3 minute read
Inhale. You held your breath as you traveled through your pre-med bachelor’s degree, all-nighters studying for the MCAT, four years of med-school, an internship, several years of residency, and maybe even a few in fellowship. The light at the end of the tunnel is no longer just in sight–it’s here. You’re about to reach your final destination. A sunny coastline comes into view as you exit the dark expanse of said tunnel, and you’re free to finally catch your breath. Exhale. You’ve made it. Congratulations are in order!
You entered the workforce during the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. The demands of your new career, paired with adapting to our changing world, along with all the burnout you’ve harbored from training, are all-together overwhelming. Each day, it gets harder and harder to pull yourself out of bed in the morning. You’re lethargic, so your eating habits have taken a hit. Your energy and motivation nose-dive as your body doesn’t have enough sustenance to tackle the day. You’re tired. You feel lost. You’ve dug yourself into a pit, and you simply can’t find the will to climb out of it. One day, a little too late, it dawns on you: this is what depression looks like.
Or,
You’re on your way to enjoy a long weekend with family in St. Louis for the Fourth of July. Grandpa rented a full-court volleyball net from the YMCA, and your niece has already broken the family into equally-matched teams. With sweat dripping down her brow, your daughter sets you up for the perfect kill. Your arms wind back as your body leans forward. Left, right, left–you leap off the ground and send the volleyball into a hard-drive over the net towards their weakest teammate (your wife). As you land, pain shoots through your leg, and settles in your knee. Your wife calls it karma; the doctor calls it knee-replacement surgery.
Or,
You’re sitting in the waiting room at the OBGYN for a routine check-up. After your mammogram, something didn’t seem quite right. The observing nurse isn’t the best at masking her expressions yet, and you begin to worry when she leaves the room whispering to your doctor. Moments later, they return with the radiologist and several x-rays, each from a different angle, each marked with a red circle around a dime-sized, white piece of tissue. After a brief pause and several scattered glances searching for a place to start, the radiologist breaks the news that has already become abundantly clear. Cancer.
The majority of Americans estimate their chance of becoming disabled throughout their career to be around one to two-percent. Largely, this stems from the misconception that disability most commonly results from catastrophic events such as fatal car accidents, but that’s simply not the case. For every 1,000 miles driven, a person only has a 1 in 366 chance of getting in an accident. Regardless of these odds, unfortunately, every seven seconds a working-aged American confronts the beginning of a long-term disability.
There is no shortage of statistics that show a person is much more likely to become disabled by illnesses, mental or physical, and injuries such as those described in the scenarios above.
In fact, according to the CDC, 61 million adults in the United States are living with disability, accounting for 18.5% of our country’s population. Of that number, 50% are between the ages of 18-64 years old.
The reality is that more than 25% of today’s 20-year-olds will become disabled for at least one year of their life, before they reach retirement. Some will be out of work for just a few weeks, but others with more serious conditions will take years to recover.
In a perfect world, we’d tell you to sign up for disability insurance the day before you become disabled. Unfortunately, that eutopia doesn’t exist. Despite the amount of hard work you’ve dedicated to planning your future, none of us know when disability may strike.
At Pattern, we advise doctors to find a policy that fits their needs while they’re still young and healthy. If you apply for disability insurance while still in training, our agents can help you find discounts of 20-40% off the lifetime of your policy.
We believe that as doctors make better decisions, people’s lives are changed. As a result of that value, we’ll help you compare quotes from “the Big Five” insurers who offer true own-occupation disability insurance. With us, you can rest assured that no matter what life throws your way, your income is covered. Because if your income isn’t protected–then what really is?
So,
Your days of living with tunnel vision are over. Now that you have cell service, hop online and head to patternlife.com to request your quotes! Our agents will answer any questions you may have and explain all that tricky terminology. Before you know it, you’ll be sitting on that coast with your toes in the sand, sighing in relief, knowing that we’ve got you covered.