Doctors are among the highest wage earners in the United States, with an average income that is 4 times that of the national average income. However, it takes some doing to become a doctor, especially the amount of money that you have to pay as fees, which averages $200,000. That is serious cash for most folks, more so for a medical school student, who has to take out a student loan to pay such fees. After graduating from medical school a millennial doctor begins his/her career with this huge debt that takes more than a decade to repay even with the higher wage that doctors earn. This is what most disability companies explain to young doctors.
For a young doctor, the first decade of your career is extremely important with regard to the repayment of this debt. Disruptions and defaults will only extend the repayment tenure and increase the debt load but these are events that nobody can control. For instance, if you fall ill or meet with an accident, and need a long recovery time of say, 2-3 years, when you won’t be able to work and earn an income, how will you pay your bills? Most importantly, how will you pay your student loan repayments? An individual disability insurance (IDI) policy will help you do that easily.
You will need high limits insurance when coverage gaps appear
By the time a doctor completes a decade in the profession, his/her income reaches a level where it becomes difficult to adequately cover it against the risk of disability. That’s because most disability insurance services have a ceiling on the compensation they pay to beneficiaries.
In fact, a doctors disability insurance policy is ideal for a doctor whose after-tax income more or less meets his/her expenses with a little to spare. For doctors in mid-career, whose income has grown manifold from the time they began their careers, a high limits disability cover is what you need.
Optimizing your insurance can ensure adequate coverage
At a higher income level, no single healthcare professional’s disability insurance offers adequate coverage that will replace up to 60-70% of your after-tax income. However, if you are prepared to invest a little more on a high limits IDI policy, you could get adequate coverage.
The other way to close the coverage gap on your physician’s disability insurance is by stacking up your insurance with additional long and short term group policies. At the same time you need to understand that as your income increases, the cost of coverage will also increase.
Get professional advice and guidance to invest in insurance
There are different ways that you can optimize your healthcare professionals insurance cover but for that, you need to be well-informed about the most effective insurance products. That will require you to invest hours in research and reading of policy fine prints of many insurance carriers.
It is much better if you invest a fraction of that time to find a reliable disability insurance broker who is knowledgeable about the best policies. As an industry professional, s/he will also use his/her experience to guide you in optimizing your high limits disability cover.
For more information about high limit disability insurance: https://www.mgis.com/solutions/high-limits-disability-insurance
