Is Group Insurance a Good Thing for You?

Insurance is a key part of every financial plan: It helps protect you and your family from financial loss. Some multi-dentist group practices provide affordable group insurance plans, but many dentists find themselves in the position of having to find their own insurance coverage, or supplementing the available policies to ensure they have the coverage they need.

You may have been told that group insurance products are not right for you. Critics of group insurance sometimes say that, depending on the employer or group, there may be only one insurance plan choice and limited ability to customize your coverage; that disability coverage may deny you benefits if you work in another area of dental practice or in a new occupation; that you may lose your coverage if you change your job; and that because you’re not the policy owner, your benefits or rates may change at any time — or even be cancelled. Many dentists are left wondering whether group insurance is the right choice for them.

Generations of dentists and their families are protected by the ADA Members Insurance Plans, issued by Protective Life. The plans are designed to address the issues that many critics have with group insurance.

The ADA members insurance plans give dentists choices, including three types of life insurance: Term Life, Level Term Life and Term Plus^® Universal Life Insurance.

There are also two disability insurance plans, Disability Income Protection and Office Overhead Expense, which include the true “own occupation” definition of disability. This means that if you are disabled from your specialized area of dental practice, you can still receive benefits, even if you are able to work in another area of dentistry, or in another field.

Two supplemental medical insurance plans are also offered: Hospital Indemnity and Critical Illness.

An important feature of ADA members disability insurance is our Coverage Lock-In guarantee, which means that while you can apply for additional coverage as your needs change, you won’t lose the features from your original coverage, such as own occupation coverage and waiting period waivers for qualifying hospitalizations. Unless alterations are mandated by changes in law or regulation, the coverage features you sign up for cannot be changed or taken away, though the coverage can be enhanced. And you don’t have to worry about losing your insurance if you change your job; as long as you maintain active ADA membership, you can take your ADA group insurance with you as your career evolves.

There are further benefits to obtaining coverage with the ADA group insurance plans. The group insurance model enables the ADA to offer some of the most competitive rates in the market because only ADA members — like you — are insured, rather than the general population. That means the buying power of tens of thousands of ADA members, student members and their families can be leveraged, allowing for the negotiation of favorable terms of coverage that individuals can’t get on their own. The simplified group insurance contract structure streamlines the plan administration, reducing costs and helping to ensure you receive a consistently good value year after year.

For large group insurance plans, insurance companies can adjust rates based on past performance, which has been a significant financial benefit for ADA members insurance plans. Over the last 10 years, the favorable claims experience of ADA Term Life Insurance has been passed back to the participants in the form of a premium credit, rather than benefiting the insurance company like individual insurance does. This has reduced participants' insurance costs by 33% on average.^{1, 2}

As an ADA member, it’s important to make sure you’ve critically assessed your insurance needs. The ADA group insurance plans, underwritten by Protective, are a valuable benefit of your ADA membership, and can help you meet those needs in a flexible and effective manner, with insurance plans designed specifically for dentists. As you progress through your career, remember that the ADA offers many options to help protect you, your family and your practice.