The enhancements include an NHS sick pay guarantee, an increased benefit guarantee of £3,000, sabbatical cover and one of the largest guaranteed insurability options available in the market.
During the first five years of NHS service doctors and surgeons sick pay changes each year which makes it difficult for advisers to easily recommend the right waiting period for IP.
Now advisers can choose a 12 month deferred period for all doctors and surgeons and LV= will pay out early for those who have less than five years service and not built up their full entitlement.
And LV= has increased its benefit guarantee from £1000 to £3000. If doctors and surgeons make a claim and their income has fallen because they have changed jobs or roles they are guaranteed to receive at least £3,000 per month benefit or the full amount they are insured for if lower.
The insurer has also added a guaranteed insurability option. This means under the new GIO doctors and surgeons can increase their annual level of cover by up to £20,000 without any further underwriting if their salary increases by 20% or more.
In addition doctors and surgeons can now keep full IP cover in place if they take a sabbatical of up to two years. Regardless of which country they are located in or the activity they are undertaking if they fall ill or had an accident during this period they would be assessed on an own occupation basis as if they were performing their normal role.
Mark Jones, LV= head of protection, said: “We appreciate the nature of certain jobs means that salary, position and place of work can quickly change which makes it difficult to keep cover relevant. People have a right to get the cover they pay for and these enhancements for doctors and surgeons make this not only a market-leading product for people in these professions but further safeguards their income and ensures cover keeps pace with their changing needs.”
Dr David Taylor MBBS and Edmund Smith, directors of O2 Associates said: “As specialist independent advisers dealing with doctors we were pleased to help with the development of this product.
“We can confidently say that this is the best IP contract on the market today for most doctors. In fact it actually surpasses anything we have had access to over the last 20 years based on a consideration of cost and product features.”
