Insurance is rarely at the top of anybody’s wish list to spend time thinking about or dealing with, but it is important to consider what would happen to your practice if you were unable to work.
An overheads insurance policy will ensure your practice can keep running whilst you recuperate – your expenses won’t stop just because you have: staff will still need to be paid, loans serviced, bills met etc.
Finding an appropriate insurance policy can be a minefield – cover will normally fall within two types: annual or long term cover. The latter provides greater security through the lifetime of your business – providing an insurance policy that will carry on into your retirement without any negative implications if your health changes or if you make a claim. Compare this against a renewable policy, typically offered on an annual basis, whereby if you make a claim or your health changes the insurer may impose additional terms on the cover, increase the premium or, even worse, refuse future cover at the next renewal date.
Dental Insurance Services
We have been providing cover to dentists for over 30 years and have seen many examples to illustrate these points. For example, dentists who have been unfortunate enough to have to claim on their policy multiple times over the years for the same condition – not a problem on cover providing long term security. The claim benefits payable in these cases can prove sizeable and provide the insured dentist with the time required to consider the long term options for their business.
On the flip side of the coin, we have had policyholders who have left a long term policy in favour of a cheaper product, only to return a couple of years down the line when their premium has been reviewed or amendments made to the detriment of the cover provided.
Whether you select a long term or annual policy the key is to make sure you fully understand the terms of the cover so that you do not have any nasty surprises when you need to make a claim or if you suffer a change in health.
Insurance options
Price is normally at the forefront of buyers minds when purchasing insurance, but cheapest is not always best. It is a competitive market and there is plenty of choice providing the opportunity to trim costs, but there are plenty of other factors you need to take into account when selecting a policy. For example additional covers within the core product, a quality service, reputation of the insurer and broker, how long the provider has been offering cover, how often rates under the policy have been reviewed, whether the underlying insurer of the scheme has changed and how many claim benefits have been paid out in any given period of time.
