Graduating Housestaff

For those in their last year of residency or fellowship

Covering Health Insurance Gaps

It’s important to know when your new health insurance will kick in. Some start on your hire date; others after 30 or 60 days of employment. If you do have a gap between your coverages – you have a few options:

1. You can extend your USF Health Insurance through COBRA which would give you the same great coverage you’ve had, but would require you to pay the premium.
2. You can cover gaps with a short term health insurance plan. You can create a higher deductible and lower your premium, but you will not have as good of coverage.
3. If you have a short gap between coverages (less than 60 days) and no immediate health concerns, there is a way to use COBRA that could minimize your outlay and still keep you protected should you need it.

Feel free to contact us with questions on any of these options.

Securing Individual Disability Insurance

After all of the work you’ve put into earning your increased income, one of the most important things you can do is protect that income through disability insurance. There are many types of disability coverage out there, so it is very important to understand the definitions and riders available to you as well as the differences between individual and group coverages.

The price of disability insurance is based on your specialty, your gender, and it gets more expensive as you get older. In addition, many carriers offer special discounts if you purchase it while still a resident. Therefore, it makes sense to lock in your price for the rest of your career at low rates.

here are 4-5 companies that offer true own-occupation disability policies for physicians. We can show you advantages and disadvantages of each depending on your age, specialty, gender, and preference for certain features.

The company that currently handles your group disability, Standard Insurance, designed a policy that you can take with you that is own-occupation, includes a future purchase option, does not require medical underwriting, and is offered at discounted rates. If you’d like to sit down to discuss your particular situation, give us a call at 813-258-0033 or shoot Michael an email at Michael@MunizAndAssociates.com .

Taking your Bencor retirement money with you

Whether you realized it or not, part of each of your paychecks has been placed into a retirement account in your name (~$3,500-4,000 per year of training). Once your last paycheck has been processed, they will stop contributing to this account. You have 3 options of what to do with it when you graduate:

1. You can keep the money in Bencor You can keep 100% of your balance in there and it will grow tax free until you retire. You just want to make sure that your money is invested in options that fit your risk tolerance and timeline for retirement. (If you’d like advice** on that – feel free to call us). The downside of this option is that you have fairly limited investment choices and you cannot add any future money to this account.
2. You can ‘rollover’ your balance to an IRA or, perhaps, a 401k within 60 days. This option allows you to move your balance to your own account housed either with your bank or with your financial advisor. Because the money would directly ‘rollover’, you will not face any tax consequences. You may have some small fees as you re-invest your $, but this option allows you to monitor the money alongside your other accounts and investments, and potentially add $ to the account down the road.
3. You can take the money out. Since this money was placed in your account pre-tax, you will have to pay taxes on the full amount you take out. Also, since the account was designed for retirement and you have not paid taxes on any of the growth – you will face an additional 10% penalty for an early withdrawal before age 59.5. So if you take it out, you will only net roughly 65-70% of your total balance. This is not ideal, but if you absolutely need the money for boards, moving expenses, or for a gap in employment – you do have the option.

Feel free to contact us with questions on any of these options.