Disability Insurance

[Ravenclaw]

I feel like this has been talked about on here before but I couldn't find it when I searched. We were thinking of getting disability ins. before residency finishes but not sure if it's a good idea since money is so tight right now.

Is there any benefit of getting it before residency finishes? Or can we wait until the end of fellowship? Any other advice or tips about it? We have our insurance guy coming in a few weeks to talk to us about it.

Thanks.

[migirl]

We bought a policy for DH during residency, and - now that he's finishing fellowship and about to begin the "real" job - we're really glad that we did.

Premiums and rates are set based on the age of application, so you'll get a better deal now than if you wait. An individual disability plan is portable, so you can take it with you if/when you move and - as I understand it from our broker - individual plans offer non-taxable benefits.

Be sure to check into "true own occupation" coverage, this was important to us since DH is in a surgical subspecialty. It essentially means that if he were to become disabled and could not work in his specific field of medicine (urology), he would be eligible for benefits. My understanding is that not all plans offer this.

[bokelley]

How strange, DH and I were just talking about this. Should we up our life insurance or get disability insurance. I am not sure what disability insurance is.

[MarissaNicole]

How strange, DH and I were just talking about this. Should we up our life insurance or get disability insurance. I am not sure what disability insurance is.

There are generally two basic types of disability insurance. They cover you if you become sick/injured and cannot do you job. Some will protect you if you cannot do your certain specialty, others will only cover you if you can no longer be a doctor. Example lets say DH loses a hand or goes blind- policy 1 will pay you a percentage of DH's salary for as long as he cannot work in his specialty. Policy 2 - will only cover DH if he cannot be a doctor altogether so he is expected to still work in medicine. Obviously it depends on the illness or injury as some are temporary, some are permanent and some will effect some specialties but not others. Policy 1 will be a lot more expensive than Policy #2.

[Michele]

Bump: how much disability insurance does one need? How much does it cost?

I'm looking at getting disability insurance for me. If I make x per month, they gave me a quote for 57% of x....and it's going to cost me 2% of x a month for 30-d waiting...includes future purchase, cost if living, and own occupation. How does that compare to what you all have for the doctor? I only called the AVMA.