Disability Insurance

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

Hakuna Matata

Full Member
7+ Year Member
Joined
Mar 17, 2014
Messages
201
Reaction score
178
Hey everyone! Starting my residency in June in FM. I've been told by various people to get disability insurance before starting residency, and make sure it's specific to physicians. I don't even know where to start. Tips on what to make sure the policy includes/specifies? Also, what's a rough estimate of what I can expect this to cost me during residency?
Thank you!


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

Members don't see this ad.
 
My residency has a couple of financial advisors that come and lecture a few times throughout residency. They usually try to make it near the beginning of the academic year for this reason. Ask you director who he/she would recommend. I don't think that it is imperative that you have it before residency. I believe I pay <$100/month for me and my wife.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
You can get it now or later, assuming health has not changed. The advantage of now vs. later is 1: you are younger thus cheaper, 2: If you are in your intern year then you won't be charged the higher cost which might come around for a specialty specific higher risk medical specialty in residency.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
Members don't see this ad :)
My residency has a couple of financial advisors that come and lecture a few times throughout residency. They usually try to make it near the beginning of the academic year for this reason. Ask you director who he/she would recommend. I don't think that it is imperative that you have it before residency. I believe I pay <$100/month for me and my wife.

Is this for short-term or long-term disability insurance?


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile
 
I am sure it was long term, there is not much of a market place for short term individual policies.

The main purveyor is AFLAC. They pitch to my group every year. Some of the staff have it. I looked at it once, but thought it was a waste. For what I considered to be a ridiculous premium (with lots of restrictions), it basically gives you a limited amount of money to live on until your long-term disability policy kicks in after 90 days. For high wage earners, it's much more cost-effective to just put the money into a bank account or easily liquidated investment vehicle, and self-fund if necessary. My emergency account is roughly 6 months' living expenses, anyway.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
The main purveyor is AFLAC. They pitch to my group every year. Some of the staff have it. I looked at it once, but thought it was a waste. For what I considered a ridiculous premium (with lots of restrictions), it basically gives you a limited amount money to live on until your long-term disability policy kicks in after 90 days. For high wage earners, it's much more cost-effective to just put the money into a bank account or easily liquidated investment vehicle, and self-fund if necessary. My emergency account is roughly 6 months' living expenses, anyway.
Same here.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
I've been told that AFLAC will provide some payments for pregnancy and delivery, but you have to take the policy out some time in advance of your pregnancy. One of my partners looked into it.

There's some discussion here: Talk to me about Aflac maternity coverage

Yeah I had this coverage during my last pregnancy. I think they paid $1000 for delivery and an additional $500 per day we needed to be in the hospital following the 48 hr stay. Or something along those lines. When thinking of how high the premiums were, we basically broke even- not worth it for us to do it again.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile
 
I had thought short-term was able to be used for maternity leave? Do most women not pursue this?


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile
Aflac and Mutual of Omaha are typically who we see providing short term in the individual market place. If it is on a Group short term policy then it is typically an employee benefit tied to the group long term plan.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
It depends on the insurance. Many times disability from an institution is all or nothing - meaning they will probably deny you. Private policies typically can give you exceptions. So for you it would say "if a disability is related to your current condition you get nothing" and they would give you a normal price plan. To navigate this I would, and did, get someone who can navigate multiple companies and tell you from their experience who to go with. Whitecoatinvestor has some good posts and recommends some people who do the above.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Umbrella is not for a resident. You must have something to protect, a net worth, for Umbrella to make since.
 

I have 60% through work, which is going to be the cheapest place to get it. (This is pretax)

I have a $5k/month policy outside work (this is post tax). There is a pretty extensive underwriting because there has been abuse in the past. If you have issues, most policies will have exclusions. Like if you have chronic back pain, back pain related issues will not be covered. Also, policies that guarantee your MD salary for life are less abundant. Most will only guarantee them for a few years, then drop off.

It is really important to have LTD insurance and life insurance until you can self insure, but its important to realize that ALL insurance makes the insurance company a profit. This isn't evil, its just fact. I'm willing to pay an insurance company a profit so that if I die or get disabled, my family is taken care of.

STD, like many insurances is gimmicky, and people are almost always better off by self insuring. (example: I can pretty easily self insure a dishwasher or most car repairs). I'm much better off having 3-6 months expenses in a money market than buying STD.

I would look, and see if it fits in your budget. I'd find an insurance broker.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
My opinion, umbrella policies are dirt cheap, and there are few reasons not to have one with MD or DO after your name. Though full disclosure, in Texas, it is very hard to sue residents for anything, and I didn't get one until after I became staff. I wouldn't call it stupid to get one as a resident.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
My opinion, umbrella policies are dirt cheap, and there are few reasons not to have one with MD or DO after your name. Though full disclosure, in Texas, it is very hard to sue residents for anything, and I didn't get one until after I became staff. I wouldn't call it stupid to get one as a resident.
I didn't either but its not a bad idea. My current umbrella policy is 1 mil and I pay less than $30/month for it. Might even be less than $20, I'm honestly not sure of the exact number but its amazingly cheap.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
Getting any disability as a resident will put you in better standing than most of your peers, so we are clearly splitting hairs here. I have also never considered future wages but aren't resident lawsuits capped at like 20K (in Texas at least).

My thought has always been that if I get sued as a resident I could 1. Pay it (my sign on bonus is twice that) or 2. Get it forgiven in bankruptcy. I think ill save my umbrella payments for later.
 
You don't like umbrella policies?

Sorry, I didn't clarify, I do like it for attendings+ or if you have liabilities or assets that you want to protect as a resident/fellow.

Some people will tell you that your future earnings can be held in a suit if you are in litigation as a resident, again this is anecdotal and not many cases out there (doesn't mean it wont happen, as is a giant piano falling out from the sky and leaving you a in vegetative state).

If the OP has liability factors (family, passive income, retirement accounts etc.), makes sense. If they're starting fresh, and ridden with student debt, the prosecution will likely not after them for the potential future income.
 
Getting any disability as a resident will put you in better standing than most of your peers, so we are clearly splitting hairs here. I have also never considered future wages but aren't resident lawsuits capped at like 20K (in Texas at least).

My thought has always been that if I get sued as a resident I could 1. Pay it (my sign on bonus is twice that) or 2. Get it forgiven in bankruptcy. I think ill save my umbrella payments for later.

That's if the suit is only a fine as a misdemeanor (ex. a fine by the board), what happens if it results in permanent disability or death to the patient? The jury would award into millions and you wouldn't be able to pay it. Again, this is probably not relevant to you as there's tort reform in Texas, but in other states. Also, unlikely for patient/lawyer to litigate you directly, it would likely be your supervising physician (they get more strength i.e. money out of this), unless of course you're moonlighting than you're the one named.
 
Umbrella insurance will not provide coverage for medical malpractice (most of the time the policy specifically excludes professional liabilities)

But it is useful for personal liability ... when you have a backyard get together (friends/family/coworkers) and something happens (deck collapses, dog bites someone, drowning in pool, fire/burn injury, etc). Also useful if you're involved in a MVA where you are deem at fault, and there are multiple victims (multiple hospital bills, or medical helicopters/trauma activation). Those liabilities add up fast, and can easily exceed most people's homeowner or auto insurance coverage.

More importantly, umbrella coverage comes with good defense lawyer since it is the insurance company's dime on the line ... the more at stake, the better the lawyer they will provide.

I pay roughly $20/month for 2 million umbrella coverage. That's a good price to pay for piece of mind knowing that I'm covered. The expensive portion of umbrella insurance isn't the premiums - it is upping existing coverage to the minimum required to have umbrella (most companies require a certain amount of liability coverage on auto/home before you can get umbrella)

Disability Insurance is always good to get (until financially independent) because you never know when you can't work ... whether due to illness, freak accident, etc. Please read the fine print. The residency plan of "60% of salary" may be 60% of resident salary (and not attending salary) ... so if you buy that plan without the option of increasing coverage in the future, coverage may be only 60% of what you made as a resident. It's better than nothing, but if you forget to review it or adjust it as an attending, getting 60% of resident salary instead of 60% attending salary is a big difference. There are riders that can increase coverage (and increase premiums) later on, without requiring medical exam, just need proof of income. If you are getting this plan as a resident, make sure you get this rider (and when you become an attending, increase your coverage when able).

Also make sure the disability policy is "own occupation" and not "any occupation". If you get disable and can't work as a doctor, but can be a cashier for Wal-Mart or a telemarketer, the insurance company would nto consider you disabled unless you have own-occupation definition.

Another thing that is good to have (esp as an attending, but also as a resident) is underinsured/uninsured motorist coverage ... if you get injured in an auto accident by someone, you'll have medical expenses. Sure, you'll have your own health insurance ... but there will be deductibles, copays for office visits/medications, lost wages (from not working, although disability should also cover that), plus struggles with prior authorization, denied treatment, etc. If you can get your car insurance to pay, there's less hassle - why spend any of your own hard work money or worry whether the anesthesiologist was in-network or out of network, whether the CT or MRI will be denied retroactively, or whether they will pay for home PT vs inpatient rehab, etc. However this type of insurance can be cheap or insanely expensive (depending on local markets, how many people have insurance, etc). Also depends on state as well (some state have medpay/personal injury policy) that may make this moot.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
You should talk to the GME office to see if there is a GSI (Guaranteed Standard Issue) disability plan in place with your institution. When these exist there is no underwriting only about 3-4 gate keeper type of questions. You should explore that because one of the gate keeper questions typically is 'have you ever been declined before', if you go through underwriting and get declined then you will also then typically be declined on the GSI....
 
Last edited:
Top