Physicians – Disability Insurance For Resident Physicians

June 24th, 2010 |

Author: admin

Four years of pre-med studies paired with four years of medical school topped with another four years of residency. Twelve years of learning, practicing and accumulating a lot of debt – all to save people’s lives, make them feel better and help them live longer. You have a gift that most people could only dream of. In return, you have the “potential” of earning a handsome income and creating a nice life style for yourself and your family, while doing what you love and are great at doing. Now the only thing left to do is protect this “potential” and put some guarantees in place. As you’ve probably heard from colleagues and older physicians, obtaining a personal Disability insurance policy should be part of your future planning.

Taking your profession into consideration, it is obvious you do not need to be convinced that injuries and illnesses truly do happen and truly do prevent people from working. You probably could however use some guidance in understanding what to look for in a personal Disability insurance policy.

As a resident physician, it is important to protect what you spent 12 years establishing – your specialty. The best way to do this is by making sure that your personal Disability Income policy provides you with medical specialty language through a True Own-Occupation definition of disability. Be aware that there are multiple versions of the Own-Occupation definition – a “modified” Own-Occupation and a “true” or “pure” own-occupation. The primary difference is that True Own-Occupation Disability coverage will pay benefits when you are unable to perform your specialty, even if you work in a different specialty or completely different occupation. It is the most attractive definition of total disability available for Physicians today.

The second most important thing for resident physicians to include on their Disability policy is a Future Increase Option. By adding this rider, you are guaranteeing your ability to increase benefits in the future, regardless of your health, as long as you are not on claim. In other words you are protecting your future earnings potential. Rather than having to purchase a completely new policy and go through medical underwriting again, this rider provides the option to increase your coverage at each policy anniversary, and can be exercised as your income increases over time. As a resident physician, the programs available that offer Disability Income will be somewhat limited. This rider will allow you to maintain your benefit proportionate to your income level as it increase.

Lastly, be sure that your policy provides Residual benefits for partial disability. As a resident physician, you know that diseases do not often come and go over night. Instead, most diseases progress and regress in severity over time. A Residual benefit is essential to properly protecting your income because it expands your policy to include partial disabilities. To make it even more interesting, not all residual riders are created equal. When purchasing your Disability coverage, be sure that partial benefits and recovery benefits are payable for the full benefit period, rather than a limited benefit period.

There are other riders available that should be considered as well. For example the Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) rider protects your benefits purchasing power in a long-term claim scenario. This rider will increase your benefit amount by 3-6% each year that you are on claim. As a young physician with many years left of work, this is also a very important rider to include.

For the purposes of this article, I will not go into detail on any other policy riders but encourage you to ask the agent you work with for additional information. The provisions and benefits discussed in this article will put you to a great start and provide you with very comprehensive coverage.

Michael Relvas is an insurance specialist with MR Insurance Consultants in Rockville, MD. He provides individuals across the country with personal information, quotes and advice on purchasing Own-Occupation Disability insurance. If you have any questions or would like to discuss your options, please call 800-817-4522 or visit Medical Resident Disability insurance.

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