Short answer
Guardian's GSI asks whether you've applied for disability insurance before, whether you owe active-duty military time, whether you're collecting disability benefits from another source, and whether you've been actively at work for the past 180 days. The main limits are a 24-month cap on mental health claims and a cap on future increases, commonly around $15,000 a month.
A short clip from his webinar for residents and fellows, with captions.
Watch the full webinar from 24:54Guardian's knockout questions
Other companies' GSI questions differ, but Guardian wants to know:
- Have you previously applied for a disability insurance policy?
- Do you owe active-duty military time?
- Are you collecting disability benefits from any other source?
- Have you been actively at work, with no medical leave, for the past 180 days? If you had knee surgery and took a few weeks off, for example, you'd need to be back at work 180 days before becoming eligible.
The limitations
Compared with a medically underwritten policy, most GSI policies have two limits worth knowing. They cover mental health, but cap claims in that category at 24 months. And they cap how high you can increase coverage later, commonly at or around $15,000 a month. That cap doesn't matter as a resident or fellow, only when you're about to be an attending.
GSI offers can end without notice
These policies aren't guaranteed to exist in six months or a year. Insurance companies watch the numbers closely and can stop offering them, typically without advance notice. If you already have the policy, you're grandfathered in. If you were waiting until a month or two before graduation, it may be gone. If you think a GSI could benefit you, get the wheels in motion sooner rather than later.
Where Jay covers this
Jump to each moment in his webinars.