In this post, we are looking at the various insurances for dentists.

#1. Insurances for Dentists: To Cover Damages to Dental Clinic

Before you read further: Any insurance policy comes with a base plan + riders.

Base plan is the core plan of the policy and riders get you additional protection (not present in the base plan)

You build your dental clinic/office with a lot of hard work and investments. There is the investment of time and money in planning all the aspects of your dental clinic. You have to spend on clinic real estate, furnishing and then on equipment. So, even before you start working in your clinic, there is an investment of millions into the project. Thus, you need to protect and ensure your clinic against events like theft, fire etc.

Insurances For Dentists: To cover against Fire

and allied perils

These types of insurances are usually known as Office Insurance or Shop Insurance. These types of insurances provide the basic cover against damages caused due to fire – whether accidental fire or malicious damage caused by someone. Apart from this, these policies are usually packaged with inbuilt riders for damages caused by natural calamities such as earthquakes, floods, and storms. Some stand-alone policies even cover riots, strikes, and acts of terrorism. (this might vary from one insurance company to other) However, any loss resultant of gross negligence will not be reimbursed.

There are many companies in the market who are providing Office & Shop insurance. Though the basic nature of the plans is same, they vary a little in terms of additional benefits.

While choosing a Shop Insurance or an Office Insurance, always keep a track of 2 lists.

What is covered under the insurance?

What is not covered by the insurance?

Read carefully for the clauses that are not covered by the insurance. That’s very important.

What is generally included in Office/Shop insurance?

1. This type if insurance covers all your basic office premises and items of furniture.
2. A dental clinic has much costly equipment like RVG, X-ray, light cure units, laser units etc.
3. These insurances must cover the hight cost equipment in your clinic.
4. Make a completely thorough list of all the instruments in your clinic with their prices. Don’t miss anything. Then plan for an insurance of an adequate amount that can cover the damages of the equipment.
5. Follow the point number 4 very carefully. In case you are made a mistake of not providing the correct details, them the insurance company might not pay the cover.

Insurances For Dentists: To cover against events of Burglary & Others

For any professional establishment, a cover against theft or burglary is a must. This type of insurance protects your professional establishment from any loss arising because of theft or burglary attempt. For example, your RVG machine is stolen. Though rare but it still can happen. If you have a shop insurance in policy then the insurance company will pay you the price for the loss.

In the case of loss, the policy pays for the loss incurred depending on the sum insured. So, it is important that the sum insured be equal to the market value of all the items covered in order to be able to get the replacement cost of the items damaged or stolen.

So as suggested before, read very carefully what all is mentioned in the insurance inclusion policy. For example, there might be a clause to cover electronic equipment, but only for computers. Then you have to add the insurance for your dental/medical equipment as a rider or search for another insurance company that will suit your needs.

In the next slide

What will you do if a patient files a case against you for misconduct or a consumer case for faulty treatment?

Such incidences result in a lot of financial loss.

So, how can you safeguard and have insurance for yourself/your clinic against such incidences? 

See Next

In this post, we are looking at the various insurances for dentists.

#2. Insurances for Dentists for Professional Indemnity/Consumer Cases

(Also known as Error & Omission Policy or Doctor’s Liability Insurance)

Being a professional Dental Surgeon means you are rendering a professional service in your dental clinic. Your profession involves carrying out prosthetic rehabilitation, surgical procedures like tooth extraction & also administering medicines to patients.

You can be as careful as possible, but you can never completely avoid the potential risk of something going wrong during or after the treatment. It can be either by 3 following scenarios:

1. You committed an error during the procedure. It can be due to a faulty diagnosis or mistake during the dental procedure. As a result, the patient implicates you and your practice for negligence in the court of law.
2. It can also be a case where a patient falsely implicates the dental surgeon of malpractice and files a consumer case against the doctor and his/her set up.
3. There can also be a case where an error in the dental procedure arose due to fault in the machines or dental equipment in your clinic.

In all the above scenarios, the dental surgeon stands a chance of financial loss due to litigations.

Where can this policy be used?

This policy is meant for professionals to cover liability falling on them as a result of errors and omissions committed by them whilst rendering professional service.

The policy offers a benefit of a retroactive period on continuous renewal of policy whereby claims reported in subsequent renewal but pertaining to the earlier period after the first inception of the policy, also become payable.Group policies can also be issued covering members of one profession. (in case you have employed other dental surgeons in your dental clinic) Group discount in premium is available depending upon the number of members covered.

Scope of this Insurance

The policy covers all sums which the insured professional becomes legally liable to pay as damages to a third party in respect of any error and/or omission on his/her part committed whilst rendering professional service. Legal cost and expenses incurred in defense of the case, with the prior consent of the insurance company, are also payable, subject to the overall limit of indemnity selected.

Only civil liability claims are covered. Any liability arising out of any criminal act or act committed in violation of any law or ordinance is not covered.

Who can Use this Insurance?

This insurance is meant for professionals.

1. Doctors, Dental surgeons and medical practitioners – which covers registered medical practitioners like physicians, surgeons, cardiologists, pathologists etc.
2. Medical establishments – which covers legal liability falling on the medical establishment such as hospitals and nursing homes, as a result of error or omission committed by any named professional or qualified assistants engaged by the medical establishment.

General third-party liability:

A commercial general liability plan covers a range of liabilities faced by a business. The major protections available are against bodily injury (includes mental ailments resulting from physical injury), damage to property, advertising injury (liabilities arising from the insured advertising his goods or services such as libel, invasion of privacy, copyright infringement, and so on) and legal liability for the insured business because of a personal injury to a third party (such as charges of harassment and discrimination).

Workmen compensation policy:

According to the Workmen’s Compensation Act, 1923, and Fatal Accidents Act, 1855, the employer is legally bound to pay compensation to employees for bodily injury, disability or death caused due to accidents that happen during the course of their employment and provide compensation for occupational hazards of a job. A workmen’s compensation policy covers these monetary liabilities.

So if you are employing other dental surgeons, technicians to work in your clinic or you are having a chain of clinics employing a group of doctors and technicians, then in the case of any injury to your employees at your workplace, you are supposed to pay the compensation.

So, if you work alone in the clinic then you need not worry about this insurance. But if you are employing other doctors and technicians/nurses then you need to think about this insurance. So, consult your lawyers regarding this.

Please note: Many insurance companies provide this policy and each will be slightly different from each other. Not every plan will be suitable for you. So, research properly and minutely the plans of every company. In the case of any confusion, take help of experienced doctors or lawyers/insurance agents.

See Next the Insurances for Dentists and their family. 

You as dental surgeon work hard for the comfort and happiness of your family. Your living depends on your skill as a dentist. So, what are the insurances that you must have, in the case of the loss of life of a dentist or disability to work as a dentist?

See next page to know 

Insurances for dentists

protection of the family of the Dentist

You as dental surgeon work hard for the comfort and happiness of your family. Your living depends on your skill as a dentist. So, what are the insurances that you must have, in the case of the loss of life of a dentist or disability to work as a dentist?

For the protection of your family a Dentist must have 3 insurance options:

1. Life Insurance (with maturity benefits)
2. Term insurance (Insurance of life with no maturity benefits)
3. Health Insurance (Insurance for health)

If you google about these, you will find hundreds of results. Do not get overwhelmed. Have patience and go through the plans. We will give you some pointers that you can use while you search for the correct insurances for you.

Insurances for Dentists: Life Insurance (With maturity benefits)

In this insurance, you deposit regular yearly or monthly premiums for a certain duration of time (say 25 years). At the end of this period, you will receive a lump sum that will include the interest of all the premiums you have deposited plus all the premiums.

Benefit: This insurance acts as your retirement fund. In next 20 years, you will be in stage V of your dental career and near to your retirement.

If you want to know about the stages of your dental career and how you should plan your insurances then you can read the article below:

STAGES OF DENTISTRY – LIFE CYCLE OF A DENTIST

This business illiteracy has put many dentists in dilemma; leaving them unsure about their future. I believe this is one of the primary reasons why many dentists are unhappy with their practices. Let’s get into the details of “Lifecycle” of your practice Yes, its a long journey of cycle …

This life insurance will provide you enough funds to maintain your financial respect even after your retirement.

The most popular in this regard is SBI Life Insurance. By far in terms of life insurance SBI is the most preferred and used. There are other private companies also that provide maturity life insurances. Each company has a website where you can calculate the premiums depending on how much insurance cover you want. Read all the documents properly before deciding on anything. If confused ask an experienced insurance agent or a lawyer.

See Next Page

Term Insurance & Health Insurance for the protection of Dentist’s family.

Insurances for Dentists: Life Insurance (With No maturity benefits)

Term Insurance

After Life Insurance with maturity (explained in the previous page), the next must have insurance policy is the term insurance. It can be used in the following scenarios:

1. The loss of life of a dentist (with a dependent family) due to illness or accident.
2. The loss of limbs/working capacity due to accident or disease.

In both the above scenarios, there is a sudden stop to the earnings for the family of the dentist. This can seriously hamper the financial and future plannings of the dentists and their family. So, every sensible dentist must have a term insurance. It works just like life insurance but without maturity. The dentist needs to pay a regular monthly or yearly premium. In the case of any eventuality mentioned above, the nominees of the will receive a lump sum of insurance coverage of 1 crore INR or more (depending on the plan taken and premium amount)

There are many companies that provide term insurances. The most popular in this category is SBI, ICICI & Max. You can have a detailed look at their plans at the official websites.

Health Insurance

Health Insurance for you and your family

This is the 3rd insurance that every dentist must have. Health insurance is also non-maturity type in nature. Here you pay a certain premium every year for an insurance coverage amount. This insurance amount will vary depending on the age of the dentist and the premium amount. There are many Govt. and private companies providing this insurance. For a healthy, non-tobacco user 30-year-old dentist, a yearly payment of 5000 INR can get a health insurance coverage of 10 Lakhs.

The most popular health insurances currently are Star Health Insurance & CIGNA TTK in the private sector. Do not be in a hurry. Read properly all the points in the official brochures of the health insurances. These health insurances can be very careful in managing the financial requirement in the case of health issues.

Health Insurance for People working in your clinic

Running private dental clinics is coming more and more under govt. scrutiny. If you are running a clinic with multiple people working in it or a chain of clinics, then as per the labors law you also need to provide your employee’s health coverage.

In such cases, insurances covering your employee’s health helps you in managing the additional financial burden in case if any eventualities.

There is both private and govt. the company providing such insurances. Once again before deciding, consult an experienced lawyer or insurance agent.

Concluding Statements: 

1. In the fast-paced world today, insurance has become a necessity. As a dentist who works hard to make a life for yourself and your family, insurance is something that you cannot afford to neglect. In this article, we have tried to provide you the basic information on the possible insurances that a dentist should have to protect his/her professional set up and family.
2. The premiums of the insurances vary depending on many factors including current health status, monthly/yearly income or the amount of coverage.
3. Always take the help of experienced insurance agents and lawyers before deciding on an insurance plan. Read properly to know what is covered under the insurance plan and what is not covered.
4. Always check the IRDA website. It’s the regulating body for all insurances. From IRDA you can get the official and most accurate information regarding the quality of an insurance company. Also, keep a track of the annual IRDA claim settlement percentage of various insurance companies. Always go for the companies which are having a high claim settlement ratio and avoid companies having a low rate of claim settlement.

Disclaimer: This article just tries to give the basic insurance options available to dental surgeons. It’s just the initial information and does not claim to be accurate. So, do not decide on any insurance based on this article only. It is mandatory that you must discuss with the official sources and your financial agents before deciding on anything.