Looking for your first job? Don’t overlook long-term disability benefits.

If you’re leaving residency and seeking your first job as a physician, there are many things you’re probably looking for: a practice or hospital with a solid reputation, an opportunity to work in your specialty, and income enough to help you pay back your medical school loans. But how should benefits figure into your assessment of a job opportunity?

“When looking for a job, people often focus on finding the job that pays the most,” financial expert Denise Appleby writes. “But, unless the difference in pay is significant, more pay does not always determine the best job offer.”¹

One important benefit to consider when exploring a job opportunity, especially if you have school loans to repay and a family to support, is long-term disability insurance. Here’s one way of looking at the value of a long-term disability plan:

Let’s imagine you get two job offers: one that would pay $200,000 with no long-term disability coverage (which means no income if you get injured or sick), and another offer that would pay a little less — $195,000 — but would include a long-term disability plan that will pay you $120,000 per year (after taxes) until retirement age if you are disabled by illness or injury.

If you choose Medical Practice B and you suffer a disability, you’ll receive a sizeable benefit that will help you stay on track financially until you can start working again. While it may not seem important now, if you ever find yourself unable to work because of a disability, having that benefit to fall back on will be well worth the cost of a slightly lower income. And suffering from a disability is more likely than you may think. The probability of a white-collar worker becoming disabled for 90 days or longer between the ages of 35 and 65 is 27 percent for men and 31 percent for women.²

Besides looking for a solid long-term disability plan in a job offer, also consider the rest of the benefits package, including medical and dental benefits, other insurance coverage, and retirement plans.

Long-term disability policies offered through residency programs typically expire on June 30 after the residency is complete. Unless you can stay on your residency program’s long-term disability plan (check with your program administrator to find out), it’s a good idea to get another policy through your employer or, if you’re self-employed, to purchase an individual policy. If you’re a practice owner, consider the value of a long-term disability policy when deciding what benefits to offer your employees. Remember that a strong benefits package can help you attract and keep quality employees.

For more information about long-term disability insurance, visit www.tmait.org, call a TMAIT Advisor, or download our free Long-term Disability Insurance guide.

1. “Job Hunting: Higher Pay Vs. Better Benefits,” by Denise Appleby, http://www.investopedia.com/articles/retirement/09/job-retirement-benefits.asp. Accessed January 18, 2011.

2. “The Real Risk of Disability in the United States,” by Robert W. Beal, sponsored by Life and Health Insurance Foundation for Education (LIFE), http://www.lifehappens.org/pdf/Real-Risk-of-Disability-paper-FINAL.pdf. Accessed January 18, 2011.

Dr. Pascual Mendoza helps the uninsured in San Angelo by offering a free clinic.

Around 92,147 people live in San Angelo, Texas. Seventeen percent of them live below the poverty line.¹ And many of those who live below the poverty line don’t have health insurance.

That’s why Dr. Pascual Mendoza, a family medicine doctor who works at the Shannon Clinic in San Angelo, decided to do something to help those in the community who couldn’t afford health care.

“Eight years ago,” Dr. Mendoza says, “I had the idea to try to give something back to the community — to those who are less fortunate. I saw so many people who were in need of help. And what better way than to offer my services for a day, for free. I asked my staff what they thought, and they were very receptive, and very enthusiastically agreed to help me with it.”

The idea soon snowballed. A local restaurant donated sandwiches for the volunteers. Another volunteer agreed to play Santa Claus and hand out donated gifts to the children. “Every year, we’ve had a great number of volunteers who have come and helped me for free,” he says. “I cannot tell you how satisfying it is to do something like this.”

Dr. Mendoza’s love for helping people is exactly what attracted him to medicine in the first place. “My mother had a tremendous influence on me and pushed me to pursue medical school. When you’re young, you think you can do many things to help others, and I thought medicine would give me many opportunities to help other people.”

Dr. Mendoza attended Universidad Autónoma medical school in San Luis Potosí, Mexico. When he immigrated to the United States, he took his licensing exam and completed four years of clinical residency at Mercy Hospital in Chicago, Illinois. After practicing medicine in Naperville, Illinois, for several years, he and his wife moved to San Angelo, Texas.

At the 2010 free-clinic event, which was held on December 12, Dr. Mendoza treated 54 people from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. Most had respiratory infections or other minor ailments. However, some of the patients had chronic conditions, like diabetes. In such cases, Dr. Mendoza helps the patients to start treatment and guides them to resources so they can continue to find affordable medicine and treatment. And for the patients he can’t help, he refers them to a specialist. For the 2010 event, an ophthalmologist and an orthopedic physician agreed to be “on call” during Dr. Mendoza’s free-clinic day, just in case they were needed.

One Christmas, he treated a woman who had diabetes and was very ill. “I was able to help her,” Dr. Mendoza recalls. “But as she was leaving, I found out she had two children — 4 and 5 years old. We were giving out Christmas gifts to the children, and they were so happy, because the family didn’t have any money at all. The kids came running up to me and were so excited, they were hugging each of my legs.”

Dr. Mendoza hopes other physicians will start free clinics in their areas. “I would say it’s not difficult to make the commitment to do volunteer work. What better way to do it than in the field in which we practice. It’s very easy for us as physicians to write a check or make donations to an organization and feel that we have contributed somehow. And that’s okay. But I think if you can do something on a personal basis, it’s so much more rewarding.”

To assist Dr. Mendoza with his free clinic next December, or to get tips on starting your own free clinic, contact him at drpmendoza@me.com or 325-653-7916.

1. City-data website. San Angelo, Texas page. Updated 2009. http://www.city-data.com/city/San-Angelo-Texas.html. Accessed January 18, 2011.

TMA event: First Tuesdays at the Capitol

The Texas Medical Association is asking for your help in lobbying for issues important to Texas physicians during the 2011 Texas legislative session, which is expected to be a difficult one for medicine. The state faces a projected budget shortfall of up to $20 billion, which will generate tremendous pressure to cut payments for Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and for medical education. Also, 2003 liability reforms are likely to be challenged.

As part of the “White Coat Invasion,” your presence in Austin will make a huge difference as these issues and others important to physicians and patients are discussed. Each First Tuesday event will include lobbying tips, legislative briefings and debriefings, and personal visits to legislators’ offices.

The remaining First Tuesday events during this legislative session will take place on:

• March 1
• April 5 (students and residents are encouraged to attend this day)
• May 3

To learn more and to register, go to http://www.texmed.org/Template.aspx?id=5211, or call your county medical society or TMA at 1.800.880.1300, ext. 1361, if you have questions.