Since the advent of AHPRA, dentist complaints about advertising, patient complaints about weird stuff, and bus throwing under by other professionals have been on the rise.
I have been with Dental Protection Limited since my first days of practice except for one year when I followed ADAQ to some other company, which they are no longer with.
My understanding of insurance is such that I'm not sure there are many ways to reduce the cost other than making a loss on the underwriting of the actual cost of the policies (not putting enough aside for future claims) or by making huge investment income off the float (the money that the insurance company holds until you get a claim, which is not actually theirs, but which they can invest for free).
The latter has not been very successful lately with low interest rates and poor stock market returns. Often we get reminded of the problems of poor quality insurance. Canberra bushfires. HIH. Brisbane floods. They promised a lot, but then did the old hop, skip and a jump when claims came in...or went broke.
So I've never been one to shop for anything in insurance except absolute confidence that their finances are strong and their history shows they actually pay claims made.
The reason I've always been with DPL is because their history shows that they are not likely to go broke when I need them, and they have a very long history and reputation of paying out when a claim is made.
Recently, I had an experience which was quite stressful and lead to a payout to a patient of a significant sum. The patient was one of my favourites and so it was stressful to see her turn on me like this.
Nonetheless, George Lazaridis was massively helpful as always. He helped me work with the patient to a sensible settlement. And then DPL fully covered the costs of the claim. I realise that implants placing dentists premiums will go up a bit this year.
I suspect this reflects the weighting of implant claims in the overall claims market. The thing that counts most to me with insurance is what they do, not what they say they will do.
Anyway, I have been extremely happy with the support, which thankfully I don't need that often and will definitely continue with them.
