How did you fare during this year’s cold and flu season? A cold or bout with the flu can slow you down - perhaps you missed a few days of work - but before long, you were back to your routine of seeing patients and taking care of your practice. Minor illnesses create minor inconvenience, and these are overcome quickly. But if you are a practice owner or partner, what would happen to you if you became seriously ill or injured? Without the proper protection, these can create major stumbling blocks that are able to destroy your practice and your financial livelihood.

“That won’t happen to me.” Though no one wants to dwell on the possibility, succumbing to a serious illness or injury is alarmingly common.

For example, during the 2017 calendar year in Texas, 17,571 people sustained serious injuries in vehicle crashes*. (This figures to be 2 people each hour!) As an independent physician, what would happen if you were the injured party and you could not practice medicine for several months? Think about your practice...Who would see your patients? How would you cover salaries for your employees? How would you pay your lease and utilities?

Imagine going to a very nice restaurant. You sit down at a table and the waiter asks for your order. After you place your order he points to the kitchen and says “Please pick it up in 10 minutes. And when you’re done, kindly bring your dishes back to where you got them.”

Is this the type of service you expect from a high quality restaurant?

As the owner of a medical practice, we don’t have to tell you that providing group benefits for your employees can be costly. In fact, you could be paying a significant part of your revenue for employee benefits. So it makes sense that you are entitled to ask this question – am I getting the service that I’m paying for?

THE CLOCK IS TICKING

As Health Insurance Open Enrollment draws to a close, you as an independent practice owner have very little time left to make important health insurance decisions for yourself and your staff. If you still need to make these decisions for your small practice, the advisors at TMA Insurance Trust are here to help you.

It’s no secret that today’s health insurance marketplace can be complex, chaotic and confusing. And as a practice owner, you certainly know that trying to control health insurance costs can be a challenge.

But we found some information that might surprise you. It’s not very well publicized but it could be extremely helpful if you want to gain more control over your health insurance costs.

If you are a partner in your own small practice, you undoubtedly stay busy; but you probably wouldn’t have it any other way. The independence that comes from owning your own practice is a great reward for all the hard work. But you face specific challenges as well. One such challenge is the risk of financial loss if a practice partner passes away.

If you can’t work, how will your practice?

It takes a lot of planning, dedication, time and money to make a medical practice work efficiently and profitably. But if a disability should strike, you might be unable to work for an extended period of time. Without the right disability insurance, everything you have worked so hard to achieve could be lost.

Liz West is an experienced advisor on health insurance under the Affordable Care Act here at TMA Insurance Trust. She has worked here for nearly three decades, so she understands the marketplace and the particular needs of physicians in our state.

As the date for open enrollment nears, we sit down with Liz to discuss the health insurance marketplace and solutions to some of the issues our members are facing.