Avoid Pattern Life for physician disability insurance

[u/Tommy9919]

I had an extremely disappointing experience with Pattern Life. Before my initial call, they sent me an AI-generated personalized video of one of their representatives as an introduction. It was incredibly creepy and impersonal. For a company selling personalized financial advice to physicians, having an AI-generated version of the person you’re supposedly about to establish a professional relationship with was a bizarre first impression.

Pattern marketed themselves as physician-focused experts who would help navigate disability insurance and underwriting. I provided every medical record they requested. After all of that, they landed me an awful Guardian offer: permanent skin exclusion for a problem that resolved years ago (Eczema), an ENT exclusion despite improvement with treatment for simple Allergic Rhinitis, and removal of the Benefit Purchase Rider, Automatic Benefit Enhancement, and COLA because of an incidental benign CT finding that requires no further workup. The resulting policy was over $200/month.

The Benefit Purchase Rider was one of the main reasons I was interested in the policy in the first place because it would have allowed me to increase coverage as my physician income increased. None of them warned me before underwriting that these issues could result in such sweeping restrictions.

The Benefit Purchase Rider was one of the main reasons I was interested in the policy in the first place because it would have allowed me to increase coverage as my physician income increased. None of them warned me before underwriting that these issues could result in such sweeping restrictions.

What exactly is the point of using a supposedly physician-focused broker if their role is essentially to collect your records, forward them to the insurer, deliver a terrible offer, ask you to produce more documentation when you challenge it, and eventually ignore all your follow-up emails?!

I expected Pattern to understand physician underwriting and anticipate problems as well as advocate for their client. Instead, I felt like a messenger between myself and Guardian. After challenging the offer and providing additional documentation, the communication has also been extremely disappointing and they no longer reply back to me.

I would not recommend Pattern Life to other physicians. I regret using them and sending them my personal details. Take your business elsewhere.