Most people who get as far as receiving a quote from a disability insurance site see the price of the policy. But it’s important to understand the value of a disability insurance policy as well. The fact is that one in four of you reading this will struggle with a disability disrupting your ability to work for three months or more – and sometimes that disability strikes tragically early in life.
Here’s something that occurred recently, to one of our own clients, a promising young doctor, just like many of you.
Young Doctor Stricken With Brain Tumor – 1 Year Out of Residency
Susan was in her last year of residency when she began wondering about disability insurance. Working with our agent, she calculated her expected future earnings as a doctor at around $7-10 million—not far from the average. Although money was still tight that year for her and her family, she decided to protect that income against the risk of disability, and bought a high-quality policy from us.
After all, she saw disabilities among women every week, in the course of practicing medicine: pregnancies issues and complex deliveries requiring extensive bed-rest, and months away from their jobs.
Some of these women depended on their jobs not just for medical insurance, but also to put food on the table. Some of her patients were put in a tight spot, with no real safety net for them other than Medicaid.
‘What happened to them could happen to me,’ she thought, and so bought a disability policy with us that would protect up to 60 percent or so of her income.
Less than a year later, Susan began suffering dizzy spells and unexplainable headaches. She went to see a specialist, who did some scans. The result: Susan was suffering from a brain tumor.
The combination of the tumor’s symptoms and treatment side effects, coupled with the time and travel required for her to seek treatment, made it impossible for her to continue working.
She called us, and we initiated a claim. She is currently still receiving a monthly check from her disability carrier, to replace most of her lost income, and still in treatment for the brain tumor. While she’s fighting to beat the tumor and regain her life, she is thankful every day that she took the time to protect her income—one less thing she needs to focus on now.