The other day, I was speaking with a number of physicians about disability insurance. Someone happened to ask, "how many practicing physicians have disability insurance?" The group began discussing various benefit packages and they concluded that physicians who are employed by hospitals, academic centers, and other large organizations have access to nice disability insurance options. In contrast, many physicians who are in private practice or in small groups are not given many options for disability insurance.
It seems like so many physicians are not thinking about the possibility of needing disability insurance. Perhaps we don't want to think about our own fragility. Maybe we don't want to face the chance that we will get struck with illness or get involved in a serious accident. I've known many younger physicians who are now disabled and a number of them did not have any disability insurance because they were not informed during medical school about the need for disability insurance. .
