What physician disability insurance should protect
Properly structured disability insurance should do more than replace income. For physicians, while receiving benefits for a disability that prevents you from performing your specialty or subspecialty, your policy should also allow you to earn income in another occupation.
Protection if you cannot perform the material duties of your specialty or subspecialty
Coverage that also accounts for partial disability and recovery benefit scenarios.
Structure that can keep pace as income grows
Clear definitions and riders that reduce surprises later
True specialty own-occupation, explained in plain English
- How your occupation is defined and evaluated for your specialty
- How partial disability is handled
- Which riders matter most for your stage of career
- How income is measured for benefit calculations
Clarity You Can Act On
Just getting quotes misses the ultimate point. The value is knowing which details matter for your situation and making a confident decision without wasting time.
Clear guidance on definitions, riders, and tradeoffs
A coverage structure aligned to your specialty and priorities
Accessing discounts available for your training stage or situation when applicable
Underwriting guidance designed to reduce friction and surprises
Ongoing care and support as your career and needs change
Residents and Fellows: Get the foundation right early
Training is often the simplest time to put specialty occupation coverage in place, as it usually includes discounts, streamlined underwriting, and in some cases Guaranteed Standard Issue (GSI), which waives the medical screening.
Our concierge level service helps you:
- Based on your situation, we’ll recommend the strongest specialty coverage with the maximum discounts available for your situation.
- You choose a starting benefit and policy structure that fits your training stage
- We’ll help clarify the definitions and riders that matter long-term
New Attendings: Align coverage with income growth
When income changes, your coverage plan often needs to change too. The goal is to structure disability insurance so it fits your specialty, income trajectory, and long-term priorities without unnecessary complexity.
Personalized service that helps you:
- Translate income and specialty risk into an appropriate coverage plan
- Prioritize riders that protect partial disability and future income growth
- Set up next steps in a way that fits your schedule
Group vs individual disability insurance: Know what you have
Employer group long-term disability (LTD) policies are usually employer paid, but definitions are very limited. Many physicians want clarity on how a group policy would behave in real claim scenarios and why individual coverage is needed to close gaps.
What we help you do:
- Understand what your group policy does and does not cover (i.e., there’s much more it does not cover)
- Identify definition or benefit gaps that matter to physicians
- Decide what amount of individual specialty occupation coverage is appropriate and how to structure it
Already have a policy? Start with a Policy Review .
National presence. Personal touch.
You work directly with Billy and his team built to support you through the process and then throughout your career as needed.
Guidance built around a physician schedule
Clear recommendations explained in detail
High-touch care and long-term support
Quick answers
Policy Review
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Disability Insurance for Physicians: A No-Nonsense Guide to Protecting Your Most Important Asset
Billy’s book provides a clear, straightforward guide to securing the insurance that truly protects your income and safeguards your quality of life.
- What “true specialty own-occupation” means in practical terms
- Which definitions and riders change outcomes
- How to think about discounts and underwriting timing
- How to avoid misunderstanding what you bought
- Residents and fellows who want to get it right early
- New attendings who want coverage aligned to income growth
- Physicians who want a clearer baseline before a policy review
What Physicians Say About the Book
Mr. Gwaltney has distilled his knowledge and expertise into a concise and easy to read guide. Insurance is a product we need yet has wide variability in its quality and price (and those are NOT necessarily correlated!). The small investment of your time and money in this book to the gain basic foundational knowledge of something as paramount as disability insurance is priceless. At worst, you're out a few dollars. But much more likely, you will save hundreds, even thousands over your career in premiums, and if one day you unfortunately need your disability insurance, then perhaps by reading this you'll have found the type of policy that actually protects you and your family as it should.
Jake Sharp
I have been a client of Billy’s since residency. He offers trustworthy advice, and his book reflects the way that he operates in real life - straight forward, knowledgeable and always in the best interest of the client. Thank you for your help over the years. Great book!
Josh W
Great guide for all physicians. Understanding disability insurance is incredibly important for protecting all the hard work we have put into obtaining our degrees. Billy is truly the expert on this topic and this book should be a required read for all physicians leaving medical school.
Ryan Bromm