Denise 0:07
Myth, Magic, Medicine, and everything in between - 2 doctors talking.
Hi, welcome to mMyth, Magia, Medicine. As you know, I'm Denise Billen-Mejia, your host, and I am a retired doctor who had to retire precipitously from medicine, due to ill health. So I'm really thrilled to be talking today to my guest, Stephanie Pearson, who is likewise a doctor who had to leave clinical medicine, and now helps physicians through her work with insurance. Because none of us are properly well, not none of us, but most of us are not properly insured. So thank you so much, Stephanie, for coming here today, or on Zoom.
Stephanie 0:52
Hi, thank you for having me.
Denise 0:55
So what would you like to tell us? What do you think is the really major message that all doctors and medical students need to realize?
Stephanie 1:03
So it is a little bit different for medical students? And I'll kind of get there in a second. But I think that it's really important to remember that we all get taught about other insurances, right? We all have health insurance, we all have car insurance, we should have homeowners or renter's insurance, some people get their engagement rings insured. But somehow along the way, we either haven't been taught or nobody's told us that we need to protect our ability to make money. Right. And so, you know, I did not know as as a trainee that disability insurance was a thing. I knew that life insurance was a thing, right? You get it when you have kids. And as an aside, women actually should get it before them, but I'll get there too.
Denise 1:53
Just stop...one of the things I think this you know, you, you're sort of on a on a on a conveyor belt, when you go through med school, you go through residency, and people hand you papers, and you read them and you check it and it's 70% 50%. This, do we know enough about what we already have through our contracts? And do we know enough about insurance prior to signing said contract?
Stephanie 2:19
Oh, God, no. Most physicians will never look at what their employer has. It's usually one line on your open enrollment, you check a box, and it is what it is, I mean, the overwhelming majority of group benefits are employer paid. So you don't have any control over it, you're not involved in creating it, the odds are, you're not keeping it right. Most of them are employment dependent. So if you leave your place of work, more often than not, it's not going to go with you. And to that point, there are three things that we really run into a lot, where we see that they're inferior. And so it really comes down to taxation, ownership and language. So most of us are not told up front, that if your employer's paying for the benefit, any money that you would get from that benefit, is actually taxable income. And most of them, they're not covering all of your income, it's a portion of your base. And a lot of us get paid in lots of buckets, right? You may have a base, you may have a bonus, you may have an additional RVU, you may have a teaching stipend, you may have three to five different places where your money is actually coming in your overtime, and it doesn't cover that stuff. And then on top of that, it's getting taxed. Right. So that's one big issue. The other issue, as I mentioned, is is ownership, right? They're paying for it, they own it, you don't have anything to say that the biggest issue has to do with language. And the probably the one of the most important things I say on the regular is that there's no standardization of language and insurance, like there isn't medicine, you know, we can talk interdisciplinary, we may not remember what we learned in med school all the time. But we at least have an idea of what Doc's are saying, right? With insurance, they can use the same phrasing and define it differently. They can use different phrases and define it similarly. And even the same carrier if they're if they have a group benefit and a private benefit. The rules don't necessarily align. And I'm convinced it's on purpose to keep people confused.
Denise 4:39
You mean, the kind of rules like oh, it's a psychiatric condition and so two years -that's it?
Stephanie 4:48
That's one but also the own occupation piece, right? Everyone here is you need an own occupation policy. You need an own occupation policy. Well, a lot of these group benefits say that their own occupation, but when you actually read the document, which nobody does, or very few people do, you'll find one of the few things it may be that its own occupation, but only for two or three years, and then it switches to any occupation. Or it may say that its own occupation. But the definition is what's called held to the national economy or the local labor market. It is not specific to what one employee does at one employer site. So what that does is allow them to cast this really wide net that says, This is what you would could should be able to do based on your training, education and skill set. And we all know that if you put 100 docs, even in the same specialty, up against a wall, they're not working the same way. They're not doing the same things. You don't want to be gauged against your neighbor, you want to be gauged against yourself. But we have this false confidence, I guess, when your employer says, oh, no, it's an own occupation policy. And it's odd, they don't have to give you the entire document, you have to ask the HR department for a master copy of the policy. And it's like pulling teeth, that it's not very easily shared. Sometimes HR will say they don't even know what we're talking about. It's really one of the banes of my existence, is getting those documents and getting medical records.
Denise 6:36
Just a little piece from my story. I had to I had a private own occupation, which I will forever love. Rick Kunkel. If you hear this, if you're still around, he was my first boss, he literally frogmarched me to his insurance person to get an own occupation because, you're not really going to be covered. But when I was ill, and I filed for disability through my through my hospital policy, I had 10 months of them using the wrong carrier, because the physicians were with a different firm. So I had 10 months, 10 months of legal fees, fighting for something and the insurance company was just saying, we don't have to pay you for this, this and this not we don't have to pay you because you're not insured with us. Which would you think be the easy answer.
Stephanie 7:24
Well, that's like my
Denise 7:26
almost throw away, I got a letter from the company that I was insured with saying, Are you planning on taking long term, your claim, maybe your long term disability, I almost threw it away, I thought it was yet one more insurance company sending me a I had never, I knew their name, but I didn't know they were associated with me, too. It's a ridiculous situation, you've got to know so much more, that you just assume that people have your back and they don't right. And,
Stephanie 7:53
you know, my group benefit. in fine print didn't cover work-related injuries. And I got kicked doing a delivery. And so I was flatly denied and told I would have been better off had I fallen off my bike. So you know, I didn't know that I never asked for the document. I didn't know what I didn't know, which is I think the biggest piece for most of us, right. And the companies have gotten really creative, especially since COVID. We're seeing a lot of policies that are not covering work related injuries or illnesses, which I think is a super slippery slope. I don't know how we're supposed to prove where we've contracted an illness from
Denise 8:36
something like COVID, which is great, but there are so many places to get it -right -including work
Stephanie 8:41
Right they're building in limitations, most group benefits will only cover mental health or substance abuse problems for 24 months. There's a whole new grouping that they call subjective illnesses, which basically if you think about things that don't necessarily have a pathognomonic test, so and they and they're very good about legalese, right. So it's including but not limited to, and it's things like pain, headaches, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, ringing in the ears, like things that we know as physicians exist. But if you can't have a test that specifically shows it, they're only going to cover you for two years. And most concerning. This year, I've started to see some group benefits that are limiting musculoskeletal issues for two years. And that happens to be the number one reason that physicians go out. And so it's even that much more important that people have actually in the surgical specialties. But all of them I mean, it's just, you know, we don't sleep well. We don't treat our bodies well. We're bent over computers or bent over phones, right? I mean, and as a society, we're not good in the musculoskeletal phase. But specifically for physicians, it is the number one reason that docs go out, and now the companies are getting smart to it, right? And they're putting those limitations in these group benefits. And your employer doesn't have to tell you this stuff. Literally, it's one line on your open enrollment packet, and you check a box.
Denise 10:24
So since since we all know like this, not working on our favor this way, and disability is a possibility. I think, when I see those questions on the on the chat boards with doctors saying, "Do I need disability?" and I scream and shake my computer. Some of that I think is sort of, it's not going to happen to me, you know, from whom can they get real information? Because I know brokers are probably supposed to be fiduciary, but is, are they going to get it from the horse's mouth? Do people come to somebody like you? Would you look at somebody's contract and evaluate what it says?
Stephanie 11:07
So there's a couple of things baked in that question. You know, I can speak anecdotally about other people. And then I can speak personally, right? So my, the person who sold me my policy in 2005, did not properly educate me. But I'm lucky that I had it, I didn't have to sell my house. I didn't have to pull my kids out of school. And yes, in theory, agents and brokers should be fiduciary, however, not all appear to be. And, you know, I definitely have had my share of audits where it's like, I'm telling somebody something for the first time and they swore they had what they needed, and then I pick holes through it. I can speak for our company that we truly lead with education. We have gotten rid of the commission, payment system. All of our brokers are salaried. And that was a purposeful, intentional move that we made as a company. And honestly, I don't even know what our commissions are, I let our CFO deal with that. I don't ever want somebody to say that any one of our brokers is being guided by the sale. If our company does well, everybody does well, we also have a lot of ancillary help here. I want to be able to educate as many people as possible. And so, you know, our brokers, I've trained them all. And without sounding trite, like it's all about leading with education, it's, here's the differences. Here's what you need, here's what's important, you know, and what's good for you may not be what's good for me. I mean, the pool is not that big. Right now, there are six companies that are referred to as the traditional disability carriers that offer specialty specific coverage for physicians. But it changes all the time. And they each have their own little nuances to make them unique. And some things are important to one person, not the other person, right? They don't all offer full mental health coverage. Well, if that's something that's really important to you, then that's going to guide who we recommend. And by the way, not every physician can even get it. anesthesia, pain, emergency medicine, the companies don't want to cover them. They're in the middle of the Venn diagram, that is mental health and substance abuse. So for them, two years, two years per episode is really the best we can do. There's one company in California, but they're exorbitantly expensive, and it's only in California. Right? So, you know, some companies have a COBRA benefit while one company right now, other companies don't. One company has a family care benefit. The other ones don't, right. So it's, it's really piecing together. What are your needs? What are your family's needs? How do we structure this to make the most sense for you and these companies they vary by state. They vary by what kind of doctor you are like, it is so nuanced. It is not a one size fits all, by any stretch,
Denise 14:42
you want to be able to take this with you wherever you go,
Stephanie 14:46
of course I mean, that's one of the rules are going
Denise 14:48
to change if I buy a if I bought a policy in Pennsylvania and moved to Maryland or California. Will the rules change?
Stephanie 14:57
Once you purchase your policy, that's your policy. So it's what's called automatically renewable and non cancelable. So you've gone through the medical underwriting, they've made you an offer, you're paying your premiums, that policy is going to stay with you for your career. It's also part of the reason, you know, if I'm talking to trainees and I know that they're planning on moving, that may also dictate when I tell them, the best time to get it is because there are state differences. Like if I'm talking to somebody in Pennsylvania, who's planning to move to California, I'm gonna say, "Look, you, you want to get this while you're still in Pennsylvania". Because if you wait until you're in California, then we're looking at California policies, and they're just not as good, right? Or they're more expensive, or there's different. Again, we go back to all the different nuances. And so, you know, the short answer to that is, once you buy a policy, that's your policy,
Denise 15:58
Okay, good. So you don't have to go through this too often, except when you get that letter saying, Would you like to increase your coverage,
Stephanie 16:07
But when you want to increase your coverage, presuming that when you went through the first time, you were given that ability to get more later, without underwriting, there's no medical information. It's just financial underwriting. Now, obviously, you know, there's exceptions to every rule. And there are certain medical issues or timing of things where, when you're going through underwriting that first time that a company may say to you look, we're willing to cover you now, for this amount. However, because of the following, we want to withhold the right to make you go through medical underwriting again, it's not a given that that's the case. And that's also part of why we do what we do here is I don't like surprises. And we do a lot of what I like to consider field underwriting to help manage realistic expectations, right? An agent or broker can really tell you anything they want, you know, because there's, there's nothing that says they can't write. For us, it's really helping to manage that expectation. If I know something in your medical history, that's going to be an issue. I want you to know that before you start the process. I also don't want to set people up for failure. Right? If I know that something in your history makes you what I say traditionally uninsurable, I'm not going to waste your time, I'm not going to waste your energy. And there is a plan B, there are three companies that are known as the non-traditional carriers that ensure the hard to ensure. Now, it's a different model. There's it's a complete different system. But there is another option. And so, you know, there's a lot to be said for not wasting people's time. And we also get those phone calls. You know, I got declined through another agent or broker and why didn't they know? I don't know. I didn't do your initial intake. But looking at what I know now. Yeah, I Yeah. Like, you know,
Denise 18:22
You would have seen it coming. Yeah. Yeah. Is there, this is silly because the answer's got to be yes. Do you do you deal with women who have yet to have children, women who have had children, or people who are unlikely to have children because they're male? Generally speaking, men, yeah, probably more insurable, but they also have a tendency to jump out of planes and things more often than women.
Stephanie 18:51
So the short answer is yes as you anticipated. It does change some of my recommendations. In my humble opinion, all women should get their coverage before the first time they tried to get pregnant. The first of all, let me take a step back. Disability Insurance is more expensive for women than it is for men. It's not as sexist as it appears. It is based in real actuarial claims data, women tend to leave all fields more than men because of injury or illness. The flip side is life insurance is more expensive for men because historically they die younger and more successfully at their own hands. As far as the pregnancy stuff goes. The carrier's look for any reason not to cover pregnancy related issues, and we know that women going into medicine tend to delay. Oh my God, what's the word I'm looking for? Delay baby making right because of education and training. There have been increased, you know, risks of infertility. miscarriage, and the company is we'll just latch on to stuff. You know, I had a C section, I make breech babies. When I first started doing this, anyone who had a C section, they would not cover future pregnancies. And I went nuts. You know, here I am. I'm an OB by training. And I'm like, This is not an abnormal outcome of pregnancy, like no one in the United States wants a woman to walk.
Denise 20:29
I mean, the majority of people who have Cesareans don't need long term disability, currently, like, a month or two, but
Stephanie 20:36
you know, now, pregnancy related complications do account for about six to 8% of claims every year. But me having a C section because I had a breech baby. Okay, well, maybe if I have to have another section, I have inherent risks of surgery, right? Like the fact that I had a section for a breech baby isn't changing my risk for a cardiomyopathy or a postpartum you know, subarachnoid bleed or all the bad things that we know that can happen. And I started fighting with the underwriters and sending them a cog bulletins and white papers. And, you know, hospitals won't. A lot of hospitals won't let breeches deliver vaginally or twins or multiples deliver vaginally. And, you know, this just doesn't make sense. And, admittedly, community medicine and insurance medicine are not the same. But this one topic, I was like, This is ridiculous. And I will say that over the last five years. At one point, we had all six companies willing to look at the reason that people had sections, and they may exclude complications of a future C section. But they didn't put the blanket 'we're not covering pregnancy'. We have had one of the six at the beginning of this year revert back to that language well, okay, I don't tell people that have had a section to get that company, right. If you've had a miscarriage in the last 12 months, most of the carriers will put a pregnancy exclusion. For the first year of the policy. Well, look, we spend most of our lives trying not to get pregnant. And then when we want to get pregnant, we want to be pregnant yesterday, I don't want to tell a woman that she's got to wait a year, right? If they're pregnant, okay, this pregnancy is not going to get covered. But if you have a happy healthy pregnancy, delivery and postpartum course, I may be able to get your next pregnancy covered. You know, and that's another piece of just advocating and making sure that we're staying on top of things. If, if infertility is anywhere on your medical records, they're most of the carriers aren't covering infertility or pregnancy. We have one company now, that will limit to infertility treatments. So in the event that you have a spontaneous pregnancy, which we see all the time, in OB, you see somebody that needed IVF for their first pregnancy, and then they get spontaneously pregnant with their next one, because they've been primed. So I've been able to get one company to agree to that. You know, so it also goes back to the where the right recommendation is put, because of that knowledge, right. But if there's one thing that I really like, the biggest PSA I have is that all women should have their policies put in place before they try to get pregnant. All right, because they're just looking for reasons not to cover.
Denise 23:41
Difficult subject. How many of you are there? I realized the answer, obviously, is one. But are there very many people who are in your line of work? Who have your kind of background? Are there a lot of doctors, obviously, that's going to be I mean it, but have you met a lot of people in medicine who've moved into this work?
Stephanie 24:01
No, but I don't know, is really the fair answer to that. There are some other good guys out there that I've crossed paths with that I've partnered with, that I've worked with. So I don't know broadly because it's not like not readily like out there. You know, I can say in our practice, I do have we do have another disabled physician on staff. And you know, and so he's like me, you know, but I don't I don't know if I heard through the grapevine that there was another disabled doc out there, but I haven't crossed paths yet. And, you know, one of my kind of real long term goals was to try to him employ more disabled physicians to give them a new passion to give them a new lease to, you know, find something else to do. And I would love to see physicians taking care of physicians. But that's kind of a loftier goal, I guess. And again, it's like everything else, right? If you're not really passionate about it, you shouldn't be doing it anyway. So, you know, I would only want somebody to do it, who really felt as passionately as I do about it? Because it's hard. I mean, it's not, you know, there were times where I've had a couple of folks reach out to me, you know, is this something I could do part time or as a side gig? Or? The answer's no, you know, that this is, I'm working just as hard if not harder. It's just different, you know, this is a full-time...
Denise 25:54
And you work on helping people navigate the system, when they need to activate the system, or both.
Stephanie 26:02
I mean, we eyes become a true broker. So I mean, I am like Switzerland, and I'm not in bed with any carrier. So we, you know, we sell the policies, and we educate, I do a lot of lectures, that's kind of my like, happy place. And so, you know, we now have six producers. And so we're talking to people every day, and educating them about the policies. And then on the flip side, what I feel really strongly about is the help when they need it, you know, when I was going out on claim, the guy who sold me, my policy was really not available and kind of hid behind HIPAA. And it's not the case, like, I can actually help people, you know, I can help people get all one company, I can't, but most of the companies, I can help get the claims packets, and I can give you my story, right of, here's what you need to do. And here's how you need to think and hopefully you won't need a lawyer, but if you do, I have one of those to you know, and I check up on people, you know, periodically who have gone out on claim, which was again, something that wasn't done for me. So, you know, I get very maternal about our clients. And when something happens, you know, I want to know what's going on? Do you need help with anything? How are you feeling? How are you doing? You know, what else can I do?
Denise 27:30
Part of the issue, of course, is when you are ill, even if it is something very clear cut, it's still the emotional side of especially, I suddenly cannot practice, the thing I have spent my almost entire life working towards you just dealing with the paperwork, the phone calls, and the appointments. There's just too much going on.
Stephanie 27:54
Right. And on top of that, we lose our identity, right? I mean, I have no problem talking about it, I was in a really dark place, I wrote my husband and kids suicide letters, I thought that I would be better off to them dead than alive. It took extensive therapy and pharmacology to get me out of my hole. And, you know, I think that there's a tyranny of perfection that exists in medicine, right? We're supposed to be better than, stronger than, more resilient than -whatever. And I didn't realize how much of my identity was tied up in being Dr. Pearson, and all of a sudden, I wasn't, you know, and people say, Oh, they can never take those letters away from you, once you're a doctor, you're always a doctor. But physicians were some of the meanest people to me when I got hurt, and I didn't feel super supported. And I didn't quite fit in with the stay at home mom crowd and I didn't quite fit in with the working moms anymore, because now I wasn't working in the beginning. And to couple that with all the other stuff, right? Whether it's an injury or an illness and different home health care needs and different mental needs, and it was exhausting, you know, and having somebody, had I had somebody to hold my hand through that process, I think would have made a big difference. And so now I'm trying to be that person. And, you know, and, and, look, it's not all altruistic. I mean, it's filling a void for me, right? Like, I still get to feel like I'm helping people. I still get to feel like I'm educated because you educating people, you know, I get to feel like I'm still part of the medical community, right. And I'm really trying to change an industry that I think historically has really preyed upon us, right. We're, we're really easy prey, right? Um, I do think in the last five to 10 years, there's been a big push for financial literacy in physicians, but it's still not nearly where it should be. And, and a lot of us get preyed upon. And we're really trying to change that. And so it really does get to fill out a bunch of buckets for me. And I feel like as long as I feel that way, I'll keep doing it. You know?
Denise 30:29
Well, thankfully, my, my, my first real boss, when I went out of training, frogmarched me and I got my insurance. And I had, at least didn't lose my house. But I was surprised to realize that everything was going to stop 65 Even though Social Security wouldn't kick in until I was 66. There was there was a little surprises were I mean, it wasn't devastating, right? Because also my kids were also through college, I this happened to me, my eldest was a junior in high school. So that was like, What am I going to die to? What am I going to do with my job? You know, how are my kids life is going to be impacted by this.
Stephanie 31:13
Right? And it's all about knowledge. Right? You know, admittedly, we run most of our illustrations to 65. Because, look, most people don't want to be working past that point. And the hope is that people are either financially independent before then and can cancel the policies or if something happens, like did to you and me that you have the time to figure out your financial house, right? And if we're talking about something that Look, nobody wants to have to use it. Nobody wants to have to buy it, but it's really life saving, having it I mean, look, we're both kind of the pot calling the kettle black, like we both see it. We're living billboards for the importance of this. And I've seen the other side, you know, I've seen physicians who have had to sell their houses, who have had to go on food stamps, whose spouses have left them because, you know, they didn't sign up for this. And it's devastating. And, you know, it becomes kind of a necessary evil. And, you know, as long as you know what you're getting right, like, had you known, like you're saying, it was a surprise to you that it went to 65. But had you been properly educated, you would have known that very, you would have walked in knowing that, like, my one of my policies, has what's called a transitional occupation language, which I don't remember getting taught, taught about maybe I did, I don't know. But what it does is adds a freeze to the gold standard. So what you want your policy to say is that you're considered totally disabled, in the event that you can't do your job. Regardless if you're gainfully employed and another occupation? Well, what the transitional language adds is, until you make your pre disability earnings, yeah. Now, I can make an argument, right, for somebody who's more experienced and making decent money, that that language is okay. But I bought that when I was a first year attending that, if something had happened to me that year, I wouldn't still be on claim right now. Right? Because it's not taking into account your future earning potential. You know, I can say now, I was 10 years into my career, if I can make doing insurance, what I need the year I got hurt. Do I really need it? No.
Denise 33:48
With my with my own occupation, thankfully, didn't get taxed because it was post tax dollars. But that one did not increase at all. There were no COLAs involved, it was based on, you know, by the time I finished claim, which was 16 years, I think I was on disability before. That was a significantly different, no, that probably would have doubled what I was making then. But by that time, just because of the cost of living and prices rise over that period of time. Well, so
Stephanie 34:23
cost of living adjustment riders a little bit different than what you're saying right now, I just want to make sure that that listeners are clear on this one. So the cost of living adjustment on the rider actually doesn't kick in until you go on claim. So that only gets activated when you're on claim. The ability to keep pace with your income is a pool of money that goes by lots of different names, but that we can keep pace with our incomes based on financial underwriting. So one of my, my policy. I didn't take advantage of that increase. And I'm wondering if that's
Denise 35:05
I didn't take advantage of that. I did get those letters periodly. I took one. And the next time around, I didn't. Which, but but that's fine. That's on me. But it's not really
Stephanie 35:17
like, so and I'll disagree with you there. Like, I think that it's the agent and the brokers responsibility to touch base with people. And, you know, back in the day, you and I are a little bit older. You know, I guess they're saying, Oh, well, we sent you a letter in the mail. But how many people throw out mail, right? I mean, snail mail is not the way to get somebody's attention. And so, you know, we're really big on making sure that we send emails out on top of the letters that you get from because the letters aren't coming to you from your producer, the letters are coming from the company, right? And so I threw away the same mail that you threw away, which is why I'm on I was in the words are hard, which is why I ended up underinsured, when I actually got hurt, because I just didn't know what I didn't know. So I didn't take advantage of it. And I thought I was covered by my current benefit, which I've already explained. I didn't, you know, and so it's, there are a lot of moving pieces. And when we're busy doing our jobs and taking care of our families and our spouses and all the other things that
go the other insurances, that you have to you have in life.
There needs to be checks and balances for this stuff. And it's really important.
Denise 36:35
Do you think there needs to be legislative change? Or do you think that individual companies can be shamed into doing this?
Stephanie 36:42
I get nervous when anything's legislated because nobody should be forced, in my opinion, nobody should be forced, right to do it. Right. And so I would stop short of legislation personally, but I think that it should be part of education.
Denise 37:03
You know, the more physicians were educated on this, they will be demanding these things from the insurer and would have to move the market.
Stephanie 37:11
Okay. Yes. You know, and I do want to mention, because I said this in the very beginning about med students, the right time for med students is actually after they match. Because part of the pricing of the policy is based on what you do. And because med students haven't committed, they actually get really high pricing because they go with the, the most risky.
Denise 37:39
Okay, last, let's say I just mentioned into family medicine, famously not well compensated. But after a year of that I decided I want to go into neurosurgery OB one of the things that's better compensated, does that change things.
Stephanie 37:53
As you get your policy as a family practitioner, that's your policy. So again, remember that goes back to that automatically renewable and non cancelable. And the definition actually does grow up with you. I tend to tell folks in internal medicine in general surgery, right residencies, get your policies while you're in your residency before you fellow because sometimes the fellowship will change the occupational class. But for med students, if they haven't matched, they all get the most expensive policy. And so I tend not to tell them medical rip medical students to do it until they match unless they're a woman who wants to have a baby. That's kind of the one exception. And then we can always, if things go well, in the pregnancy, we can always reapply later. But just so that there's some coverage during that pregnancy, and God forbid something does go wrong, that future pregnancies are covered. There's also it's a very low max for medical students, which kind of makes sense, right? They're not making money. And if you think about disability insurance, by definition is income replacement protection. They're paying at that point, they're not being educated. So I also don't necessarily think it's a good use of their money at the time. And if you look at Vegas odds, right, they're way less likely to become disabled while they're in med school. It happens, it happens. But again, the Max Coverage for med students is pretty low. So while it's something and something's better than nothing, they're not going to be able to live on that.
Denise 39:52
Thank you. We're getting close to time. Is there any other pearls you need people to know? Other than how to find you because that will be in the show notes. You can do that too. But there'll be
Stephanie 40:03
pearls Don't wait.
Denise 40:05
Don't wait less, unless Stephanie tells you to wait.
Stephanie 40:09
Don't wait. Yeah, I mean, I just think it's trust your gut like everything else, you know, there are other good guys out there, but obviously happy to help whomever is listening. I am incredibly accessible. Now, I think I'm probably more accessible now than even when I was practicing. But, you know, our website is PearsonRavitz.com and, and I'll let you spell it out in the the show notes, our phone number's 610-658-3251. I'm on Facebook, with my real name, I was not savvy enough to have a pseudonym way back when. And then for your listeners who similarly to us have become disabled. I do have a secret Facebook group called physicians for physicians, which is just for physicians who because of injury or illness have had to change their scope of practice or leave medicine. You can reach out to me personally, I do ask a couple of questions because I want to vet it and make sure it's a safe place. And then I can add people. It's been an incredibly supportive community, we have men, we have women, I have let in a veterinarian. You know, just again, going back to that it's really hard when it's happening. And it's nice to have a support group. So I don't know how many of your listeners that encompasses. But since both of us are living that life right now, I want to make sure that folks know about it.
Denise 41:51
Thank you very much has been very nice getting to know you a little bit and we're so close your across the border from me.
Stephanie 42:00
Yes ma'am. Well, if you're in town, let me know. And I'll let you know the next time we're in Delaware.
Denise 42:06
Thank you very much indeed.
Stephanie 42:07
Have a great day. Thanks for having me.
Denise 42:10
Thank you for joining us at Myth, Magic, Medicine. If you have found this episode useful, you can apply for free CME credits for the link provided in the transcript. If you're not a medical professional, please remember, while we're physicians, we're not your physicians, so please consult with your own health care professional if you think something you have heard might apply to you or a loved one. Until next time, bye bye
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
