Just over 1 in 5 Dentists claimed on their income protection policy in 2018 compared to 1 in 7 the previous year, marking a significant increase. For the first time, the dental profession has taken the top spot regarding the rate of claims amongst medical professions.
This key finding comes from Omega Financial Management’s annual review of claims paid on their Day One policy with DG Mutual, of which hundreds of Irish dentists are policy holders. The analysis is carried out to better understand the illnesses and injuries that have faced policy holders.
As usual, viral infections and gastro illnesses made up the largest category of illnesses – as a policy with no waiting period this is expected. What is notable within this category is that a number of these claims lasted for 2-3 weeks as opposed to just a few days – sample claims are provided in the table below.
Unfortunately, there were a number of new cancer cases amongst the profession. There was an increase in the number of accidents and injuries, making up 12% of the total. Fractures and injuries to fingers and hands were the most common with this category.
Notably, the gender split of claims has grown to 75% female, 25% male. The average duration of a claim was 14 days.
100% of claims were paid to DG Income Protection members.* As a mostly self-employed profession, the state sick leave payment of €198.50 per week is very limited and represents a fraction of the average living / professional costs faced by dentists.
*This relates to claims made in accordance with the policy – pre-existing conditions and excluded issues that are not covered are discussed and confirmed at the time of sign up.
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