Disability insurance for physicians

Your ability to practice is worth millions. Insure it like it is.

One injury or diagnosis can stop your income, even when everything else in your life carries on as normal. We compare the major carriers to find you true own-occupation coverage at the best price. We work with doctors and dentists, and no one else. It costs you nothing to use us.

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True Own-OccupationDisability Insurance
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Side-by-side rates from the top carriers, built around your specialty.

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This helps us find every discount you qualify for.

We compare the top 6 own-occupation disability insurance carriers

Guardian Principal Ameritas MassMutual The Standard Ohio National
The asset you forgot to insure

You insured your car, your home, and your life. The thing that pays for all of them is uninsured.

A 35-year-old physician earning $300k will bring in well over $10 million over the rest of a career. That future income is the largest asset you own. Because you can't see it sitting in an account somewhere, it's the easiest one to leave unprotected.

Disability is rarely the dramatic accident. It's the herniated disc that ends a surgeon's standing days. The tremor that ends a dentist's. The autoimmune diagnosis, the cancer, the depression severe enough to keep you out of the OR. The skill that took a decade and six figures of debt to build can be interrupted in an afternoon.

Own-occupation disability insurance keeps that income coming in, so the mortgage, the tuition, and the life you've built don't hang on whether you make it back to work.

1 in 4

professionals will experience a disabling event lasting at least a year during their career.

  • More likely than dying during your working years
  • 90% of disabilities are caused by illness, not accidents
  • Your specialty's physical and cognitive demands raise the stakes
"But I have coverage through my hospital"

Here's what that group policy doesn't tell you.

Most physicians need both group and individual coverage. Almost none have the individual side set up right, and that's the part that actually pays when you can't practice.

Group LTD through your employer

Looks like enough. Usually isn't.

Built to limit the hospital's liability, not to protect your income.

  • Switches to "any occupation" after about 24 months. Once you could do some other job, the benefits can stop
  • Caps near 60% of income, often with a hard dollar ceiling that barely covers a physician's pay
  • Benefits are taxable, so that 60% lands closer to 40% in your pocket
  • Disappears the day you change jobs or leave the group
  • The hospital owns the policy and controls the terms
Individual own-occupation policy

Pays when it actually counts.

Yours, portable, and written around your specialty.

  • Pays if you can't perform your medical or dental specialty, even if you go earn income doing something else
  • Benefits are tax-free when you pay the premiums
  • Portable. It follows you from residency to your first job to private practice
  • Locked in. The carrier can't single you out to cancel or hike your rates
  • Yours to control: terms, riders, and benefit period

When you can't work, one of these mails you a check every month. The other mails a denial letter.

Why LeverageRx

A captive agent sells you their one policy. We make the carriers compete for yours.

We're an independent brokerage. We don't work for an insurance company. We work for you.

Independent, not captive

We put Guardian, Principal, Ameritas, MassMutual, The Standard and more head-to-head. No quota, no house product, no reason to steer you.

Doctors and dentists only

We don't sell disability between auto and home policies. Own-occ definitions written for your specialty, resident discounts, future-increase riders. This is the only thing we do all day.

No cost to work with you

Premiums are the same whether you buy direct or through us. Carriers set the price, and our commission is already baked into it. The comparison and the guidance cost you nothing extra.

How it works

From "I should look into this" to covered, in three steps.

1

Tell us the basics

Your specialty, age, income, and state. Two minutes, no medical exam to get quotes.

2

We shop every carrier

We run your profile across the major carriers and bring back a side-by-side comparison of price, definitions, and riders, with the differences that matter flagged.

3

You pick. We handle the rest.

Application, underwriting, and paperwork. We stay in it until the policy is in force and you're covered.

The coverage guide

What actually matters in a physician policy (and what salespeople skip over).

Two policies can look identical on price and be worth completely different things the day you file a claim. This is where it gets won or lost.

True own-occupation, specialty-specific

The gold standard. It pays full benefits if you can't perform your specialty, even if you choose to work in another field. The exact wording varies by carrier, and that's where we spend most of our time.

Buy while you're young and healthy

Premiums are based on your age and health at purchase, then locked in. Residents and fellows often qualify for discounts up to 20% plus simplified underwriting. Waiting costs money and risks your insurability.

Future increase rider

Raise your coverage as your income climbs, from resident to attending to partner, with no new medical exam. You lock in the right to buy more before any future diagnosis can take it off the table.

Benefit period & riders that fit

Benefit period to age 65, residual/partial disability, cost-of-living adjustments, student-loan riders. We match the riders to your risk instead of selling you every bell and whistle.

Not sure what you have now? Send us your current policy and we'll tell you straight where the gaps are.

Get a free policy review →
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★★★★★
"I had a wonderful experience working with Rhett. He was patient, informative, quick to answer my questions, and made sure everything was prepared carefully."
JJanna
Physician
★★★★★
"He helped me fill out the forms I needed and walked me through the application process. Trustworthy and efficient."
SSam W.
Dentist
★★★★★
"Rhett has gone above and beyond helping me with my policy. For the first time, I understood exactly what I was buying."
GGrace S.
Resident physician
Who we work with

Built for every stage of a medical and dental career.

Residents & fellows

Lock in low rates and your insurability before you finish training, while it's cheapest and easiest to qualify.

Attendings & associates

Replace or supplement weak group coverage with a portable policy you actually own and control.

Practice owners

Protect personal income and the overhead that keeps the practice running if you're out.

Dentists & specialists

Coverage written for the precise physical demands of your work, where fine motor skill is the job.

Straight answers

The questions doctors actually ask us.

Correct. Premiums are the same whether you buy direct or through us, because carriers set the price. Our commission is paid by the carrier and already built into the premium. You get the full comparison and our guidance at no added cost.
You'd see one company's product and one company's definitions, with no way to know whether it's competitive. We put the major carriers head-to-head so you don't overpay or under-insure, and we read the fine print that decides whether a claim actually gets paid.
That's exactly when it's cheapest and easiest to get. Your rate is set by your age and health today, then locked in for good. Every year you wait costs more and risks a diagnosis that makes you harder, or even impossible, to insure.
No. Getting quotes takes no exam and no commitment. A medical exam only comes later, if you decide to apply, and we'll tell you exactly what to expect before that point.
When you pay the premiums with after-tax dollars, the benefits generally come to you tax-free. That's one big reason an individual policy beats a taxable group benefit. We'll walk through how it applies to your situation. (General information, not tax advice.)
Two minutes. No obligation.

Find out what it costs to protect your income.

Most doctors are surprised it costs less than they expected. Get side-by-side quotes from the top carriers for your specialty. No exam to see them, and no cost to use us.

2-minute quote No medical exam to quote No cost to use us