Medical students’ top concerns about disability insurance

If you’re a medical student who has been encouraged to get disability insurance, you might be skeptical about whether you really need it. After all, disability insurance is designed to replace part of a person’s income if they’re unable to work. But medical students typically don’t earn an income, so where is the need?

Why should I get disability insurance as a medical student?

As a medical student, you may not have an income to replace, but you still have monthly expenses to pay. Disability insurance can relieve some of the financial burden, especially if you’re dependent on a student line of credit. In fact, some financial institutions will request repayment of your student line of credit if you take a medical leave from school.

The money can help with living expenses and remove some of the financial stress while you concentrate on getting better.

More importantly, you can’t be sure that when you’re working and need more coverage, you will be as healthy as you are today. Most disability insurance policies — like those available from your provincial or territorial medical association (PTMA) — come with features that lock in your good health from today to guarantee that you will able to buy more insurance in the future, no matter what your health is like.

I don’t have time for a medical check and onerous application process.

Medical students are pre-approved for disability insurance, so there are no medical tests. Most PTMAs have streamlined their application process, making it easy and quick to obtain disability insurance. When you apply, there are no health questions to answer, although you may be contacted for further details when your application is being processed.

Isn’t disability insurance expensive?

Getting disability insurance through your PTMA is very affordable.  In addition to having negotiated great rates for all their members, all PTMAs provide significant discounts for medical students (some  even waive the premiums entirely). 

The above information should not be construed as offering specific financial, investment, foreign or domestic taxation, legal, accounting or similar professional advice nor is it intended to replace the advice of independent tax, accounting or legal professionals.