Disability Insurance Profiles: Principal Life

We are expanding our list of insurance company profiles that specifically market to dentists and doctors to include Principal Life.

See our other profiles of Great-West, MassMutual, MetLife, Northwestern Mutual, Guardian, Hartford, and Standard.

Principal Life (also known as “Principal Financial Group”) was founded in 1879.  Initially, Principal Life operated primarily as an insurance company. Principal Life is now a member of the Fortune 500, and offers several additional services, such as retirement and asset management. Principal has most recently realized a growth in net income from $1.112 billion in June of 2014 to $1.290 billion in June of 2015.

Company: Principal Financial Group or The Principal.

Location: Des Moines, Iowa.

Associated Entities: Principal Financial Services, Inc.; Principal Life Insurance Company; Principal Real Estate Investors, LLC; Spectrum Asset Management, Inc.; Post Advisory Group, LLC; Columbus Circle Investors; Edge Management, Inc.; Morley Financial Services Inc.; Finisterre Capital, LLP.

Assets: $530.3 billion.

Notable Policy Features:

Principal Life sells polices that define “disability” as “own occupation”, which means that you are considered totally disabled if you are unable to perform the duties of your occupation. While this may seem like the right policy for a medical professional, you should be aware of a couple caveats.  Coverage under a Principal Life policy is, in part, based upon a key definition that is usually referred to as your “occupation period.”  Essentially, your “occupation period” is the time frame during which the “own occupation” definition of totally disabled applied.  Once the “occupation period” has expired, Principal Life will only pay you benefits if you are unable to work in any occupation that you are reasonably suited to work in, based on your education, training, and experience.

The length of your “occupation period” can range from a base of 2 years after your disability to a period of 5 years, until age 65, until age 67, or until age 70, depending on your “occupation class.”  Oftentimes, the policy provisions regarding “occupation periods” can be convoluted and difficult to decipher.  If you unsure about the length of your “occupation period” under the terms of the policy, an experienced disability insurance attorney can help you understand the applicable policy language.

Claims Management Approach:

In comparison with other insurance companies, Principal Life generally conducts more in-person field interviews with claimants.  Principal Life will not only conduct a field interview when you initially file your claim, but will also likely conduct several additional follow up interviews throughout the claims process.

Most insurance companies require you to fill out generic questionnaires that ask for information about the nature of your disability, among other things.  Because Principal Life handles a lot of disability claims by physicians, it has created a particular “Medical Professional Occupation and Financial Questionnaire” that is more comprehensive than a generic questionnaire, and is specifically tailored towards collecting information from medical professionals.  The questionnaire is quite extensive, and asks about a wide variety of information, from your ownership interest in your practice, to whether your practice participates in a health care network, to the credentials of the medical professional owners and associate professionals you work with, to whether you receive any reimbursements from prescriptions.  If you are unsure about the content or scope of any questionnaire you receive, an experienced disability insurance attorney can help answer any questions you may have.

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