Written by Jamie K. Fleischner, CLU, ChFC
President, Set for Life Insurance

Most medical residents put off their decision to purchase disability insurance until they are close to graduation. They are busy getting through each day and think that they will still be able to obtain the insurance any time they want.

Today I was once again reminded of the importance of purchasing a policy during residency. I spoke to a surgical resident back in January about purchasing a disability policy. He said he was busy and would wait until May when he was closer to graduation. Nothing much would change between now and then, right?

This morning he called me and said he had a “slight change of health” and wanted to know how this would impact his ability to purchase a disability policy. He was preparing to go into surgery this Friday to remove a brain tumor. Unfortunately I had to tell him that it was too late to buy the policy.

The primary reason to purchase an individual disability insurance policy during medical residency is to protect your insurability. If you are healthy, you can purchase a minimum size policy of $1000/month benefit and have the ability to increase it to the maximum limit of $15,000/month in the future without having to disclose medical information. Therefore if you have any adverse changes in health, you are still protected without limitations. These policies are minimal in cost at approximately $25/month give or take depending on medical specialty and state of residence.

Not only will this surgical resident be unable to purchase a policy, he will need to depend on his employer for all of his future insurance needs. Had he only applied when he was still healthy…