Look around your office and think of all of the monthly expenses that keep your practice thriving — employee salaries, rent, utilities, practice loans, and more. How would you cover those expenses if you were disabled and couldn't work for months? You can help avoid depleting your personal savings, or worse — losing your practice — with the Office Overhead Expense Plan — coverage you need to help protect your dental practice.
The ADA Office Overhead Expense Plan reimburses you for the business expenses for which you are legally and financially liable. It makes good business sense to have separate protection for your office expenses. (See below to learn more about how Office Overhead is different from other insurance coverage.) Having this kind of coverage could make the difference between keeping the doors of your practice open during a disability — or having to shut them permanently.
With this Plan, you choose the coverage you need to match your eligible office overhead expenses — from as little as $500 up to the maximum of $25,000 per month. Then if you become disabled, your covered expenses can be reimbursed each month up to your full coverage amount, with benefits retroactive to your first day of disability after satisfying a 30-day waiting period.
Whatever the size of your practice, the ADA Office Overhead Expense Plan can meet most needs. The $25,000 monthly maximum1 provides a great amount of protection for larger practices, yet also leaves room for most businesses to grow. Being able to get all your business overhead insurance from one source can be a big plus — because it can mean dealing with only one insurance company if you have to file a claim.
Disability is defined in this Plan on an "own occupation" basis, which is the best disability protection you can obtain. How it works: If your disabling illness or injury keeps you from performing the duties of your area of dentistry -e general dentistry or one of the specialties recognized by the ADA — you will be eligible for benefits.
"Own occupation" coverage, because it is so specialized to each profession, is increasingly hard to find in disability plans available today. What it means to you is simple: As a clinical practitioner with a qualifying disability, you could generate an income without having to take another job or seek another career -e even in a related profession like consulting or teaching.
You can receive benefits under this Plan whether you're totally or partially disabled, which gives you the most comprehensive coverage. Partial disability is determined if you cannot perform one or more of the essential duties of your job, or if you can only work less than 20 hours per week.
In addition, you can also collect benefits if you return to work part-time following a period of either total or partial disability (any 30 out of 60 days). Depending when disability occurs, the Residual Disability feature allows you to receive partial benefits for up to 24 months.
You may need to hire a replacement dentist to care for your patients if you become disabled. This Plan automatically includes up to six months of additional benefits — over and above whatever regular monthly benefits you may receive — to help cover the cost of your replacement. Benefits will be equal to the actual compensation paid to the replacement dentist, up to 50% of your monthly insured amount. Note: To qualify for reimbursement, the replacement dentist cannot be regularly employed in your practice prior to your disability.
If you're concerned about your own paycheck, keep in mind there is another type of disability insurance specially designed for personal income replacement. The ADA Income Protection Plan provides up to $10,000 in monthly disability income coverage to help replace your take-home pay during a period of disability.
Once you obtain this coverage, it is renewable all the way to age 70 — without any further medical evaluation. Your coverage will remain active as long as you continue to work at least 20 hours a week, remain an ADA member, and pay your premiums when due.
As your practice expenses increase, so can your coverage — and it can happen automatically. You can increase your monthly coverage amount by $500 once each year until age 55 — without any additional underwriting. Up to five guaranteed increases (for a total of up to $2,500 in additional monthly coverage) can be exercised, subject to the Plan's maximum of $25,000.
This Future Increase Benefit is included the Plan at no extra cost, and you don't need to answer any medical questions in order to receive this additional coverage. A message will appear on your premium notice if you are eligible for an automatic increase. Keep in mind that your total monthly benefit from all sources, including this Plan, cannot exceed your actual monthly overhead expenses.
The ADA Office Overhead Expense Plan automatically includes several extra features to enhance your coverage:
The Office Overhead Expense Plan lets you customize your coverage by choosing between two benefit plans — 24 times or 12 times your monthly insured amount — which determines the total dollar amount of benefits you could receive. (Regardless of your choice, you can get up to 12 times your monthly amount if you become disabled after age 65.) All covered expenses incurred within 48 months of your disability are eligible for reimbursement.
Example: If you choose the 12 times plan and have a monthly coverage amount of $10,000, you could receive up to $120,000 in disability benefits. You are not limited to receiving 12 benefit payments; rather, you can receive any number of payments up to the maximum allowable benefit and within the 48-month window.
Premiums are lower for the 12 times option, which many dentists feel it is sufficient. The 24 times option, on the other hand, provides maximum protection and buys you additional time to recover from your disability or prepare your practice for sale.
Please note: A 30-day waiting period applies to either benefit plan. The waiting period is the number of days you must be disabled before the Plan can pay benefits (30 consecutive days for total disability, or any 30 out of 60 days for residual disability). After you've satisfied the waiting period, benefits are retroactive to the very first day you were disabled.
It's surprisingly affordable to protect your business against your disability. And rates for the ADA Office Overhead Expense Plan can be up to 30% to 50% less2 than other business overhead insurance — which makes this protection an outstanding value. The volume buying power of the ADA, combined with a Premium Credit that reduces rates in advance, keeps your cost of insurance low and affordable.
Under current tax laws, your Plan premiums are a legitimate business expense. That means you can deduct the full amount on your business tax return every year.
When you add it all up, the ADA Office Overhead Expense Plan is coverage you can't afford to be without. Adequate protection can help keep your business afloat during a period of disability, and keep your office doors open until you're able to return to work. Without it, you could be forced to close those doors forever - and never get a penny for everything you've built.
1 Be sure that your total monthly business overhead coverage from all sources does not exceed your actual monthly overhead expenses.
2 Rate comparisons are based on individual policies researched by Great-West Life in 2002 and 2003.
3 Please check Legal Issues for additional information pertaining to this Plan. Click here to learn more about other ADA-sponsored insurance products.