Mass Mutual is one of the oldest insurance companies in the game. As one of the Big Five companies, their definition of totally disabled is comprehensive for physicians which makes Mass Mutual a great choice for physicians looking to secure their income with disability insurance.
Mass Mutual offers two types of disability insurance policies, Radius and Radius Choice. With either option, you are able to customize and add features to your policy to make it personalized and completely comprehensive to meet your needs.
Mass Mutuals’ definition of disabled required an additional rider to secure the definition as True Own-Occupation.
The definition of Totally Disabled as outlined in Mass Mutual’s policy is:
“The occurrence of a condition caused by a Sickness or Injury, in which you cannot perform the main duties of your Occupation and are not working at any other occupation. You must be under a Doctor’s Care. The Disability must begin while this Policy is In Force.”
*We will discuss the own-occupation rider under the “Benefits” section
Non-Cancelable
A policy from Mass Mutual is non-cancelable until the Policy Anniversary on or next following the Insured's 65th birthday. After you reach age 65 the policy is Conditionally Renewable until the policy anniversary on or next following the Insured's 75th birthday as long as the Insured is Actively at Work and is not Disabled.
Non-cancelable means Mass Mutual can not cancel or raise your premiums as long as you are paying your premium before you reach age 65, regardless of income, health, or occupation changes.
Renewable
Both Mass Mutuals policies are guaranteed renewable to age 65. Meaning Mass Mutual can not cancel your policy before age 65 as long as you are paying your premiums.
After age 65, the Radius policy is conditionally renewable for your life whereas the Radius Choice policy is renewable until you reach age 74.
Elimination Period
The Elimination Period or the number of days following disability before benefits become payable. Both the Radius and Radius Choice policies offer elimination periods of:
60 days
90 days
180 days
365 Days
and two years
Benefit Period
The Benefit Period, the maximum time for which you can receive benefit payments for disability, is also important to look at for each company. Each of Mass Mutuals policies has benefit periods available to ages 65 and 67, as well as two years, five years, and 10 years. In addition, Radius Choice also offers a maximum benefit period to age 70.
Mass Mutual also provides optional additional benefits that you can add to your policy, known as enhancements, with the following riders:
EXTENDED PARTIAL DISABILITY BENEFITS RIDER: This rider provides a benefit if you are working and you suffer a minimum 15% loss of income resulting from a reduced capacity to
perform your occupation due to sickness or injury. In addition, during the first 6 months of disability, you may also qualify as Partially Disabled if due to sickness or injury, you suffer a 15% loss of time from work or you can do some, but not all, of the main duties of your occupation.
During the first 6 months of Partial Disability, Mass Mutualwill pay the Total Disability benefit for any portion of the 6 month period that is not used to satisfy the waiting period and during which, due to sickness or injury, you are working less than 20% of the time worked just prior to the start of disability.
Otherwise, for the first 12 months of partial disability benefits, any monthly payment for Partial Disability will never be less than 50% of the Extended Partial Disability Monthly Benefit. If your income loss is more than 50% of the Extended Partial Disability Monthly Benefit, the monthly payment will be the actual loss of income up to the Extended Partial Disability Monthly Benefit.
If the income loss is more than 75%, the monthly payment will be the Total Disability Monthly Benefit. Beginning in the 13th month of partial disability benefits, monthly payments will be based on your loss of income.
RECOVERY BENEFITS: After a period of disability payments, a recovery benefit will be paid after full recovery and return to your own occupation provided there is at least a 15% loss of income related to your disability. Benefit payments will continue for as long as you can show that the continuing loss of income is related to the previous period of disability.
However, benefits will not be paid beyond the maximum benefit period for partial disability.
ADJUSTMENT TO PRE-DISABILITY INCOME: Starting after 12 consecutive months of disability and after each consecutive 12 month period of disability thereafter, the amount of pre-disability income will be adjusted. Mass Mutual will increase the previous year's pre-disability income by greater than 3% or the percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index. There is no cap to these adjustments.
OWN OCCUPATION RIDER: Provides benefits for a condition caused by a sickness or injury in which you cannot perform the main duties of your occupation and are working in another occupation. You must be under a doctor's care and the disability must begin while this rider is in force. If the Extended Partial Disability Benefits Rider is attached to the policy, monthly benefit payments under the Own Occupation rider will be in lieu of any monthly benefit under the Extended Partial Disability Benefits Rider equal to the monthly benefit for the Own Occupation rider. Mass Mutual will evaluate eligibility for monthly benefits under the Extended Partial Disability Benefits Rider for the amount, if any, that exceeds the monthly benefit of the Own Occupation Rider.
FUTURE INSURABILITY OPTION RIDER: This Rider provides the opportunity to apply for additional benefits from time to time without Proof of Good Health other than proof that you are Actively At Work and are not disabled. Increased coverage may be applied for during each option period. The last option must be exercised on or before your 60th birthday. Increases are postponed during a period of disability. Future Insurability Option Rider will increase the Total Disability Monthly Benefit, and increase the coverage provided by the Cost Of Living Adjustment Rider, Extended Partial Disability Benefits Rider, Social Insurance Rider, Short Term Disability Benefit Rider, an Own Occupation Rider if any of those riders are in force.
COST OF LIVING ADJUSTMENT RIDER: After you have been disabled for 12 months (or the waiting period if it is longer), your full or partial benefit (if the Extended Partial Disability Benefits Rider is attached to the policy) will be increased at an annually compounded rate of 3%. Cost of Living Adjustment Rider will increase benefits for the Social Insurance Rider, Extended Partial Disability Benefits Rider, Own Occupation Rider, and Catastrophic Disability Benefit Rider if any of those riders are in force.
CATASTROPHIC DISABILITY BENEFIT RIDER: This Rider provides benefits to cover up to 100% of your pre-disability earned income (at time of issue). Benefits will be paid if:
- You meet the definition of presumptive disability OR
- You meet the definition of total disability AND are unable to perform 2 of 6 Activities of Daily Living OR
- You meet the definition of total disability AND suffer a severe cognitive impairment.
Activities of Daily Living include Bathing, Dressing, Eating, Toileting, Transferring (the ability to transfer from one location to another such as getting in and out of bed), and Continence (the ability to maintain bladder functions, or when unable, the ability to perform associated personal hygiene).
Severe Cognitive Impairment is defined as a severe deterioration and/or loss of cognitive capacity that is due to Injury or Sickness as measured by standardized tests commonly accepted for use in the medical community.
STUDENT LOAN RIDER: The Student Loan Rider pays a monthly benefit during periods of eligible Total Disability for the purpose of reimbursing your student loan debt.
SUSPENSION OF POLICY WHILE IN MILITARY: This policy may be suspended if you are active military service of any country or international authority or reserve component of the armed forces of the United States, including the National Guard, for more than 90 days. If you are released from active duty within 5 years, coverage can be restored within 90 days of your release. Mass Mutual will not require proof of insurability.
Mass Mutual is one of our most popular policies for medical professionals. With the number of options they have to personalize your policy, coverage amounts, and limitations, all while having the true own-occupation definition, Mass Mutual is an excellent choice for your disability insurance policy.
If you are interested in learning more about Disability Insurance, read more on our Beginners Guide to Disability Insurance.