N.J. insurer, AMA offer docs income protection against HIV. (Medical Inter-Insurance Exchange; American Medical Association; Human Immunodeficiency Virus)

A New Jersey insurance company intends to offer income-protection coverage to physicians in case they test positive for HIV.

Medical Inter-Insurance Exchange, a Lawrenceville professional liability insurer, will provide a $500,000 benefit to its insured doctors who test positive for the human immunodeficiency virus, the infection that causes AIDS in human beings, regardless of how the disease was contracted.

The New Jersey Department of Insurance has given preliminary approval to the coverage but must change a regulation and approve certain forms before the company can offer the coverage, said Jim Berzok, an agency spokesman.

Medical Inter-Insurance Exchange is the first New Jersey company to make this coverage available at no additional cost to its insured doctors in the state.

"We hope our coverage lessens the personal anguish of doctors contracting HIV infection by easing concern over the financial impact on them and their families," said David Goldberg, president of the insurer, in a …