How Much Does Long Term Disability Insurance Cost?
- Nisha Mehta, MD
- Dec 13, 2025
- 7 min read
Disability insurance is a staple of physician personal finance, as it helps protect your most valuable financial assets as a doctor: your income. After years of training, and potentially hundreds of thousands in student loans, it would be devastating to lose the earning potential you’ve worked so hard to get, or risk your financial security before you reach financial independence.
That said, given that disability insurance is not exactly cheap, a common question of our online physician communities is how much premiums for disability insurance policies should cost. Below, we break down what you might expect to pay, as well as what factors influence premiums.
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How much does disability insurance cost?
Perhaps predictably, it depends. Several factors influence how much disability insurance premiums come back as from the insurance company, based on different actuarial projections. We look at these factors and their influence below, but as a general rule of thumb, doctors can expect to pay about 2%-6% of the annual benefit as the annual premium.
Where you shop for a policy can impact your disability insurance quote
Insurance agents have the ability to shop different carriers and may have access to different discounts, and in some cases, different companies or types of plans. We recommend working with an insurance broker who is going to help you shop and compare quotes across all the major carriers to find the best policy. It’s important to note that the cheapest policy isn’t always the best, as it may not offer the same protections, but your broker should be able to walk you through the pros and cons of each option.
Disability insurance brokers to help you compare policies:
Pattern: This convenient option will allow you to enter your information and immediately begin generating quotes from the major disability companies, as well as schedule a meeting with the Pattern team to discuss the options and figure out which plan is best for you. Many in the group have had a great experience with this process. Reach out here.
Moment Insurance: Complete your quote inquiry information in less than five minutes and easily schedule an appointment to speak with a dedicated, experienced disability insurance expert who will walk you through the process from start to finish and help you compare different options. Many in the group have worked with their experts previously, and had a great experience! Contact them Contact them here.
PolicyGenius: This is not a physician specific company, but well known in the insurance space. They may be a helpful resource if you are looking for another place for quotes. Make sure that you're comparing apples to apples in terms of true own occupation insurance, as not all fields emphasize the need for this equally. Contact them here.
Factors that influence the underwriting of your policy and how much it should cost
Insurance companies base their pricing off of actuarial projections on how likely it is that you’ll have to use your policy, and how much they will have to pay out if you do. They have lots of data that they’ve used to come to these numbers, so unfortunately, while we may or may not think that something should factor into pricing, it may. Below are some of the common ones.
The specifics of your disability insurance policy
Perhaps obviously, the type and amount of coverage you request will also determine how much your policy costs. A few different factors come into play here:
The type of coverage you have: We recommend that doctors get own occupation coverage, which pays out if you can’t do the specific job you were doing prior to disability, regardless of if you can continue to work in another capacity. As these policies offer the highest coverage, they cost more, but they offer the most protection of your physician income.
The amount of benefit you request: How much the policy pays out also impacts how much a policy costs. Multiple considerations go into how much disability insurance coverage you need, depending on your lifestyle.
Policy riders requested: There are several optional riders you can add to your disability policy, such as a cost of living (COL) adjustment, a future purchase option, and a partial disability rider. The more riders you have, the more your policy will cost. Explore which DI riders physicians should consider, and work with a disability insurance broker to help assess which might be appropriate for your situation.
Your benefit period: The benefit period is how long a disability policy will pay out for. It’s often 5, 10, or 20 years, or until you reach retirement. The longer your benefit period, the higher your premium costs will likely be.
How long before your benefits kick in - the longer your exclusion period is before benefits kick in, the cheaper your policy
Gender
Women often pay more for disability insurance than men, as statistically speaking, disability insurance companies have found that women are more often to file claims, such as for pregnancy or mental health conditions.
As we cover below, age also influences rates, and interestingly, rates often increase faster for men than they do for women, so this gap in premiums by gender decreases over time.
Your age (the younger you are, the cheaper) and if you’re in training
Age can greatly impact the cost of your disability insurance, as we’re well aware health issues are more likely as you get older. Your likelihood of needing to use your policy can increase, and insurance companies take that into consideration.
Insurers can also offer trainee discounts, so locking your policy in while you’re younger and still in residency or fellowship can impact how much you pay.
The earlier you buy a policy, the lower your premiums will be. The longer you wait, the more expensive the policy will get. If you need to shop for a policy, don’t wait! Check out our directory of disability insurance agents for doctors to get started.
Your health status or medical history
In general, the healthier you are, the better shot you have at getting lower rates. Having a medical condition when applying for a policy can result in a premium surcharge (if you’re even able to get coverage). Pre-existing conditions can cause a denial, and it’s important to assess any potential reasons for a decline with an insurance broker before officially applying for a policy, as once you have a denial on record, it can be harder to secure a policy, even a guaranteed standard issue one.
If you know you have a medical issue that could preclude you from getting a policy, make sure you check to see if your program offers a guaranteed standard issue policy (GSI). Although these can be less customizable and less ideal for totally healthy candidates, they can be a life saver for those that wouldn’t qualify for disability insurance otherwise.
Related PSG resources:
Your specialty
Your specialty, and how much risk an insurance carrier associates with that specialty, can impact what you pay. Specialties with higher physical and/or procedural demands are often classified as higher risk by insurance companies, as it may be more likely that you have to claim your disability insurance. For example, breaking your wrist could be devastating to a surgeon, but maybe not as much so to a neurologist.
As we noted above, where you shop for your policy can impact what you pay, and insurance companies can have different variations in what they charge by specialty, with some being friendlier to some specialties than others. This is another reason you should shop policies with an insurance broker rather than going directly to an individual insurance company.
Where you live
Disability insurance premiums for the same coverage can vary by location, such as different rates from state to state. This may have to do with the state’s insurance policies and regulations or other factors.
Conclusion
While you can’t control a lot of the factors above, such as your age or specialty, you can make sure you shop policies across different insurers using a broker and that you don’t wait any longer to apply. The sooner you can lock in a policy, the better. Some physicians hesitate to get their own policy when they see the cost, especially if they’re covered under their employer. Employer policies don’t travel with you, however, and can leave you vulnerable now and in the future. If you haven’t reached complete financial independence yet, you often can’t afford not to have a policy in place.
Additional disability insurance resources for physicians
Related PSG resources:
Guide to buying life and disability insurance during residency & fellowship
How much disability insurance benefit do I need as a doctor?
Common reasons doctors mistakenly don’t get disability insurance
Do I need to buy my own DI policy if my employer offers one?
When to consider dropping or modifying your disability insurance coverage
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