All Branch Topic (ABT) Insurance in the military?

[MatthewLeeDDS]

So I graduate next year (woo hoo!) and am off to the Academy for my AEGD next summer.

My question is this. What types of insurance should I secure for myself upon or before graduation, if any? I would love insight on this on two fronts: if I plan to withdraw after my 5 year duty is over or if I decide to stay in for 20+ years.

I'm specifically talking about the following:
-Life Insurance
-Disability Insurance
-Malpractice Insurance


As a follow up, does it make any sense to try to work for a month and a half as a part time dentist for someone in the area before COT and my AEGD or is that a waste of time? I assume if I did that I'd need to pick up some malpractice insurance even for that small window just in case.

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[Hedgy]

So I graduate next year (woo hoo!) and am off to the Academy for my AEGD next summer.

My question is this. What types of insurance should I secure for myself upon or before graduation, if any? I would love insight on this on two fronts: if I plan to withdraw after my 5 year duty is over or if I decide to stay in for 20+ years.

I'm specifically talking about the following:
-Life Insurance
-Disability Insurance
-Malpractice Insurance


As a follow up, does it make any sense to try to work for a month and a half as a part time dentist for someone in the area before COT and my AEGD or is that a waste of time? I assume if I did that I'd need to pick up some malpractice insurance even for that small window just in case.

I think this isn't considered by most and is an excellent question. You can get the SGLI (Servicemember's Group Life Insurance) for $27/mo. and you'll get $400k. I don't think this is nearly enough. Check into the ADA or USAA for more term insurance. I have 1.5M on a 30-year term with USAA and it's pretty reasonable. Most are 20-year term BTW.

Disability is skipped by most people. I think it's worth it, but you'll not get much early on as it's based on your last 3 years of earnings. You may be better off waiting until you're in for 3 years. IMO disability is worse than death as far as finances go. Again, I'd check the ADA for this as it's cheaper through them.

Malpractice is not needed in the service. Yes, you can be sued, but it HAS to be proven gross negligence and I think that is highly, highly unlikely in a military setting. Only get malpractice if you are moonlighting and even then it is relatively inexpensive and even then, it may be covered under a locum tenens agreement. I think I pay around $1600-1800/yr for mine. I use the ADA insurer here as well (The Cincinnati Insurance Group).

I would only work for that 1 1/2 months if you are planning on moonlighting later. I just don't think it will make that big of difference and if I were hiring, I wouldn't want someone for 1 1/2 months unless I were on a long vacation.

 

[del Sol DOHC]

I had a lot of trouble finding disability insurance that would cover me while active duty. Most of the policies would be in a "frozen" inactive status while I would be on active duty, and would not pay out if I were to become disabled during that time. The only advantage to that would be that after you left active duty and reactivated your policy, your premiums would be locked in at a younger age rate. This was not acceptable to me, because I know that the VA disability offered to military members who become disabled is woefully inadequate for a dentist. I did find one company, The Standard, that will write individual, own occupation disability policies that will cover you during active duty. The only catch is that the policy has to be in place before you receive actual orders to active duty, so you have to start it while you are still in school.

 

[Nat426]

Good topic and good information, this is something I hadn't thought about. Thanks for posting.

 

[MatthewLeeDDS]

Great answers, appreciate it everyone! If anyone else has insight here I would love it. Especially interested in the difficulty of getting solid disability insurance. Sounds like I'll have to do some hunting for it.