Video transcript
Presented by Jack Howard, Seaworthy Insurance.
If you're a CRNA and your disability coverage is the AANA member plan, here's the 30-second version. It's real coverage. It has an own-occupation definition and it's underwritten by New York Life. But it caps at $12,000 a month, no matter what you earn. The partial disability benefit only starts after a period of total disability. Mental health claims stop at 12 months, and the premium climbs as you age. For what CRNAs earn today, it generally can't do the whole job on its own. Let me show you exactly where the gaps are, straight from the plan's own coverage overview.
I'm Jack with Seaworthy Insurance. We place disability coverage for CRNAs, physicians, dentists, and other high-income professionals, and this plan comes up in CRNA conversations almost more than any other group coverage we see. So let's go through what it actually says.
The AANA plan is a group disability income policy offered through AANA's Member Advantage Program and underwritten by New York Life. You apply as an AANA member under age 60 who's working full-time, and the application is medically underwritten. So it's not automatic coverage; New York Life reviews your health and can require an exam. You pick a waiting period of 61, 91, or 180 days, and a benefit period of 5 years, 10 years, or to age 65.
Two things about it are good, and I want to be fair to them. Because you pay the premium yourself with after-tax dollars, benefits come to you tax-free, and the coverage belongs to you, not your employer. So it follows you across job changes and into self-employment, up to age 70. Just know an individual policy you buy yourself has both of those same traits, so neither one separates this plan from an individual policy. [Editor's note: tax treatment varies by situation and state. Consult a tax professional about your own.]
Now the definition, because if you watched our last video, you know the definition decides everything. The good news first: this is an own-occupation plan. The coverage overview says it pays when you can't perform the material and substantial duties of your regular occupation. And I'm quoting here: "not just any job." That's keyed to your anesthesia work, and that's a real own-occupation definition.
The limit is the offset. If you're disabled from anesthesia but you go earn income in some other occupation, your benefit gets reduced by 50% of that income. Compare that to a true own-occupation individual contract, which keeps paying in full even while you work in another field. If you stop working entirely, the offset never bites. If your plan B is teaching or consulting, it cuts the benefit against every dollar you earn.
Now, the number that decides this for most CRNAs. The plan pays a monthly benefit between $1,000 and $12,000, issued up to 70% of your average monthly income, and all your disability coverage combined has to stay under $20,000 a month. If you've been practicing less than a year, you're capped at $5,000.
Now put a real income against that. Per the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median CRNA wage was $223,210 as of May 2024. That's about $18,600 a month. Seventy percent of that is around $13,000, which is already past the cap, and that's the median. The cap doesn't rise with your income. And one detail almost no one catches: at age 65, the benefit drops to $1,000 a month unless you're already on a claim.
Two contract provisions matter even more than the cap. First, residual, meaning partial disability. The AANA plan does pay partial benefits, but only after you first receive total disability benefits for the same condition, and only with an income loss of 20% or more. Think about how a CRNA disability actually plays out. It's usually gradual, a back or a hand problem that cuts your case load before it ever stops you completely. Most individual policies pay residual on income loss alone. No prior disability required. In our view, that's the single biggest contract-level difference between this plan and an individual policy.
Second, mental health. The plan caps any claim related to a mental, nervous, or emotional disorder, or alcohol or drug addiction, at 12 months, unless you're confined to a licensed facility. Individual policies for CRNAs generally run that benefit to 24 months across the major carriers. So the AANA plan gives you half the mental health benefit an individual policy typically would.
Here's where I can add something you won't find in the brochure. We went back through every individual policy we've placed since 2011, and roughly 40% of the CRNA policies in our book carry an exclusion or rating. That's the highest of any profession we serve. Why does that matter here? Because the AANA plan is underwritten by one carrier, New York Life, on its own terms. Whatever they offer you, that's the offer. An individual application can be shopped across several carriers at a time, and the same health history can get different answers at different desks. In our experience, an exclusion or rating on an individual policy can often be revisited with a carrier a couple of years later, once the medical file is clean. On a single-carrier group plan, that second chance just doesn't exist.
And the residual point shows up in our book, too. Nearly every individual CRNA policy we place carries residual coverage that pays on income loss alone, because that's the shape most CRNA claims take.
So, is the AANA plan junk? No. Early in your career, the age-banded rates are low, and some of our clients keep it in place alongside an individual policy. But remember, the premium rises with each age bracket, where an individual non-cancelable policy locks a level rate to age 65, and the coverage ends if you leave the AANA, stop full-time work, or hit 70.
Quick recap. The AANA plan is own-occupation with a 50% offset, capped at $12,000 a month. Residual pays only after a period of total disability. Mental health claims stop at 12 months. Premiums climb with age, and the coverage is tied to your membership. For a high-earning CRNA, an individual true own-occupation policy is built to close each of those gaps, and the AANA plan can sit alongside it as a supplement rather than carry the load itself.
There's a full written breakdown with a side-by-side comparison table linked in the description. And if you want someone to read what your current coverage actually says, that's what we do at Seaworthy Insurance. Thanks for watching, and I'll see you in the next one.
The American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology offers a member disability plan through its Member Advantage Program, underwritten by New York Life. Many CRNAs carry it, and many treat it as their complete disability coverage. The plan's coverage overview, published on the AANA's member insurance site at myaanainsurance.com, shows what it actually does, and where it leaves a high-earning CRNA short of an individual policy.
The short version: it is a member-paid, own-occupation group plan with real limits for a high earner. The benefit caps at $12,000 a month, residual requires a prior total disability, mental/nervous and substance claims stop at 12 months, premiums rise with age, and the coverage ends with your AANA membership. Those are the gaps an individual policy is built to close.
What is the AANA member advantage disability plan?
The AANA Member Advantage disability plan is a group disability income policy underwritten by New York Life and offered to AANA members. You apply as a member under age 60, working full time, and the application is medically underwritten, so it is not automatic-issue coverage; New York Life approves the insurance and may require an exam. You choose a waiting period of 61, 91, or 180 days and a benefit period of 5 years, 10 years, or to age 65.
Because you pay the premium yourself, benefits are paid to you tax-free, and the coverage belongs to you rather than an employer, so it follows you across job changes and into self-employment up to age 70. An individual policy you buy yourself carries both of those same traits, so neither one separates the AANA plan from individual coverage.
The definition is own-occupation, with a 50% offset
The AANA plan defines a covered claim against your own occupation rather than against nursing in general. The coverage overview on myaanainsurance.com defines a covered total disability as being unable to perform "the material and substantial duties of your regular occupation (the occupation you were performing the day before total disability began), not just any job," keyed to the work you actually do.
The qualifier is the offset. If you are disabled from your regular occupation but gainfully employed in another occupation, the benefit is reduced by 50% of the income you earn from that other work. That is the gap against an individual true own-occupation contract, where benefits continue in full even while you work in another field. For a CRNA who stops working entirely, the distinction does not bite. For one who shifts into other paid work, it cuts the benefit in half against that income.
How much does the AANA plan pay, and where do high earners outgrow it?
The AANA plan pays a monthly benefit of $1,000 to $12,000, issued up to 70% of your average monthly income, with total disability coverage across all companies required to stay under $20,000 per month. The AANA's own member insurance site describes it as a plan that "can pay you up to $12,000 a month, tax-free, if you become totally disabled due to a covered illness or injury," which states the ceiling plainly. CRNAs practicing less than a year are capped at $5,000. Per the BLS Occupational Employment Statistics, the median annual CRNA wage was $223,210 in May 2024, so a typical CRNA's income runs past what a $12,000 cap can replace, and the cap does not rise with income. One more detail to plan around: the benefit reduces to $1,000 per month at age 65 unless you are receiving benefits at that point.
Where does the AANA plan fall short for a high-earning CRNA?
The AANA plan's three biggest shortfalls for a high-earning CRNA, beyond the benefit cap itself, are the residual trigger, the 12-month mental health limit, and the age-banded premium structure.
First, the residual benefit requires a prior period of total disability. The AANA plan pays residual (partial) benefits, but only after you have received total-disability benefits for the same condition, and only with a 20% or greater income loss. Most CRNA claims are partial from the outset, a reduced case load rather than a complete stop, and most individual policies pay residual on income loss alone with no preceding total disability required. That gap is the single biggest contract-level difference.
Second, mental/nervous and substance claims are capped at 12 months. The maximum benefit period for a disability related to a mental, nervous, or emotional disorder, or alcoholism or drug addiction, is 12 months unless you are confined to a licensed facility. For a CRNA, individual policies cap these at 24 months across the major carriers (nurse anesthetists fall into the higher-risk group for which the limitation applies), so the AANA plan's 12-month limit is the shortest of the options a CRNA is likely to see, half what an individual policy provides.
Third, premiums are age-banded. New York Life's member rates rise as you move into each new age bracket, where an individual non-cancelable policy locks a level premium to age 65. Early on the AANA rates are low. Over a full career the rising structure changes the math, and our CRNA cost guide puts placed-book numbers on both sides of that comparison. Coverage is also tied to AANA membership, so it ends if you stop being a member, retire, stop full-time work, or reach 70.
| Feature | AANA plan (New York Life) | Individual true own-occupation policy |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly benefit | Up to $12,000; 70% of income; under $20,000 across all coverage | Sized to income via issue limits, generally higher for high earners |
| Definition | Own-occupation ("regular occupation, not any job"), reduced by 50% of income from other work | True own-occupation; pays in full even while working in another occupation |
| Residual (partial) | Requires a prior period of total disability for the same condition; 20% loss | Pays on income loss alone; no prior total disability required |
| Mental/nervous + substance | 12 months (unless confined to a licensed facility) | 24 months for a CRNA across the major carriers |
| COLA | Optional, up to 6% CPI-U, capped at twice the initial benefit | Commonly 3% compound; cap structure varies by carrier |
| Premium | Age-banded; rises as you age | Non-cancelable; level premium to age 65 |
| Tax | Member-paid, so benefits are tax-free | After-tax premium, so benefits are tax-free |
| Portability | Follows you across jobs to age 70, but tied to AANA membership | Fully portable; not tied to any membership |
Other provisions to know
The AANA plan's certificate carries several smaller provisions worth knowing: an optional COLA (up to 6% tied to CPI-U, capped at twice the initial benefit), a Communicable Disease benefit that pays residual benefits with no waiting period if you lose 25% or more of income to a covered contagious illness, a workplace-modification benefit, and a rule that your premium cannot be raised because of a change in your individual health (rates still move by age bracket). None of these change the structural gaps above, but they are part of what the certificate provides.
What we see placing coverage for CRNAs
Seaworthy's own CRNA placement record shows where the AANA plan's underwriting gap bites in practice. Our 2026 book review recorded an exclusion or rating on roughly 40% of the CRNA policies we placed (the underwriting research has the breakdown, and our CRNA underwriting guide covers what to expect from the process), so how and where an application is underwritten matters more for CRNAs than for most specialties. The AANA plan is underwritten by a single carrier, New York Life, on its own terms. An individual application can be shopped across several carriers at once, and in our experience a rating or exclusion can often be revisited and removed with the carrier a couple of years after issue once the medical file is clean. That second chance does not exist on a single-carrier group plan.
The residual point bears out in what we place as well. Residual or partial disability is on nearly every individual CRNA policy in our book, and it pays on income loss alone. Set against the AANA plan's requirement of a prior period of total disability before residual begins, that is the difference that most often decides a real CRNA claim, where the pattern is usually a gradual reduction in case load rather than a sudden stop.
Why does a high-earning CRNA need an individual policy?
For a high-earning CRNA, the AANA plan's structure points toward an individual true own-occupation policy as the core of their protection. An individual contract sizes the benefit to your actual income rather than stopping at $12,000, pays residual on income loss without requiring a prior total disability, runs the mental/nervous benefit longer, pays regardless of work in another occupation, and locks a level premium to age 65 instead of rising each age band.
Some CRNAs keep the AANA plan in place alongside an individual policy, but the individual policy is what carries the meaningful coverage. The AANA plan is not a substitute for it. For the carrier-by-carrier individual options, see the CRNA quote comparison and our ranking of the best disability insurance for CRNAs; for the group-versus-individual math, the group vs individual guide; and the CRNA disability insurance hub covers the full picture. The AANA plan sits alongside other association-sponsored disability plans we review, including the AMA and ADA offerings, which share the same single-carrier structure. Plan details here reflect the current AANA coverage overview and can vary by state and change over time, so the issued certificate governs.