Ohio National Disability Insurance Review (2026): Why You Can't Buy It Anymore — and What Existing Policyholders Need to Know

Ohio National stopped selling new disability policies. What that means if you're shopping — and what existing policyholders need to know about claims risk.

EDITOR-IN-CHIEFJoshua Dunigan, DO

Fact Checked

Updated August 2026

MedMoneyGuide is committed to editorial integrity.

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Key takeaways

•Ohio National no longer sells new individual disability insurance policies. If you're a physician shopping for coverage today, this carrier isn't an option — skip straight to Guardian, Principal, MassMutual, or Ameritas.
•For decades, Ohio National sold well-regarded noncancellable, own-occupation policies — including a run of physician-specific coverage distributed through the AMA — under names like ContinuON Income Solutions II. Those legacy policies are still in force for the physicians who bought them.
•If you're one of those existing policyholders, the real issue isn't shopping — it's claims risk. Carriers that exit a market often shift claims handling to third-party administrators, and a pattern of denials on Ohio National policies has drawn active attention from disability insurance attorneys as recently as this past month.
•Existing policyholders have one genuine advantage worth knowing: individual disability policies like these aren't governed by ERISA, which means you have stronger legal tools available than most people realize if a claim gets denied.

Most of the reviews in this series answer the question "should I buy this carrier's policy." This one can't, because the honest first answer is that you can't buy it at all. Ohio National is included here not as a shopping option, but because it's still one of the "Big 5" names physicians encounter constantly in forums, older recommendation lists, and — most importantly — in their own filing cabinet if they bought coverage more than a few years ago.

This guide serves two different readers: the physician who landed here still hoping to get an Ohio National quote (redirect below), and the physician who already owns a policy and needs to understand what they actually have.

The fact that matters most: Ohio National stopped selling new policies

Ohio National exited the individual disability insurance market. New applications aren't being accepted, and no licensed agent can write you a fresh Ohio National disability policy today, regardless of what an older blog post, a forum thread, or a "Big 5" list you found elsewhere might still say.

The Honest Truth:

A lot of the content ranking for "Ohio National disability insurance" was written while the carrier was still selling, and never got updated. If you're comparing carriers right now, cross this one off your shopping list and move directly to Guardian, Principal, MassMutual, or Ameritas — all four are still actively underwriting new physician policies, and each has genuine strengths covered in depth in our other reviews.

What Ohio National's policies used to offer

For readers who own a legacy policy and want to understand what they actually bought, here's what Ohio National built its physician reputation on.

The product was marketed under names including ContinuON Income Solutions II and branded around "True Own-Specialty" protection — own-occupation coverage defined around a physician's specific medical specialty rather than a broad "any occupation" standard. With the Own Occupation Rider in place, the policy was designed to pay the full tax-free benefit if a physician couldn't perform the material duties of their specialty, even while working in a different role entirely.

Notably, Ohio National partnered with the American Medical Association starting in 2017 — AMA Insurance Agency launched an individual disability income program specifically underwritten by The Ohio National Life Assurance Company, which is part of why the carrier built such deep penetration among physicians during that period. Policies were structured as noncancelable and guaranteed renewable, the same strong contractual promise every legitimate carrier in this series offers: Ohio National couldn't raise your premium, change your terms, or cancel your coverage as long as you kept paying.

If your policy dates from this era or earlier, it's worth pulling out the actual contract language rather than relying on general marketing descriptions like the ones above — the specific definition of disability, the rider structure, and the benefit period in your policy are what actually govern a claim, not what the product was broadly known for.

If you already have an Ohio National policy

This is the section that actually matters for most people reading this review, because if you're here, there's a good chance you're not shopping — you're holding a policy and wondering what it's still worth.

The coverage itself remains valid. A noncancelable, guaranteed-renewable policy doesn't stop being real just because the company stopped selling new ones. Ohio National is still contractually obligated to pay legitimate claims under the terms you originally purchased, and the carrier continues to exist as an insurer of record for its in-force book of business.

But an exited carrier's claims environment can shift. This is the part that deserves real attention.

The claims risk, specifically

When an insurance company stops selling a product line, it commonly hands claims administration to a third-party administrator (TPA) — an outside company contracted to process and investigate claims on the original insurer's behalf. This is standard industry practice, and it's not automatically a problem. But the incentive structure is worth understanding honestly.

A TPA's business model depends on keeping claim costs down for the insurer that hired it, and on winning repeat contracts by demonstrating cost control. Attorneys who specialize in disability claim denials describe this pattern plainly: TPAs administering legacy books of business — the kind Ohio National's exited individual DI portfolio represents — tend to investigate and vet claims more aggressively than an insurer still actively selling new policies and protecting its market reputation.

The Claims Risk:

One specific provision worth knowing if you're an Ohio National policyholder: the independent medical examination (IME) clause. Ohio National's policy language explicitly allows the company to require a policyholder to be examined by a physician of its choosing, at its expense — and states plainly that if you refuse, your income benefit stops. IMEs are sometimes used legitimately to confirm ongoing disability, but disability attorneys report they're also used to generate a conflicting medical opinion that can be used to challenge a well-documented claim from your own treating physician.

Bottom line: if you have an Ohio National policy and are approaching a potential claim — or already in one — treat it with more caution and more documentation than you might with an actively-sold carrier's policy. Keep thorough records from your own treating physicians, understand the IME provision before you're asked to comply with one, and don't assume a denial is final just because it came from the company that insured you for years without issue.

The one genuine advantage in your favor: individual disability policies like this one are not governed by ERISA — the federal law that heavily restricts the legal options available to people denied benefits under most employer group plans. Because your Ohio National policy is a private contract governed by state insurance and contract law, you generally have access to broader legal remedies, including the ability to sue for bad-faith claim handling in many states, if a legitimate claim is wrongly denied or delayed. This is a genuinely important distinction covered in more depth in our group vs. individual disability insurance guide — the private-policy structure that protected you at purchase is the same structure that gives you leverage if things go wrong at claim time.

Company background

Ohio National Financial Services was founded in 1909 and headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. For much of the 20th century and into the 2010s, it was one of the leading carriers selling individual disability income insurance to high-earning professionals — physicians, dentists, attorneys, and business owners — building its reputation on exactly the noncancelable, own-occupation structure described above. Its exit from the individual DI market represents a broader pattern in the industry: carriers periodically reassess long-tail, capital-intensive product lines like individual disability insurance, and several well-known names have exited new individual DI sales over the past decade for similar business reasons, even while continuing to honor their existing books of business.

Who this review is actually for

•If you're shopping for new disability coverage: this carrier isn't relevant to your decision. Go directly to our reviews of the carriers still actively writing policies: Guardian, Principal, MassMutual, and Ameritas.
•If you already own an Ohio National policy: this page exists for you. Your coverage is real and contractually binding, but understanding the claims environment around a legacy carrier — and your legal position if a claim gets contested — matters more than it would with an actively-selling company.
•If you're evaluating whether to keep a legacy Ohio National policy or replace it: that's a genuinely case-specific question involving your current health, the specific terms of your existing contract, and whether you're insurable at the same terms elsewhere today. This is worth a direct conversation with an independent broker who can review your actual policy language, not a general recommendation either way.

5 essential questions to ask about your Ohio National policy

If you hold a legacy policy or mistakenly landed here shopping for new coverage, here are the critical questions you should be asking.

Who is actually administering my claims — Ohio National directly, or a third-party administrator?

This single question tells you a lot about what to expect if you ever need to file.

What does my specific policy say about independent medical examinations, and what happens if I refuse or disagree with the result?

Know this before you're ever in a position where it matters.

If I'm denied, is my policy governed by ERISA or state contract law?

For an individual policy like this, the answer should be state law — confirm it, since it materially changes your options if something goes wrong.

Would I even qualify for comparable coverage from an active carrier today, given my current health?

This determines whether keeping the legacy policy or trying to replace it makes more sense.

Which of the actively-selling Big 5 carriers actually fits my specialty, sex, and state?

If you mistakenly landed here while shopping for new coverage, that's the real question — see our Guardian vs. Principal comparison and the individual MassMutual and Ameritas reviews to start narrowing it down.

Your next steps

1.If you're shopping for coverage: stop researching Ohio National and start comparing quotes from the carriers actually writing policies today. Get rider-matched, tier-matched illustrations from Guardian, Principal, MassMutual, and Ameritas through an independent broker who works with all four.
2.If you own a legacy Ohio National policy and aren't currently filing a claim: pull your actual policy document and confirm the specific disability definition, rider structure, and claims-handling arrangement — don't rely on general product descriptions like the ones in this review. Keep it somewhere you can find it quickly.
3.If you're approaching or in the middle of a claim: document everything from your treating physicians thoroughly and proactively, understand your policy's IME provision before you're asked to comply with one, and consider consulting a disability insurance attorney early — before a denial, not after — given the documented pattern of aggressive claims handling on legacy books like this one.
4.If you're uncertain whether to keep or replace your policy: get a current-health quote from an active carrier before making any decision. Replacing a noncancelable legacy policy is not automatically the right move even given the claims concerns above — run the comparison with real numbers rather than deciding on reputation alone.

Editorial Credibility

Joshua Dunigan, DO | Family Medicine Physician & Founder

I founded MedMoneyGuide to provide physicians with unbiased, specialty-specific financial guidance. My goal is to add transparency and credibility to your financial journey.