a discounted rate compared to other professionals at the same age.
• Industry regulations allow for existing individual disability insurance to precede employer provided group Long Term Disability Insurance and not be capped at traditional 60% income protection caps. The resident can lock in $5000 or up to $7500/month of personal protection and then not be subject to issue and participation limits when stacking a new hospital or employer provided group plan on top. However, if the resident waits to secure the policy until after graduation, there is likely no discount available and all issued benefits will be subject to the 60% or lower issue caps.
• We may be able to help you secure individual disability insurance without medical exams before your graduation. This is almost never available after you graduate. In some cases, we can design Guaranteed Issue programs that require no medical review whatsoever. This is critical for those with any pre-existing conditions as many are declined coverage or have significant policy exclusions upon medical review.
• Unisex rates- Unlike Life Insurance where the cost of coverage is less for females than males, it’s the opposite for disability insurance where costs can be 50-60% higher for females! In some cases, we can secure special offers to bring the same costs to both males AND females with discounts on top.
• InsureSTAT has worked with a United States cover holder for Lloyds of London to bring a resident or fellow or one who has recently graduated a customized disability insurance policy designed to pay student loans in the event of disability. Specifically, if the individual has purchased or is in the process of purchasing through our team now, a traditional individual disability insurance policy, we can help you up buy a separate policy with up to $200,000 of benefit built to pay of medical loan debt. Up to $50,000 will be paid over 4 6 month increments while disabled so as to pay off the entire loan amount and not take up precious other income protection benefits that are necessary to fund family or personal obligations. The kicker to this never-before-seen policy design is that it can be secured WITHOUT ANY MEDICAL QUESTIONS!!! This is unique and groundbreaking for all residents fellows with any existing debt. Simply put, this is a must!!!

If we’re talking about the same insurance companies, Nope…It’s impossible. While we are certainly the most experienced in helping residents and fellows, practicing physicians and nurses with their insurance needs, the states all step in here to protect you as a consumer. All rates from all insurance carriers are filed with each state and include maximum discount structures that can be made available via one medical institution to another. Now, based on our history with the insurance companies and the level of endorsement from a hospital , we can bring additional features such as Guaranteed Issue underwriting (no medical review) and Unisex rate pricing (same for males and females) These critical features may or MAY NOT be available from any other agencies or websites. Additionally, if you are seeking individual disability, student loan protection and life insurance, it simply makes sense to consider letting us help you with all 3 at the same time.