disability insurance

[m and m]

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Hello merry folk,

A private investment company just came to my school to talk to us about a specialty-specific disability insurance for doctors that I can lock into as a med student. Now, I understand that the specialty-specific part of the deal means that I get disability payments if I can no longer practice Emergency Medicine, whether or not I can still practice in a different branch of medicine (say you lost a hand and could not do procedures such as intubating, sewing and placing lines, but could work in a clinic or doing chart reviews). Apparently this kind of coverage is rare and expensive for specialties like ours. The thing is that if I sign up now, it is relatively cheap because I have no specialty and that locks me into a lower payment bracket. As soon as I start residency I will get specialty-specific coverage but still pay at the lower bracket. As I have more cash I can pay higher premiums and get better coverage, and if I ever actually end up having to use it, it pays me until the age of 65. Now, I have heard that hospital coverage in most places is not specialty specific and only pays you for 5 years. The investment company also mentioned that in many states you can no longer practice if you contract HIV or Hep C, and their insurance would cover that same as a disability.

So the questions are:

Is it true that specialty-specific insurance for EM docs is rare and expensive?

Is it true that most benefit packages only pay you for 5 years in case of disability?

Does this sound like something to consider, or are they just playing scare tactics?

Is this HIV/HepC stuff true?



What do you guys think?

 

[EMRaiden]

I asked my insurance agent several of these questions this afternoon and here are her answers. Realize that there may be unknown variables and exceptions.

Is it true that specialty-specific insurance for EM docs is rare and expensive?

Yes- this is true. Ever since the 1980's Same-specialty or "own-occ" coverage has been increasingly costly and difficult to find. Apparently some physicians were becoming too disabled to function in their current job, OR/ER/Office, and went on disability, then developed lucrative side practices, reviewing cases, etc, while still collecting their tax free disability check.

Is it true that most benefit packages only pay you for 5 years in case of disability?

Some benefit packages will only pay for 2-3-5 years of same specialty coverage, after that they figure that you have the education and training to go and do something (used car sales, mechanic, construction)

Is this HIV/HepC stuff true?

She was not aware of state laws that prohibited practice, but had heard individuals who had converted and were not allowed to perform surgery or practice in a certain hospital (?hospital policy?)

 

[m and m]

Wow! You actually went to your insurance agent and asked them? Thanks EMRaiden. Good things to know.