Married Medical Resident Disability Insurance

By Jamie K. Fleischner, CLU, ChFC, LUTCF
President, Set for Life Insurance

I had a call today from a married medical resident couple. I wanted to share their story to illustrate the concerns that many couples in this situation face. Their names are changed to protect their anonymity.

Profile:
Dr. Anthony Silver and Dr. Susan Gold
Live in New York
Dr. Silver is an orthopedic surgery fellow
Dr. Gold is a pediatric general cardiologist
Both work at the same medical center and will finish  their medical residency in 2013.
Neither have any major health concerns and are nonsmokers.

Drs. Gold and Silver have approximately $400k of combined school loans. There is a chance they will be moving to Texas in July but they have not finalized their job offers.

Dr. Silver projects his income will be approximately $350,000 and Dr. Gold around $250,000.

No children yet but they hope to start a family in the next 3 years.

A lot of married couples ask if there is some sort of discount they can receive if they are married. It is not the same as homeowners or long term care insurance where there are marital discounts. However, if both work at the same employer, we can sent up new discounts that can be on their individual policies.

Since both Dr. Gold and Dr. Silver will be bringing in an income, we needed to take into consideration the proper amount of monthly benefit needed. We did a cost benefit analysis and determined we ought to insure Dr. Silver for slightly more since his income will be higher and his premiums will be lower (women pay approximately 40% more for their disability insurance).

We discussed life insurance, too. Since they will be moving to Texas, the rates there will be less expensive than in New York and there will be a wider variety of companies to choose from. The need for life insurance is not as immediate since they don’t yet have children. And, their student loans will be void if they die. However, since they are both healthy and want to protect their insurability, we decided it would be a good idea for them to apply this summer. Also, once they take a paramedical exam for the disability insurance, it can be used in the next 6 months for life insurance.

Since they are in their last 6 months of medical residency and are both surgical specialists, they can both purchase up to $7500/month benefit.

For more information about life and disability insurance for married and graduating medical residents, contact Set for Life Insurance today!