It could. While most policies sold to dentist are “own occupation” policies,
the term “occupation” is a malleable term. Typically, “occupation” is
defined as the “occupation or occupations” you were engaged in
immediately prior to your date of disability.
As we’ve explained in our prior articles and posts, this means that you can modify your occupation
and hurt your chances of collecting if you change the types of
procedures you are doing. If you reduce your hours, stop doing certain
dental procedures and/or focus more on office administration and are not
able to resume your normal schedule before filing a claim, your
disability insurance company may determine your occupation is a
“part-time dentist” and “part-time administrator,” determine that you
can still do office administration, and refuse to pay total disability benefits.
Action Step: If you think that you
may need to file a disability claim in the future, carefully weigh the
risk of modifying your occupation against the risk of your future claim
being evaluated based upon a modified occupation. If appropriate,
consider filing a disability claim prior to pursuing non-clinical
options, but discuss this first with an experienced disability insurance
lawyer.
Each dentist’s claim for disability benefits involves different
facts, disabling conditions, policy requirements, insurance companies,
etc. While our attorneys are making an effort to share general knowledge
with the dental community and answer dentists’ questions about the
impact of the coronavirus, this not a substitute for individualized
advice from an experienced disability insurance lawyer. If you would
like to speak with our attorneys and have them take an in-depth look at
your particular situation, please feel free to contact us directly.