Tail coverage if covered by clinic malpractice

[jlusv]

Hello all, I'm in a bit of a pickle.

 

New grad here. I just left a small clinic after four months because it wasn't a great environment in general (I won't get into details, but they were incredibly disorganized and the clinic was poorly run. Had I not had financial obligations, I would have left after about a month). While I was there, I was covered under the clinic's malpractice policy and didn't have a policy of my own. The clinic claimed I would be fine without the individual policy, but I'm trusting what the clinic said less and less. I believe their policy is claims made.

 

Here are my questions:

 

1. I don't have any suits filed against me. Can I get a retroactive individual policy? Can I go elsewhere or do I need to get it from the clinic's company?

 

2. How do I ensure that I continue to be covered if the clinic's policy is canceled? That's what I'm most nervous about. I have no idea if the clinic will remain open and I don't want to risk not having coverage. Is there any way I can find out if the coverage gets canceled?

 

3. What kind of information regarding the policy do I need to get from my former employer? Do I need a company and policy number on hand?

 

In retrospect, I probably should have done my research a bit better at first, but being a new grad I trusted my clinic and everyone who worked there as they're way more experienced than I am. However, after working there for a few months they seem to not always know what they're talking about.

 

Is it a bad idea to stay under my clinic's policy if I have a similar situation in the future? 

[ventana]

4 months as a new grad....

 

Just move on and don't worry about it...

 

But get your own insurance "occurrence" if you do not have it provided by employer.

[jlusv]

4 months as a new grad....

 

Just move on and don't worry about it...

 

But get your own insurance "occurrence" if you do not have it provided by employer.

 

CAN I get my own policy now since I didn't have one while I was there? I was just under the clinic's policy. Do I need to get the occurrence policy from the same company that they get theirs from?

 

Like I said, I wish I would have asked more questions in the beginning. Oh well, as of last week I'm gone now and move on to better things.

[ventana]

Most policy's will not go retro active.

 

Going forward just purchase your own occurrence policy...

[jlusv]

Well... crap. I guess I have to really hope they don't cancel their policy then. This is so frustrating.

[treejay]

Since he/she didn't have an occurence policy at their old job, can't they just pickup a tail coverage for the 4 months they were there?  I was under the impression that this is possible after you left a job..... Because tail coverage is insurance against encounters that already happened.......

[AbeTheBabe]

Yes, you could buy tail coverage. Shop around for it. Let us know how much it ends up costing you.

[ventana]

so realize they are not going to go with out insurance..... they would be putting their entire life savings at risk......

 

just move on....  they will have some type of insurance

[anewconvert]

Unless the highly disorganized practice closed or forgot to make their premium payments because disorganized...

 

Probably nothing to worry about....

[jlusv]

I was under the impression that if they cancel or change their policy, I'd be SOL if I didn't know about it. The statute of limitations here is four years so it's a long time with a lot of potential to be left exposed if the clinic closes. Hence why I'm trying to get a tail. :)

 

I think part of the reason I'm so nervous about this is the whole new grad thing. A lot of this is completely new to me and I'm not sure I made the best decision as far as practices go.

[GetMeOuttaThisMess]

Ask the employer for company, policy number (if you don't have a copy of the declaration page) and call the agent on the page for information. Ours is $3K+, thus my own occurrence policy.

[jlusv]

They never gave me a copy of the declaration page and they're being difficult to get the policy number and company out of. Is there anything else I can do? Most places it seems aren't willing to cover me without proof of past coverage.