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Question

Mass Mutual Disability Insurance - Own Occupation Rider, for Dentist vs Other insurance Carrier

Asked on April 21st 2023 by Jim
Hi, I am a dentist, age 40, and in TX and wanting to get disability insurance for benefit 10-12k per month. I have read your website and watched videos and want to pursue Mass Mutual because, it seems like it has less issues for claims, and is not erisa, like Guardian, but originally I was considering Guardian individual, not group, policy. My question is contractually, for riders (future increase option, partial/residual disability, 3% inflation, and unemployment) and own occupation, which carrier contract favors the client, me the insurer the most. I have read though the contract for Guardian and it seems more straight forward and simple for the definition of total disability and for own occupation rider, than Mass Mutual (I'm still waiting to read contract) but Mass might have a better claims process,(or rather Guardian, is not as good now since 2019). Since you work with them more often and more intimately I wanted to ask for your opinion. Thank you. Also when signing up for Mass, you have to sign and irrevocable hippa consent, and I think it lasts for two years but I was under the impression that once you sign it, your medical history in the future will always be open to them, while insured, and it is irrevocable while you want coverage. Are there any other downsides to getting Mass Mutual disability Radius Choice? It seems the best way to move forward is to contact one of the lawyers at Dell and have strong medical evidence if ever needed for a claim. I wanted to ask before hand before I ever have to actually file a claim to see if there is a better choice from your experience. The goal is to be taken care of in case anything ever happened with the least amount of headache. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Answer

Answered on April 21st 2023 by Attorney Gregory Dell

Jim, Guardian / Berkshire prior to 2021 was one of the best disability companies. They had some management changes sometime during covid and we have found them to be very difficult to deal with. Recently we have seen them act like a large group disability insurance company that looks for any reason to deny a long term disability claim. I would not worry at all about the irrevocable Hippa consent. I would just make sure the consent is limited to medical records and not everything and anything such as your bank accounts, tax returns, employers, etc. You need to make sure that you get the true own occupation definition of disability offered by Mass Mutual, which allows you to be disabled from dentistry, yet collect your full disability benefits if you are unable to perform the material duties of your occupation. I would not buy Guardian now. Things could change in the future and likely they will as Guardian learns that bad claim handling is not good for trying to sell disability policies.