Insurance for Imagers—What You’ll Need (and What You Won’t!) 

Rad Risk: Fundamentally, insurance is the probability of peril—a large group pays premiums so the few who experience losses can be compensated. For rads, the goal is to balance the cost of premiums against the frequency and liability of potential risks.

Working Life: Your greatest asset is your own ability to work. Misallocating funds into incorrect instruments can delay fiscal independence—leaving you vulnerable to life-changing events. Care of ARRS26‘s “Financial Wellness for Practicing Radiologists and Beyond,” here are four of the most salient points from Sherwin Chan, MD:

1. Self-insure the small stuff

• Low frequency, high liability (e.g., house fire, major lawsuit) is what you should insure.
• High frequency, low liability items should be self-insured or covered by high deductibles.
• Avoid product warranties! Only 20% of premiums typically go toward claims, making them great for companies (but poor for you).

2. Stick to term life

• Trap: “Whole life” or “universal life” policies are often sold as investments, but they are expensive, reduce financial flexibility, and are rarely suitable for rads.
• Strategy: Use laddered term life insurance. It’s cheap and provides coverage during your “accumulation phase” (i.e., those years before your savings are bountiful enough to support your family independently).

3. Protect your “own occupation”

• Risk: 14% of doctors end up using disability insurance—double the rate of malpractice.
• Must-Haves! Ensure your policy is own occupation (meaning it pays if you can’t work as a rad, specifically), non-cancelable, and has guaranteed renewal.

4. Umbrella Hack?

• Personal liability insurance is inexpensive and covers major risks, like a car wreck or accident on your property.
• Buying a high-limit policy ($4M+) aligns the insurance company’s interests with yours; they will hire the best lawyers to defend a suit because they’re the ones on the hook for the payout.

Empowering Families: Using Financial Freedom to Take Paternity Leave

RadFYI: Focus your insurance budget on life-changing events, choose reputable partners to avoid bankruptcy risk, and aim to reach a level of savings where you can eventually self-insure entirely.