Has it been more than 2 years since you’ve met with your insurance advisor to review your disability and professional expense insurance needs? If so, right now is a great time for a review.

The Doctors of BC INCOMEprotect Disability Insurance and Professional Expense Insurance plans offer the optional guaranteed insurability benefit rider (GIB). This rider allows you to increase your coverage, without health questions, each November during open enrollment. Evidence of insurability is required for increases if you do not have the GIB rider or if you apply outside the open enrollment period.

INCOMEprotect Disability Insurance

A standard insurance industry recommendation is to carry 30% to 40% of your net income in tax-free disability insurance. It’s important to maximize your disability insurance: if you were unable to work due to illness or injury, your disability benefits could be your only source of income. During a disability, your family’s monthly expenses would continue. Would your disability benefits be sufficient to cover those costs, or would you face difficult decisions such as cancelling family activities, pausing mortgage payments or education investment, or depleting your savings? You also need to continue saving for your retirement during a disability, since disability benefits end at age 65.

If your practice has grown, if you’ve moved to a new payment model, or if your last disability insurance review was over 2 years ago, a Doctors of BC insurance advisor will be pleased to review your coverage to ensure that it meets your current needs.

Professional Expense Insurance

If you’re unable to work due to a disability, Professional Expense Insurance will provide a tax-free monthly reimbursement benefit for your professional expenses, including clinic overhead, membership dues, accounting fees, office rent or mortgage, equipment leases, and staff salaries. Many practice expenses will continue whether or not you can work and earn income. If your Professional Expense Insurance is inadequate, you may have to divert funds from your personal disability payments or deplete your savings to keep your practice running during a disability.

Need advice or have questions?

Look for our Guaranteed Insurability Benefit email reminders throughout October. They offer helpful information and links to our new personalized GIB needs and rates calculator and to the online application forms.

Speak with a licensed Doctors of BC insurance advisor to review your insurance needs. Email insurance@doctorsofbc.ca [9] to schedule a complimentary phone or virtual meeting.

—Laura McLean
Members’ Products and Services

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