Emergency Medicine Residents Face many risks when applying for disability insurance. Some are caused by attempting to alleviate the stresses that come along with simply trying to become a physician. Consider an Emergency Medicine Resident putting in over 60 hours a week, running back and forth clad in scrubs down hospital corridors. That’s not even counting the additional hours spent studying. The most level headed individuals this would find this to be stressful. So our ER resident 
gets a prescription to help with stress or attention and energy levels. Doing this can have serious side affects. Jump ahead and now the young physician is preparing to purchase his/her disability income and life protection for the first time. Now is the time that those side effects can have an impact on his/her financial plan.
When applying for Disability Insurance coverage everyone will have to answer a battery of questions the most important of which are medical. Insurance companies will require some sort of physical exam along with blood work to help them to decide the type of risk they are willing to take on an individual. In addition they will require the applicant to supply them with a listing of prescriptions and the doctors they have seen in previous years (this includes contact information). Information about ADD and Antidepressant prescriptions will send up a red flag to the insurance underwriter. This can delay the application process, possibly causing much higher premiums, handcuffs on specific coverage or in the worst case declination. This is not to suggest that he/she should forgo protecting his/her health.
This information is being made available simply to bring awareness to the possible side effects to your financial well-being. Sir Francis Bacon once said “Knowledge is Power.” There are pros and cons to every decision we make. Now that you know the possible consequences of prescription medications as they relate to disability and life insurance coverage, you can make more educated choices when deciding whether or not to take a pill.
