Insurance – so goes the hoary cliché – is the one product you buy hoping never to use. While no one enjoys foreseeing unforeseeable calamities, regular meetings with your insurance broker are important. Overinsuring is a waste of money, but underinsuring can prove even more costly, should the unforeseeable happen.
Malpractice premiums continue to rise. If yours are getting out of hand, ask your broker about alternatives.
"Occurrence" policies remain the coverage of choice where they are available and affordable, but they are becoming an endangered species as fewer insurers are willing to write them. "Claims-made" policies are usually cheaper, and provide the same coverage as long as you remain in practice. You will need "tail" coverage against belated claims after you retire, but many companies provide free tail coverage after you’ve been insured for a minimum period (usually 5 years).
Other alternatives are gaining popularity as the demand for more reasonably priced insurance increases. The most common, known as reciprocal exchanges, are very similar to traditional insurers, but differ in certain aspects of funding and operations. For example, most exchanges require policyholders to make capital contributions in addition to payment of premiums, at least in their early stages. You get your investment back, with interest, when (if) the exchange becomes solvent.
Another option, called a captive, is an insurance company formed by several noninsurance entities (such as medical practices) to write their own insurance policies. All participants are shareholders, and all premiums (less administrative expenses) go toward building the security of the captive. Most captives purchase reinsurance to protect against catastrophic losses. If all goes well, individual owners sell their shares at retirement for a nice profit, which has grown tax free in the interim.
Risk Retention Groups (RRGs) are a combination of exchanges and captives, in that capital investments are usually required, and the owners are the insureds themselves; but all responsibility for management and adequate funding falls on the insureds’ shoulders, and reinsurance is rarely an option. Most medical malpractice RRGs are licensed in Vermont or South Carolina, because of favorable laws in those states, but they can be based in any state that allows them.
Exchanges, captives, and RRGs all carry risk: A few large claims can eat up all the profits, and may even put you in a financial hole. But of course, traditional malpractice policies offer zero profit opportunity.
If your financial situation has changed since your last insurance review, your life insurance needs have probably changed, too. As your retirement savings accumulate, less insurance is necessary. And if you own any expensive whole life policies, you can probably convert them to much cheaper term insurance.
Disability insurance is not something to skimp on, but if you are approaching retirement age, you may be able to decrease your coverage, or even eliminate it entirely, if your retirement plan is far enough along.
Liability insurance is likewise no place to pinch pennies, but you might be able to add an umbrella policy providing comprehensive catastrophic coverage, which may allow you to decrease your regular coverage, or raise your deductible limits.
One additional policy to consider is Employment Practices Liability Insurance, which protects you from lawsuits brought by militant or disgruntled employees. More on that next month.
Health insurance premiums continue to soar; Obamacare might offer a favorable alternative for your office policy. Open enrollment began Oct. 1, with coverage scheduled to begin Jan. 1, 2014. If you are considering such an option, go to the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight and pick a plan for your employees to enroll in.
Workers’ compensation insurance is mandatory in most states, and heavily regulated, so there is little room for cutting expenses. However, some states do not require you, as the employer, to cover yourself, and eliminating that coverage could save you a substantial amount. This is only worth considering, of course, if you have adequate health and disability policies in place.
If you’re over 50 years old, look into long-term care insurance as well. It’s relatively inexpensive if you buy it while you’re still healthy, and it could save you and your heirs a load of money on the other end. If you have shouldered the expense of a chronically ill parent or grandparent, you know what I’m talking about.
Dr. Eastern practices dermatology and dermatologic surgery in Belleville, N.J., and has been a long-time monthly columnist for Dermatology News.