Most people know that insurance is there to help protect what’s important in our personal and professional lives. But as a woman physician what you might not know is that the pricing for certain kinds of insurance can be different for women than it is for men.
That’s because in many cases, premiums for insurance products are based on the gender of the person seeking coverage. And often, women bear higher costs because they represent greater risk to insurance companies.
You’re a practice owner and you’ve invested an incredible amount of time and energy to get where you are. Nobody knows this better than you.
How many times have you heard: Income protection is vital for every physician.
Probably often enough that you may have tuned it out by now. But here are a few facts that could reinforce just how important it really is to have a good income protection strategy – especially if you’re in the early stages of your career.
As a woman physician, one of your biggest allies in helping to keep your financial foundation secure is disability insurance. However, the cost of disability insurance may be a barrier that’s kept you from obtaining this necessary coverage. Premium rates for individual long-term disability insurance policies are typically 40-50% higher for women than for men. If you do have disability insurance, your coverage may have severe limitations you’re not aware of.
They’re two of our most precious assets – our health and our income.
In many ways they’re inter-connected. If we’re not healthy it can have a big impact on our income. If we’re sick or injured and can’t work for a long period of time that could result in serious financial loss.
Working with physicians for over 65 years, we’ve seen this happen firsthand.
It’s common sense that if you have a leak in your roof, the time to fix it is before a rain storm – not after a deluge.
One advantage of being an employed physician is that your employment typically comes with a benefits package. This likely includes insurance coverage that may be fully or partially paid for by your employer. For many physicians, that can bring a sense of security, knowing that your basic insurance needs are covered.
So if you already have insurance from your employer why would you need more coverage? There can be a number of very good reasons – especially when it comes to long term disability insurance.
As an independent physician, obtaining disability coverage at the beginning of your career is a smart decision. Many colleagues counsel younger physicians to do so because of the income protection it can provide. As time passes and your salary increases, are you making sure your income protection is increasing with it?
