How Much Disability Insurance for Physicians do I Need

As a physician, you’re going to want the right coverage for you in case of an unexpected disability. However, for most of the physicians, finding an answer to the question, “how much disability insurance for physicians do I need,” often becomes overwhelming. This thought process occurs with physicians when they become residents and sometimes when they are in their intern years.

How Much Disability Insurance for Physicians do I Need

It’s important for physicians to consider that as pay increases, they need to also simultaneously increase the disability insurance coverage. Being in residency can help with monthly insurance payments, but this may not be enough as your income increases along with proportionate increases in expenses. Here are a few important questions to think about when you decide to go for disability insurance.

Look For Higher Purchase Benefit

Your income will most certainly increase when you’re attending. Make sure that your insurance benefit also increases, as well as additional purchase benefits. This will enable you and entitle you to get more disability insurance coverage without having to go in for another health examination.

Understand How Your Benefit Claims Will Work

There are different types of disability insurance policies. Hence it is important for you to know how each of the policies work and what they offer. Only then will you be able to make a claim and take things forward. Before you sign on the policy, please look carefully at the way in which disability based reimbursements and benefits are defined. While some policies are directly tied to disabilities, there are others that take into account the profession and the level of work that a person a physician or a doctor or a dentist does. There are policies that compensate the policy holders only when he or she is unable to carry out their profession or jobs in totality. Hence, you must be very careful when choosing the right policy keeping in mind your specific needs and requirements.

Cost of the Policy

There is no doubt that each policy is attached with a cost to it . Therefore you must be sure that your disability insurance policy cost is commensurate with the benefits that you expect out of it. There are a few factors that contribute to the cost of your insurance policy. These include riders that you choose and the monthly benefits that you may have chosen in your policy. The type of premiums you choose to pay, including graded premiums have a big role to play as far as the cost of your policies are concerned. Hence, here again it is a question of doing your research and then choosing the right options keeping in mind your specific needs and requirements.

Questions to Ask?

To start off with you must have a reasonably clear understanding about the meaning and scope of disability insurance. Though undesirable, it is possible that as a doctor you may not be able to perform your duties because of inability or injury. In such cases, the disability insurance should work as a safety net and should be able to replace your earnings. Hence, it also is referred to as income protection. Therefore you must always be sure that the policy that you take will ensure replacement of your income whether it is partial, temporary or permanent injuries or disabilities.

Final Words

So, how much disability insurance for physicians do I need? We are sure that the above would have given some knowledge to help you know what to consider. Depending on the policy, the coverage may be able to take care of 60% of your earnings though you should ideally look for 100% coverage.