
1. Who Should I Buy Physician Disability Insurance From?
The short answer is that you need to buy disability insurance from an independent agent who has experience working with physicians. I maintain a list of the top insurance agents for physicians. Given my experience above, it is important to me that this list is trustworthy. What exactly does “independent” mean? Essentially, it means that they are not tied to or employed by one specific company. They are able to offer you disability insurance from any of the “Big Six” companies that offer true own-occupation, specialty specific disability insurance. These six companies include Ameritas, Guardian, Mass Mutual, Principal, Standard, and Ohio National. As you’ll read below, I recommend getting multiple quotes from multiple independent insurance agents. This reduces the possibility of conflicted advice, and increases your chances to get the best product at the best price.2. How is “Disability” Defined for Physicians?
Some people don’t know to ask this question, but it is by far the most important questions about disability insurance. Not all disabilities or disability insurance products are created equal. (Not all insurance agents are equal, either). How disabled do you need to be to receive a benefit? What if you can do part of your job, but not all of it? What is you can work as a physician, but not in your specialty? In the end, you want a physician disability insurance product that protects you from any disability that prevents you from doing your specific job or any part of it. This has a name: own-occupation, specialty-specific disability insurance. Many disability insurance policies require you to be “flat on your back” disabled in order to qualify for the benefit. What if you are in a procedural specialty and 80% of your income comes from doing procedures and you get an accident that leads to a traumatic amputation of your arm? If you have the “flat on your back” kind of disability, the insurance company will tell you to go work in clinic. You can still do your job! That is why you want the broadest definition of disability that applies to your occupation (physician) and is specialty-specific (e.g. neurosurgeon, pediatrician, internal medicine, etc). That way, if you can no longer perform your specific job, you should qualify for disability insurance.3. How Do I Go About Buying Physician Disability Insurance?
When you go to buy any insurance product (term life or disability insurance) you should request multiple quotes from multiple insurance agents. I recommend picking three from the list on the recommended insurance agent page. After talking with a few agents, it is then up to them to get you the best product at the best price. I recommend getting quotes from at least three insurance agents. Make sure to tell them about your medical history. Be honest with them so that they can make the best recommendation for you. Additionally, you should ask for all of the available discounts, though the agents on the list above should give them to you regardless. As a side note, you should know that these insurance agents will make a commission from selling you these products. That is how insurance works. You might as well purchase it from someone who is inclined to offer you the best product at the best price.4. When Should A Physician Get Disability Insurance?
For those who do not have any health problems, this is going to sound snarky. You should get disability insurance when you are healthy and before you get disabled. It’s that simple. Since you and I don’t know when that will be, you should get it as soon as you can afford the monthly payments. For most, this will likely be at the beginning of residency. If you have medical problems like I do, then lend me your ear. I recommend that you see if your hospital offers a “guaranteed issue” disability insurance product. This kind of insurance does not require a medical underwriting (i.e medical history or exam). This insurance is more expensive, but you will be able to get it with pre-existing medical conditions. Once you have a guaranteed policy in hand, you are free to apply for less expensive policies. At that point, if your history gets you denied, you can still keep the guaranteed policy. No big deal. If you get accepted, you can get rid of the more-expensive guaranteed policy. For example, I have an essential tremor for which I take propranolol. I should have waited until intern year, and purchased the guaranteed disability insurance product. After getting that, I could have applied with the most appropriate company (some are better than others for those of us with medical problems) and hopefully obtained a less expensive policy. If not, I could have kept the guaranteed policy.5. How Much Disability Insurance Do Doctors Need?
The goal for disability insurance is to replace all of your current post-tax income. That said, it depends on your situation. If you are married to another high-income earner, and live below your means, you may not need to replace all of your income. However, if you are the major breadwinner in your family, replacing your full post-tax income is a good goal. This is often done by combining a personal disability policy purchased in training and a group policy through your employer or group. For example, if your post-tax monthly income is $15,000 you might try to get a $5,000 personal disability insurance policy to supplement the $10,000 group policy provided by your employer. Remember: personal policies are often paid with post-tax money. Therefore, the personal disability benefit is post-tax (no more taxes are paid on it). However, group policies are often paid with pre-tax money. So, in order to get $10,000 post-tax from your group policy, you will need a policy that provides more than that each month. Alternatively, you could get more personal disability insurance to off set the problem.6. I Have a Group Disability Policy, Isn’t that Enough?

7. Which Riders Should I Purchase?
Insurance product often come with multiple provisions or riders that you can purchase for an additional cost. Some of them are quite fancy. You certainly do not need everything that is out there. So, here are the salient ones that are worth your consideration: Residual Disability: This rider allows you to claim a disability that impacts part of your job, but not the entirety of it. Take for example a surgeon who performs work in both the clinic and in the operating room. If a disability occurred that disabled the surgeon from surgical work, but not from clinical work… you want to get a disability benefit for the residual part of your job you can no longer perform. Future Purchase: The future purchase rider allows you to purchase additional insurance without a new medical underwriting process (i.e. no new medical exam, history, etc). The reason to purchase this is when you are a resident who cannot afford the entire amount you will need someday, but can afford to pay for some amount now. This allows you to increase to an “attending” benefit when you start earning an attending paycheck. Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA): This rider increases your benefit each year to hopefully keep up with inflation. There are other riders that you can purchase. The residual and future purchase riders are “must have,” in my opinion. I am plus or minus on the COLA rider. And I certainly don’t see any reason to buy riders for bad retirement products, your student loans, or catastrophic disability.8. How Long Does it Take For My Long Term Disability Insurance to Kick In?
