I had worked with this dentist for years on his insurance and was concerned by his urgent request to meet. I had learned over the years that whenever someone wants to meet with me on short notice, it means they have bad personal health news to share. My immediate thought is always, “Okay, what did they diagnose?” When I arrived at his office, he told me he was very concerned because a physician had told him that he had symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis, and he was suddenly unsure about his future ability to perform dentistry. The request was to apply for the maximum disability policy that his income would allow and see how quickly we could get it inforce. Unfortunately for this doctor, once you get diagnosed, it’s too late. The insurance companies are going to ask for medical history information and attending physician statements, and they will decline the coverage. Luckily for this doctor, however, I had had a conversation with him years earlier–when he told me that disability insurance was too expensive for him, I told him that some is better than none. I asked him to do me a favor and get a smaller benefit policy for now that would keep the current premiums low and add a Future Purchase Option rider to the policy, which allowed him to increase his coverage with no medical underwriting. This rider is built to allow the policy to grow with you as your income increases, and in this case allowed a sick doctor the ability to increase his coverage by only showing financials and completing a short application. Thankfully we had years prior “ensured his insurability” by getting a smaller, more affordable policy that allowed him to increase benefit annually through the FPO option. I am glad I didn’t let him believe the coverage was too expensive when we first met to discuss!
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