Disability insurance helps consumers prepare financially for the future in case of an unexpected turn of events.

This kind of insurance is extremely important for people in any occupation, but for doctors it can be especially necessary.

Many doctors who become disabled are unable to continue in their practice, and end up losing both their careers and their income.

While doctors may assume that their disability insurance will give them access to the majority of their former income, this may not be the case. The truth of the matter rests on what kind of disability insurance policy they have. Many plans provide fewer disability benefits than one might expect.

Doctors used to be a group sought after by disability insurers, considered low-risk. However, doctors’ incomes have declined inversely in relation to the number of disability claims. Insurers ended up losing money on these policies.

Sometimes, insurers can unfairly deny disability insurance claims. A claim denial can be issued because the insurer does not believe the insured doctor is genuinely disabled, or can continue their work but wish to simply claim disability benefits. In a claim denial, insurers can argue that the doctor has skills that can be employed in other positions than their career as a physician.

Doctors in need of disability insurance should look for policies that make sure to include certain essential disability benefits. One of the most important for doctors it that the policy includes the “Own Occupation” of disability.

This simply means that, while a doctor may have transferable skills that would allow them to perform tasks adequately for another job, the insurance covers them if they are unable to perform the tasks of their own occupation.

A policy that further specifies this definition, considering your occupation a ‘specialty physician’ rather than a physician, would help to eliminate the possibility of a claim denial, stating that a disabled doctor can work as another kind of physician.

Doctors have to be careful in their policy choices. Some policies state that if you can work in any job in any capacity, you cannot be considered disabled. These kinds of policies should be avoided at all costs, because insurers will use these definitions to issue a claim denial even in the face of a legitimate disability.

Appealing Disability Insurance Claim Denials

Approximately 3 percent of insurance claims are denied, so most Americans have nothing to worry about. But for the 3 percent who do, there are options to fight the initial decision.

Appealing an insurance denial is most often worthwhile for Americans. While an insurance claim denial can shake up a person’s confidence, and an appeal can seem intimidating, the likelihood it will successfully go through is high enough that there is no reason to not file one.

However, other insurance claim denials are filed not because of computer or data entry errors but because of judgments of medical necessity. In these cases, an insurer may consider a treatment experimental and therefore not proven to be medically necessary, even if a medical expert believes that treatment to be medically necessary.

Disability Insurance Lawsuits

Some doctors who have been denied their legitimate insurance claims have responded by filing bad faith insurance lawsuits. These insurance lawsuits allege that insurance companies may deliberately deny legitimate insurance claims in order to boost their own profits.

More and more people that have been denied disability insurance are coming forward with their personal stories in these claim denial cases. Some injured parties have decided to file bad faith lawsuits, gaining thousands or in some cases even millions of dollars in settlement money.

If you or someone you know has been denied long term disability insurance or other insurance, you may be able to file a bad faith insurance lawsuit.