Office Overhead Expense Plan

Insurance Plan

Whether you are just starting your own practice or growing the one you already have, you know how fast your financial obligations can add up. Employee salaries, lease/mortgage, utilities, loans: How would you cover those expenses if you were disabled and couldn't work for months and months? How long could your practice survive if you weren't there practicing dentistry?

The ADA-sponsored Office Overhead Expense Plan can help keep your practice viable. Whether you return after a disability or choose to sell your practice - help keep its marketable value intact with business overhead insurance from the ADA. If you become disabled, the Plan reimburses you for your business expenses. Separate from your Disability Income Protection coverage that protects your personal income, Office Overhead Expense coverage could make the difference between keeping the doors of your practice open during a disability and having to close them permanently.

Did you know the average private dental practice (per owner dentist) has $404,300 in expenses? Check out this chart from ADA News.

The ADA-sponsored Office Overhead Expense Plan offers:

• Up to $25,000 in coverage of eligible business expenses
• Coverage starts with total or partial disability
• Replacement dentist benefits (up to six months of additional benefits)
• Exclusive member-only rates

Apply for Office Overhead Expense Insurance for dentists.

To be eligible to apply for the ADA-sponsored Office Overhead Expense Plan, you must be actively working 20 hours per week and not in the active, full-time service of the military.

The ADA-sponsored Office Overhead Expense Plan is not business interruption insurance.

Rates

The Office Overhead Expense Plan is an outstanding value. As with other plans, the ADA sponsors the group program, and the favorable claims experience is shared with the participants in the form of a Premium Credit discount. And, under current tax law, your Plan premiums are deductible as a legitimate business expense.**

Premiums are based on your Attained Age and increase every ten years. Age brackets include under 30, 30-39, 40-49, and 50-59. After age 59, coverage amounts can no longer be increased, but coverage is renewable until age 75, subject to the terms of the policy. The premium amount you'll pay includes a Premium Credit that is applied to your premium regardless of age.

Dentists can choose to be covered for either 12 or 24 times the monthly insured amount. To help you choose which option would be best for you, download the Office Overhead Expense rate chart (pdf) to compare rates by age and insured amounts. Or, obtain an Office Overhead Expense premium quote online.

^* Premium Credit discount shares favorable financial results with Plan participants; discount is not guaranteed but reevaluated semi-annually.

^**Consult your tax or financial advisor for information specific to your situation.

To be eligible to apply for the Office Overhead Plan, you must be actively working 20 hours per week and not in the active, full-time service of the military. There is a 25% increase to the Standard rate if the applicant uses tobacco. If the applicant does not qualify for Standard rates, it may be possible to qualify for one of the two additional substandard rate classes.

Features

If you become disabled, will your practice survive?

The Office Overhead Expense Plan was designed to address the unique business needs of dentists. If you should become disabled and unable to practice in your special area of dentistry, this Plan can pay for eligible expenses to help you save the practice you've worked so hard to build. Some of the Plan's features include:

• Up to $25,000 per month in coverage: Larger practices can enjoy a single solution for their coverage needs while smaller practices have plenty of room to grow.
• True "own occupation" coverage: This plan includes a true own occupation definition of disability meaning that you're considered disabled if you cannot work in your special area of dental practice (general dentistry or any applicable specialty recognized by the ADA) due to a disabling illness or injury.
• Residual disability protection: You don’t have to be totally disabled to receive benefits. You can get partial benefits after you are totally and/or residually disabled for any 30 of 60 consecutive days if the monthly gross revenue of your practice is less than 20% of your prior monthly practice gross revenues. And if you return to work part-time and experience a loss of monthly practice gross revenues of at least 20% after a total disability of at least 60 consecutive days, your residual benefits for the next three months will be at least 50% of your insured amount. Residual disability benefits may continue thereafter until you reach the Plan maximum.
• Replacement dentist coverage: If you’re totally disabled and need to hire a replacement dentist to maintain your practice, you can qualify for up to six months of additional benefits (over and above your regular monthly benefit and retroactive to the date of disability) to help cover this added expense. The additional benefit is equal to the actual compensation paid to the replacement dentist, up to 50% of your monthly insured amount.
• Long-term renewability: Your coverage is renewable all the way to age 75 without any further medical evaluation as long as you continue to work at least 20 hours a week and remain an ADA member.
• Future increase benefit: Increase coverage $500 without proof of good health on any February 1 or August 1 semi-annual billing date but not more than once in a calendar year to a maximum increase of $2,500. Available to ages 54 and under.
• Survivor benefit: A special survivor benefit applies if you should die while receiving benefits. Your beneficiary can continue to receive benefits for up to three months after your death, which can be useful if the practice will be transitioned to another dentist.
• Waiver of premium: Your premiums for this insurance will be waived as long as you remain disabled, once you satisfy the 30-day waiting period.
• Voluntary rehabilitation program: An optional, fully-paid rehabilitation program including both physical and occupational therapy is available to help you get back to work as soon as possible.
• Inflation Fighter: This automatic feature allows for your coverage amount to keep pace with the inflationary costs of maintaining your practice without an application or medical re-qualification. This feature offers automatic coverage increases that may vary each year (up to 5%) depending on the current CPI-W index.

Coverage Lock-In

The plan features that you select when you purchase Office Overhead Expense coverage with ADA-sponsored insurance plans are in place for the life of your coverage. Read more about ADA-sponsored insurance plans coverage lock-in.*

To be eligible to apply for the Office Overhead Plan, you must be actively working 20 hours per week and not in the active, full-time service of the military.

* Mandatory changes because of changing regulatory or legal requirements in the future may be made as required by Illinois law. Otherwise, coverage features in effect on or after November 1, 2009 may not be amended by Great-West or the ADA once coverage commences as long as the participant does not allow coverage to lapse. Locked-in coverage features that subsequently lapse may not be available upon re-application for coverage. Premium rates are subject to change. The Coverage Lock-in feature does not apply to the Universal Life certificate.

Options

The Office Overhead Expense Plan enables you to choose between two maximum coverage amounts.

• 12 Times: For a lower premium, your maximum benefit is set at 12 times your monthly coverage amount.
• 24 Times: For a slightly higher premium, your maximum benefit is set at 24 times your monthly coverage amount.

For example, if you choose the 12 times option with $10,000 in monthly coverage, the maximum coverage is $120,000 in expense payments. Payments are not confined to a single year, rather the total potential benefit amount is payable over 48 months with no limit to the actual number of payments.

A 30-day waiting period applies to either benefit plan. The waiting period is the number of days you must be disabled before the Plan can pay benefits (30 consecutive days for total disability, or any 30 out of 60 consecutive days for residual disability). After you've satisfied the waiting period, benefits are retroactive to the first day you became disabled.

To be eligible to apply for the Office Overhead Plan, you must be actively working 20 hours per week and not in the active, full-time service of the military.