Please help...new grad malpractice insurance

[NewGradLyn]

I am a new grad who was offered a position in OB/GYN. It says in the contract that professional liability will be provided by the employer. It specifies that it is an occurence policy. It has no mention of tail coverage. Is this occurance policy adequate/appropriate to cover me in OB/GYN? Should I try to negotiate tail coverage? I found that it is extremely expensive, which is discouraging. Is tail coverage normally covered by the employer?

 

Is the occurence coverage an issue for OB/GYN? Would I need to get my own insurance regardless of the fact that the employer is offering insurance?

 

The base salary is 92k near D.C.  

 

Thank you for the help!

[PACdan]

Occurrence is the optimal policy. Occurrence will cover you for any event that happens while you are under the policy and for a claim that is made (suit filed) from an event that happened under the coverage period (i.e., your employment there). Even if the claim is filed after you have moved onto a new job and no longer have that insurance provider, the claim will be handled by them.

 

Tail coverage is required for claims-made polices. These polices only protect you from events that occur AND claims that are made during the coverage period. So if you leave that job/insurer and then a claim is filed a year later, you won't be covered by the old policy. The addition of tail coverage will extend that coverage for claims made after you have left the policy.

 

So, per my understanding, occurrence coverage doesn't necessitate a tail policy.

 

I welcome any corrections if I have erred.

[NewGradLyn]

Thanks, Dan! That helped a lot. It made sense and matched the information I found on the internet.