Disability Insurance for Interventional Cardiologists: A Guide to Costs

Interventional cardiology requires a long-game mindset. After graduating medical school, you must complete a three-year internal medicine residency, followed by a three-year general cardiology fellowship. Then, you must receive additional specialty training through a one-year interventional cardiology fellowship. We’re talking over a decade of medical education and training to finally secure an interventional cardiologist salary.

As with any profession, there’s the risk of losing your ability to earn an income due to a disabling injury or illness. But interventional cardiologists should be particularly concerned about buying disability insurance. This is because your medical specialty requires highly skilled hands when dealing with the cardiovascular system in such an intricate manner.

Read on to learn about disability insurance for cardiologists, including potential costs and policy decisions for your medical specialty.

Disability insurance costs for interventional cardiologists

Before we dive into the ins and outs of securing an adequate disability policy, let’s quickly look at how much disability insurance for cardiologists can cost.

As a general rule of thumb, you can expect to pay between 2% to 4% of your income for long-term disability (LTD) coverage. However, disability premiums vary greatly, depending on the policy and insurance company. Details about the individual being insured also impact costs. This includes factors such as your gender, age, medical history, where you live and more.

Additionally, your profession plays a major role in determining your costs. Generally, invasive medical specialties have more favorable premiums. Whereas invasive specialties, such as interventional cardiology, fall into a higher risk class — resulting in higher premiums.

Let’s look at a sample quote for a female versus male interventional cardiologist looking for true own-occupation coverage with a $5,000 monthly benefit and future purchase option rider.

Interventional cardiologist own-occupation disability insurance monthly cost
(Age 34, resident/fellow)

Company	Male	Female
Guardian	$181	$265
MassMutual	$222	$345
Principal	$163	$287
Ameritas	$156	$218
Standard	$174	$275

As shown above, disability insurance is often more affordable for men than women due to historical claims. In this example, a male interventionist could find coverage for about $150 to $220 per month. But a female interventionist could pay anywhere from $215 to $350 per month.

An experienced insurance agent can tap into various discounts and unisex pricing to help lower costs for disability insurance for cardiologists.

Related: Do Disability Insurance Brokers Charge a Fee? Understanding the Cost

Why should interventional cardiologists buy disability insurance?

Interventional cardiologists diagnose and treat a variety of heart problems, such as coronary artery disease, heart valve disorders and many more. This specialized knowledge often requires six-figure medical school debt and many sacrifices that can delay other major life milestones, such as buying a home or starting a family.

Disability insurance can protect your education investment, high income and years spent working toward the prestige of being an interventional cardiologist. With LTD, you can receive up to 60% of your income for a couple of years or until you reach retirement age. The best part is, with the right policy, you can collect these disability insurance benefits while working in another field. But you’ll need true own-occupation coverage to ensure you have the strongest protection against an unexpected injury or illness.

To get a custom quote from SLP Insurance, complete the form below or keep reading to learn more.

What should interventional cardiologist disability insurance cover?

Interventionalists often use nonsurgical, catheter-based procedures to treat a variety of heart conditions. These minimally invasive procedures require extensive training, including an internal medicine residency, general cardiology fellowship and an interventional cardiology fellowship. Therefore, it can take many years to reach your full earning potential as an interventionalist.

Because your career track comes with a rapidly increasing income after training, here are some key policy decisions to include in your disability coverage:

• Own-occupation coverage. This definition of disability provides benefits if you can’t perform the “substantial duties” of your medical specialty, even if you’re able to work in another field or profession.
• Future increase option. This gives you the ability to buy more coverage as your salary increases without requiring a medical exam. Residents and fellows can benefit greatly from this optional rider.
• Other policy riders to consider. Depending on the insurance company, you might have access to residual or partial disability benefits, catastrophic benefits, student loan protection or other optional policy riders.

Additionally, you’ll need to consider your lifestyle preferences when choosing a disability policy.

If your housing and living costs are more than $5,000 a month, those expenses already exceed the maximum coverage limits for many group disability policies you’ll find with an employer. Ideally, you want a policy that covers all of your large fixed expenses, and then some.

How often do interventional cardiologists file disability claims?

Interventional cardiology generally rates as a high-risk medical specialty when disability insurance companies are determining your chances of filing a disability claim. These risk classifications are based on historical claims data, meaning interventionalists have a history of successfully filing disability claims at some point in their career.

Because you fall into a high-risk medical specialty, you can expect higher premiums than other non-invasive occupations. For example, typically a physician practicing general cardiology receives more favorable premiums because their role isn’t as specialized (or reliant on their hands).

Related: How to Buy Disability Insurance as a Pediatric Cardiologist

What types of disability coverage is available to interventional cardiologists?

Whether you work in a hospital, private practice or medical university setting, there are several main avenues for getting disability insurance for interventional cardiologists.

Employer-provided disability insurance policy

Many hospitals and medical facilities provide employees with a basic benefits package, which might include short-term and long-term disability insurance at no-cost. However, these group policies often have limited benefits (e.g. $5,000 monthly maximum) or have a more narrow definition of disability. Plus, these policies aren’t portable. So, you’ll lose coverage if you change employers.

Note that any paid disability benefits will be taxable income if your employer is covering your premiums.

Group coverage through a professional association

Some professional organizations offer their members discounted group disability insurance. For instance, members of the American Medical Association can find coverage options for up to $15,000 a month.

Keep in mind that the cost of group coverage can change year-to-year as you get older. Plus, there’s no guarantee the plan will be continuously renewed over the course of your career.

Individual disability insurance for interventional cardiologists

An individual policy offers the most flexible coverage, allowing you to customize your benefits and policy specifics to fit your needs. It’s best to work with an independent insurance broker who isn’t tied to one specific insurance company. They can assess your needs without their own personal agenda (e.g. a large commission) and search for available discounts.

Guaranteed standard issue (GSI) policies

If you’re working with an inexperienced insurance agent, you might miss out on an opportunity to get guaranteed coverage with a GSI policy. These policies are usually reserved for residents and fellows at specific programs, such as Stony Brook University, Louisiana State, John Hopkins and more.

If you have a pre-existing medical condition, a GSI policy might be your only option since a medical exam isn’t required. These policies also offer unisex pricing, which can make them more affordable for female cardiologists.

However, it’s best to weigh all of your options to find the right disability insurance coverage and discounts for your unique situation. SLP Insurance can look at your existing coverage, search for individual disability discounts and review GSI policy opportunities. The goal is to get you the coverage you need, regardless of whether we earn a commission or not.

How much disability insurance do interventional cardiologists need?

Generally, you can purchase disability insurance for up to 60% of your income with an individual policy. Let’s say you earn the average cardiology salary of $490,000 per year, according to the Medscape 2022 Physician Compensation Report. In which case, you could receive up to $24,500 per month for a qualifying disability. But this number will depend on your actual income and individual preference.

For example, you might not need the full benefit if you live below your means or are a dual-income household with another high earner. Whereas, you might prefer the maximum if you’re the breadwinner or sole provider for your family.

At minimum, you’ll want to cover all of your fixed monthly expenses, including your mortgage, utilities, cars, childcare, healthcare, etc. But we also recommend adding a few thousand extra to your payout amount to cover miscellaneous expenses and financial surprises.

Why you need to review your interventional cardiologist disability policy

Group disability coverage often isn’t enough due to capped benefits and a weak definition of disability. Whether you’re looking to supplement your existing policy or buy individual coverage that stands on its own, here are the top things to consider:

• As an interventional cardiologists, a true own-occupation policy provides the strongest definition of disability. It best protects your high income and extensive training and education.
• Make sure your payout covers all fixed expenses and keeps you in the lifestyle you prefer.
• If you’re a female cardiologist, lock in unisex pricing or discounts to lower your premiums.
• If you have a pre-existing medical condition, work with a knowledgeable independent insurance broker who will review GSI options in addition to individual policies.

Finally, shop around to ensure you aren’t paying more than you need to. If you previously purchased a policy through an insurance agent that was motivated by large commissions, you might find better coverage elsewhere at a more affordable rate.

Get a quote for disability insurance for cardiologists

SLP Insurance searches the “Big 5” insurance carriers to find you the best coverage for your medical specialty. These are the folks responsible for underwriting the majority of true own-occupation policies.

As an independent broker, we’ll guide you to a policy that fits your financial needs and risk tolerance, all while finding you the top discounts available. If we’re aware of a better option through another insurance agent, we’ll send you their way if it means you’ll get the best deal. Get a disability insurance quote by filling out the form below, and our team will reach out for next steps.