The long hours of study, the grueling night shifts, the heavy burden of student loans. As a female physician it’s obvious that you have paid your dues to get where you are today. And it goes without saying that you have worked just as hard as your male counterparts to achieve your goals.

So if you were told that your rates would be higher for long term disability insurance than those paid by male physicians – for the same level of coverage – you might be somewhat surprised and more than a little disappointed.

You have invested heavily in your future; putting forth effort, time, and significant expense to get where you are today. As you near the conclusion of your medical residency, you expect a successful career of personal satisfaction and accomplishment. Still, no one can say with certainty what the future holds. If the unexpected should happen, proper insurance coverage will help you meet the unknown head on. What type on insurance should you carry as a resident or fellow? For those who aren’t sure where to start, we have created a package of the most essential insurance products for physicians who are starting out in their careers.

Imagine that you just purchased a brand new car. It gleams on the outside, handles flawlessly and comes with all the bells and whistles you could want. When you step into that car for the very first time one thing is almost certain: You wouldn’t dream of driving one block from the showroom if that car was not adequately insured.

So here’s a question: If you have insurance to protect your new car from potential damage, why wouldn’t you give the same consideration to insuring something even more valuable – your professional income?

As a physician, you see the importance of having disability insurance in place. Whether you are an independent physician and must purchase your own disability insurance, or you are employed and only receive coverage through your employer, you see the value in protecting your income.

Still, some physicians (whether independent or employed) may not have enough disability insurance to adequately protect their finances. If you become sick or injured and are unable to work, will your current disability coverage adequately protect you? Will your family have enough income to sustain the standard of living that you have achieved together?

If you’re like many physicians, employed by a medical group, hospital or medical center, you may be unaware of how much your long-term disability policy actually covers. Most policies paid for by an employer are limited to 50 to 60 percent of a physician’s base salary, excluding bonuses — leaving a gap in coverage that falls short of what’s required to meet ordinary living expenses. To illustrate this point, we'd like to give you a hypothetical example of how you could be caught off guard by inadequate disability coverage:

As a specialist, you possess the ability to earn a sizable income after years of education and training. Yet if an unexpected illness or injury prevented you from practicing your specialty, you would need a disability benefit commensurate with your expenses to avoid depleting your savings and investments, and putting your family’s future at risk.

Many tools are made to serve only one purpose. For example, you know that a blade is designed to cut. But there are many types of specialized knives, and for the most part, they aren’t meant to do double duty. You wouldn’t use a surgeon’s scalpel to slice vegetables for dinner.

In a similar vein, there are two different types of disability insurance that serve different purposes; for comprehensive protection, you should consider having both.

You as a Texas physician have a great deal to protect, and we at TMA Insurance Trust work hard to help you do so. Recently, we conducted a survey to find out what TMA members’ most common questions were with regard to disability insurance. After we reviewed these questions, we addressed some of the most pressing concerns.