Recommending a Total Disability Definition

Becoming too sick or injured to work for an extended period of time can take a toll on your clients' finances. Platinum Advantage can provide your clients strong and comprehensive income protection coverage to help them meet expenses and maintain their lifestyles if an unexpected disability strikes.

A key part of Platinum Advantage’s base policy is the definition of total disability. Policyowners must meet three criteria to receive benefits. They’ll receive monthly benefits if injury or sickness leaves them:

• Unable to perform the substantial and material duties of their regular occupation
• Under the regular care of a physician appropriate for their injury or sickness
• Not engaged in any other job or occupation for wage or profit

This definition of total disability is strong and appropriate coverage for most clients.

Protection for Physicians, Dentists and Trial Attorneys

Highly specialized professionals can be at higher risk for an injury or illness keeping them from performing their specialized work.

The policy’s base total disability definition includes specialty language for physicians and dentists. The base definition deems physicians and dentists totally disabled if they've limited their practice to a single, recognized specialty and can't perform that specialty. The Own Occupation Rider also extends specialty language to physicians, dentists and trial attorneys.

How the Own Occupation Rider Works

Specialized professionals may wish to add the Own Occupation Rider to their policies. The rider changes the policy's definition of total disability. It removes the last requirement — not engaged in any other job or occupation for wage or profit.

With the Own Occupation Rider, your clients could work in another job or specialty and still be considered totally disabled. And they may qualify for full monthly benefits. The duties your clients perform in their new occupation must be different from those of their regular occupation.

This rider is available to occupation classes 3A/3P/3D and higher.

Own Occupation Rider Examples

Imagine if a trial attorney suffered an illness that resulted in not being able to present in court. That trial attorney could work in another legal practice or even in another field and still collect benefits. Or think of a surgeon who develops a hand tremor and can no longer perform surgery. That surgeon could collect benefits while choosing to work in another job that the hand tremor doesn’t affect.

The Own Occupation Rider can allow your specialized clients to choose to work — or not — when faced with a disability.

For Producers Only