When it comes to disability insurance for veterinarians, there are two categories: large and small animal veterinarians.
Veterinarians working with large animals such as cattle, horses or zoo animals are considered higher risk and are in a different occupational class than veterinarians working with small animals such as dogs and cats.
This is different than physicians working on human beings. Those occupational classes are distinguished by surgical specialties (including anesthesiology and emergency medicine) and nonsurgical such as pediatric medicine.
Veterinarians have multiple sub specialties in small animal, large animal, surgical and nonsurgical. Even if you are a surgical specialist such as orthopedic surgery or opthamology, the distinguishing factor is if you work small or large animals. If you work with both, your occupational class will be based on which field you work in more than 50% of the time.
Regardless of the field in which you specialize, it is important that your individual disability policy covers you in your sub specialty. For example, if you specialize in veterinary dentistry and can no longer work in that sub specialty, you want a policy that will pay you benefits even if you can still work and practice as a general practice veterinarian.
Here is a list of veterinary specialties that would be covered in an individual disability insurance policy:
- Alternative medicine
- Anesthesiology
- Animal behavior
- Animal welfare
- Birds (pet and ornamental)
- Bovine
- Canine
- Cardiology
- Chiropractic
- Clinical pathology
- Clinical pharmacology
- Dentistry
- Dermatology
- Diagnostic imaging
- Equine
- Emergency and critical care
- Exotics
- Feline
- Internal medicine
- Laboratory animal medicine
- Microbiology
- Neurology
- Nutrition
- Oncology
- Ophthalmology
- Parasitology
- Pathology
- Poultry
- Preventive medicine
- Radiology
- Reptile and amphibian
- Shelter medicine
- State veterinary medicine
- Sports medicine
- Surgery
- Theriogenology
- Toxicology
- Zoo animals and wildlife
For more information about veterinary subspecialty disability insurance or to request a quote comparison, contact Set for Life Insurance today!