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Welcome to the Clinician Researcher podcast, where academic clinicians learn the skills

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to build their own research program, whether or not they have a mentor.

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As clinicians, we spend a decade or more as trainees learning to take care of patients.

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When we finally start our careers, we want to build research programs, but then we find

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that our years of clinical training did not adequately prepare us to lead our research

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program.

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Through no fault of our own, we struggle to find mentors, and when we can't, we quit.

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However, clinicians hold the keys to the greatest research breakthroughs.

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For this reason, the Clinician Researcher podcast exists to give academic clinicians

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the tools to build their own research program, whether or not they have a mentor.

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Now introducing your host, Toyosi Onwuemene.

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Welcome to the Clinician Researcher podcast.

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I'm your host, Toyosi Onwuemene, and it is an absolute pleasure.

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It is an absolute pleasure to be with you today.

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Thank you for tuning in.

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I am excited today because I have an extra special guest.

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Today I am joined by Dr. Stephanie Pearson.

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Stephanie, welcome to the show.

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Hi, thank you for having me.

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Stephanie, I'm so excited that you're here because you are not our traditional guest

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on the show.

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You are here to talk to us about disability insurance.

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So I want you to introduce yourself to my audience and let us know how did this surgeon

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now turn to this, to disability insurance as part of what she does.

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Okay.

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I will give the very abridged story.

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So I am an OBGYN by training, trained and worked in the Philadelphia area for my clinical

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career and unfortunately I was kicked in the shoulder during a difficult patient delivery

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and she just got me in the right spot.

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And I ended up with a torn labrum, developed a frozen shoulder, had surgery, went to sleep

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getting told I'd be back to work in 12 weeks and August there will be 11 years that I am

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away from clinical medicine, not that I'm keeping count or anything.

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And unfortunately I learned a lot the hard way and I thought that I did everything right

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in planning for myself and my family.

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And it was really through sheer ignorance and I don't mean the ignorance that we should

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know something and we don't.

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I mean real pure ignorance, the stuff that we don't know because we don't know it.

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That I felt as though I had not been properly educated or advocated for and really took

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my journey and what happened to my family and became really passionate about the topic

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thinking that I couldn't possibly be the only physician in the position I found myself in.

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And after speaking to a bunch of friends and colleagues, it just seemed like this is where

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my life was supposed to take me.

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I know it sounds a little bit trite that things happen for a reason and maybe it's just what

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keeps me focused.

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I really thought that I would probably die at the OR table in like my 80s and it's just

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not the deck of cards I got dealt.

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So here I am, I started an insurance company and we focus mainly on physicians for disability

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and life insurance.

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I'm truly trying to change the way that this gets taught to young physicians, the way that

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it gets handled and really care about the service aspect.

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I went into medicine to have a service led life and this allows me to continue to do

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that in a little bit of a different space.

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Stephanie, thank you so much for really distilling the story down.

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You've done this a lot because I've heard the longer version and to some extent, I do

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want my audience to just hear a little bit more of that story because it's a really powerful

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story and you clearly are a remarkable person.

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You've been through a remarkable number of things and to turn that around into this mission

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focused career is super awesome.

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But I do want to take a step back to the part in your story where you didn't know this was

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coming.

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You struggled through a lot of going through specialists, going through surgeries and at

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the end of it, you lost your job.

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I want us to necessarily stay positive, but I do want you to speak to the failure of expectation,

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all the things that happened in that moment, especially in that journey that was so unexpected

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and perhaps many physicians feel like, oh, that could never be me, but it could possibly

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be them.

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So going way back to the beginning, after the initial injury happened, my first orthopedist

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quite honestly kind of blew me off.

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He said that professional baseball pitchers pitched with torn labrums, so I should be

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able to do my job.

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And he had some other choice words that I'll keep to myself, but I put my head down and

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I did what I think all type A physicians do, you figure out how to compensate.

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And I figured out how to compensate until I couldn't.

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And it was when I really couldn't compensate anymore that I met the orthopedist who ended

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up doing my surgery.

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And I woke up from surgery with him sitting at the corner of my bed.

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And I kind of knew at that point, nothing against orthopedic surgeries, but most of

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them are so busy that they really don't stick around.

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So I knew the fact that he was there when I woke up was not a great sign.

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And he did say that it looked like a bomb went off in my shoulder and I probably would

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not get back to practice the way that I had previously.

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And to kind of set that up, OB-GYNs wear lots of hats.

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And my biggest hat was as a surgeon.

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I was the person that people sent people to and it was my happy place.

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I mean, I truly, truly loved being in the OR and being able to truly fix and heal people.

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And I did a lot of OB.

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I was originally told that I couldn't operate, I couldn't do obstetrics, but I was actually

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cleared to do office GYN as tolerated.

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And I thought I'd be given that opportunity.

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I had recently been asked to be the chairperson of our department and I love teaching residents.

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I thought, okay, I'm still going to practice, I'll be in a little bit differently.

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And unbeknownst to me, my contract said that I needed to be able to do 100% of my job and

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I no longer could.

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And I got unceremoniously terminated the day that my FM ballet was up and nobody called

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me, like not my office manager, not my senior partners, no one from the hospital.

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And once I got terminated, it turned out that I couldn't get malpractice insurance because

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one of my orthopedic notes says that I'm a liability.

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So it really was in a matter of probably days that I went from thinking I still have a job

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and I can still practice medicine to, oh my God, what am I going to do now?

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And then to pile on top of that, the group disability benefit that we had at our hospital

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in fine print didn't cover work-related injuries.

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So then I got my second blow that I literally got told I would have been better off had

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I fallen off my bike, which is a tough pill to swallow when you're doing your job, right?

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I was doing what I was supposed to do.

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I had a safe baby, I had a safe mom, yet my world kind of came tumbling down.

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So those were the biggest two blows.

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And then the third blow came when I realized that my private policy just wasn't quite what

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I thought it was.

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So going back, I truly thought I did all the right things.

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I had a policy through the work.

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I had a policy on my own.

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And then all of a sudden, it was just not what I thought I had.

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And so it was a lot.

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I was not in a good mental head space.

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But I think like a lot of physicians, I went through the dark spot, came out the other

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end and figured out what I needed to do to keep going.

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Stephanie, thank you so much for just your courage and sharing your story and the challenges

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that you've come through.

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And thank you because you're using it as a platform to help other physicians as well.

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So I feel like this is a great point at which we should stop and talk about what is disability

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insurance?

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And we're going to get into a little bit more of the fine print, but really give us a, I

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think we have a sense of it, but help us understand and especially kind of actually let me stop

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there because you have a lot to tell us.

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No, yeah.

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So at its basic definition, disability insurance is income protection.

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So so many of us growing up, we hear about health insurance, we hear about auto insurance,

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we hear about homeowners insurance or renters insurance.

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People talk about insuring jewelry, right?

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No one ever told me that I needed to insure my ability to make money, which when you think

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about it is our biggest asset.

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And I don't mean that to sound salesy, but it's true, right?

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We sacrifice so much becoming physicians.

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We give up our 20s, some of us part of our 30s, our friends are already making money.

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Not only are we not making a remarkable amount, but we're paying off our loans, right?

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And so to look at what could happen if the unimaginable happens, it's huge.

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And so many of us aren't taught about it.

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And if we are taught, it may not be to the fullest extent.

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And so there's a lot of misinformation.

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There's a lot of misunderstanding, and I kind of think it's on purpose.

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I think that insurance companies want us to be a little bit confused.

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And we don't have to be, you know, it's just, it's a different language.

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Speaking of language, I think we all have a general sense of what disability insurance

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is supposed to do for you, for us, but you found out that although you had disability

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coverage, it wasn't quite the coverage you hoped it would be.

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Speak more about that.

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So I already mentioned the group benefit had the fine print that it didn't cover work-related

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injuries.

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I will tell you back in 2012-13, that was definitely the exception to the rule.

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It's becoming more and more common, and to be honest, since the highest point of COVID,

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they're also putting in, now that they're not covering work-related injuries or illnesses,

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I find that to be a slippery slope.

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I'm not sure how anyone can prove where they contracted an illness from.

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And again, it's not everywhere, but the devil's in the details of these employer policies,

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and they don't really have to tell us what's in it.

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It's usually one line on your open enrollment packet and you check a box.

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So part of that is just, we don't know what we're supposed to ask for.

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And so everyone really should be getting a hold of the master copy of their employer's

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policy to figure out what do you have, what don't you have, where are there holes.

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So that's the first big piece that I had no idea.

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Secondly, I thought that I bought the right private policy, and I will tell you that language

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is actually the biggest issue in that there's no standardization of language in insurance,

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like there is in medicine and lots of every other fields.

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And I thought that I bought a truly specialty-specific policy that would cover me if I couldn't be

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an OB-GYN.

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Well, it turned out that I had two policies.

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One was the right policy, but didn't have any of the bells and whistles.

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It was just a clean benefit that I get once a month.

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It never changes.

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It doesn't have inflationary protection or anything like that.

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My second policy is specialty-specific by my occupation, but not necessarily by the

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definition of total disability.

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So let me take a step back.

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What you want a private policy to say is that you're considered totally disabled if you

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cannot do your job, regardless if you're gainfully employed in another occupation.

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Now most group benefits, instead of the word regardless, it's the word not.

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So you're considered totally disabled if you can't do your job and you're not gainfully

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employed.

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So that definition isn't great for most of us who are not hardwired to be stay-at-home

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parents.

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I have the utmost respect for them.

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I am not supposed to be one.

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And what my policy added was a clause that said until you make your pre-disability earnings.

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Now this one's a little hard to digest sometimes when we talk about disability insurance being

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income replacement protection.

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The issue is with that phrase, you lose your earning potential.

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So 11 years later, I still have to send in my banking statements and my company profit

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and loss statements for them to decide if they're going to pay me or not.

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And where it becomes a kicker is the company can do well, but I may not take a distribution.

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I still get dinged because I have equity in the company.

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So I can kind of get double screwed for lack of better phrasing because now I'm not taking

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money from the company because we do a lot of reinvesting in our people and our technology

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and all of that stuff.

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And now I'm not getting my benefit.

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And I thought I was going to be covered if I couldn't do the job that I did.

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And I think the way to make it make the most sense is think about yourself as a resident.

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You're nowhere near your earning ceiling.

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I bought that policy my first years in attending.

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I wasn't near my earning potential.

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And let's be clear, if I could make doing this what I made my last years in attending,

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would I need my insurance?

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Probably not.

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But it's a giant mental thing that it's not what I thought I bought.

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And if I had made that decision through informed consent, which I know really doesn't totally

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exist outside of medicine, but I try to make it, then that's on me.

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But it wasn't.

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It's not what I thought I got.

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And I would never sell a policy like that to somebody earlier in their career because

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things happen.

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I've had residents go out.

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I've had fellows go out.

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I've had very early attendings go out.

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And if they're not taking into account your future earning potential, you could be in

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a really bad spot.

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Yeah.

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So the situation seems...

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Oh, actually, I was going to say it seems bleak, and it does.

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But there's a ray of hope because that's why you're here, to help physicians think really

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about how they should be thinking about disability insurance and what coverage they should make

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sure they have.

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So I want you to speak first about own occupation disability.

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And I want you to speak especially to my audience.

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I mean, we're clinician researchers.

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We're like, well, if I can't see patients in the clinic, I'm just going to go do research.

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Can you speak to why people like me need to be thinking about disability insurance and

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that we're appropriately covered?

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Absolutely.

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So the first part, the comment of this is bleak, but look, like I said, I'm doing this

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now to try to change the industry.

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I know that that's a little bit hyperbolic, but I don't want to be...

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Or I should say, I don't want anyone else to go through what I went through.

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So I do see this as being bigger than me and my family or my family and me.

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As far as clinician researchers, I think that there is...

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And I don't mean to offend anybody, but I think there's a little bit of a misunderstanding

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or misconception that only proceduralists need to have disability insurance, right?

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If you don't use your hands, you don't need this.

237
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Well, first of all, that's not true.

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One, a lot of physician researchers use their hands and are very much proceduralists.

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I worked in a genetics lab for a long time, and if I couldn't use my hands, I would have

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been in a lot of trouble, right?

241
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But we're not talking about just using your hands.

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You guys really need to think about your brains probably more than anybody else.

243
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And there are a lot of things that knock that out that we just don't want to think about.

244
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There's a tyranny of perfection that lives in medicine, right?

245
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We're tougher than stronger than we're resilient than...

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Something bad's going to happen to us.

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That's just not true.

248
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And there are a lot of things...

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Look, think about outside of even basic traumatic brain injuries, right?

250
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So you have car accidents, ski accidents, bike accidents, during storms, tree branches,

251
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fall.

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I mean, they're not called widow makers for nothing.

253
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And think about all the things that cause fatigue, right?

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There are things where it's not you're going to wake up one day, be able to do your job,

255
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and wake up the next day and completely not be able to do your job.

256
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Think about things like MS, other autoimmune diseases, right?

257
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ALS, working through chemotherapy, things where a treating physician is going to say

258
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to you, look, you can actually do your job.

259
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So now I'm focusing more on that fatigue piece.

260
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You can do your job, but you can't do it sustainably.

261
00:19:51,860 --> 00:19:55,500
Well, you're going to lose money, right?

262
00:19:55,500 --> 00:20:02,900
And your policy should have something in it called a residual or partial disability benefit,

263
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which is going to kick in if you have to go part time.

264
00:20:08,140 --> 00:20:13,060
Now going back, and I might have done this a little out of order, I apologize, but you

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mentioned talk about the own occupation piece, and you'll maybe realize that I said specialty

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specific in the beginning, and that's because companies use different phrases to mean the

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same thing.

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And so what we hear kind of around the water pool is own occupation, own occupation, own

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occupation.

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But then you find out that other companies call it something else, or even worse, companies

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can call it own occupation, but define it differently.

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And that goes back to the group versus private.

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Most group policies will say that they're own occupation, and the assumption there is

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you're covered for what it is you do day in and day out.

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But when you go into the fine print of the policy, it may be what's called held to the

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national economy or the local labor market.

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00:21:02,220 --> 00:21:07,060
It's not specific to what one employee does at one employer site.

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That allows them to cast a really wide net that says this is what you would, could, should

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be able to do based on your training, education, and skill set.

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00:21:16,180 --> 00:21:20,660
So that's not really an ideal definition, but oh, it says it's own occupation.

281
00:21:20,660 --> 00:21:25,180
So it's almost a lie of omission, right?

282
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Whereas in the private sector, it can be called true own occupation, own occupation, regular

283
00:21:30,860 --> 00:21:38,340
occupation, that there's about five to seven different terms that are used, right?

284
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What you want to know is, in fact, are you covered for what it is you do day in and day

285
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out, not what your neighbor does?

286
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And will you be considered totally disabled if you can't do that, regardless if you're

287
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gainfully employed in another occupation?

288
00:21:57,400 --> 00:22:03,200
So I kind of went a little bit out of order there, but I think I got the point across

289
00:22:03,200 --> 00:22:08,120
if I didn't, you know, I'm certainly happy to delve into it a little bit more.

290
00:22:08,120 --> 00:22:15,620
But I truly think from a researcher standpoint, I think you have to think of yourselves as

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hands on.

292
00:22:16,700 --> 00:22:20,020
I do think you guys are proceduralists.

293
00:22:20,020 --> 00:22:27,380
I think that, you know, you have to protect your brains, you have to protect your stamina,

294
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right?

295
00:22:28,380 --> 00:22:29,860
Cancer doesn't discriminate.

296
00:22:29,860 --> 00:22:33,620
ALS doesn't discriminate, right?

297
00:22:33,620 --> 00:22:35,700
And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

298
00:22:35,700 --> 00:22:39,180
I mean, I can get, I have hundreds and hundreds of stories.

299
00:22:39,180 --> 00:22:45,360
I don't want to turn this into a fear mongering episode, but you guys have a specific skill

300
00:22:45,360 --> 00:22:48,820
set and that skill set needs to be protected.

301
00:22:48,820 --> 00:22:50,940
Thank you.

302
00:22:50,940 --> 00:22:51,940
Yeah.

303
00:22:51,940 --> 00:22:57,100
When you're talking about using our hands, I'm thinking I'm typing all the time.

304
00:22:57,100 --> 00:22:59,060
I need to be able to type.

305
00:22:59,060 --> 00:23:03,580
Even when you do voice to text, you still have to go back and do some editing.

306
00:23:03,580 --> 00:23:08,500
And clearly the brain, you don't even have to sell that at all.

307
00:23:08,500 --> 00:23:09,980
So okay, so we have a stab.

308
00:23:09,980 --> 00:23:10,980
Yeah, yeah.

309
00:23:10,980 --> 00:23:20,140
I left that out, but think about how much you read, how much you have to analyze.

310
00:23:20,140 --> 00:23:21,740
Blindness happens, right?

311
00:23:21,740 --> 00:23:23,620
Accidents happen.

312
00:23:23,620 --> 00:23:29,380
And so there are many things for you to be worried about.

313
00:23:29,380 --> 00:23:30,380
Sure.

314
00:23:30,380 --> 00:23:36,020
So, so now you've sold us on the necessity, right?

315
00:23:36,020 --> 00:23:37,140
We all agree.

316
00:23:37,140 --> 00:23:41,680
We should get disability policy, but what should we be looking for now that it sounds

317
00:23:41,680 --> 00:23:46,820
like every disability policy is not the one we want?

318
00:23:46,820 --> 00:23:54,300
So the short answer to that is there are five carriers that truly give the language that

319
00:23:54,300 --> 00:23:56,400
we need as physicians.

320
00:23:56,400 --> 00:23:59,140
So that's that.

321
00:23:59,140 --> 00:24:05,140
But beyond that, you want to make sure that the language is tight.

322
00:24:05,140 --> 00:24:11,900
You want to make sure that you can access additional coverage without having to go through

323
00:24:11,900 --> 00:24:14,260
medical underwriting again.

324
00:24:14,260 --> 00:24:21,500
So medical underwriting is part of most policies when you're trying to get it for the first

325
00:24:21,500 --> 00:24:22,500
time.

326
00:24:22,500 --> 00:24:23,500
And it's really invasive.

327
00:24:23,500 --> 00:24:25,500
I mean, you may have to pee in a cup.

328
00:24:25,500 --> 00:24:26,980
You may have to give up some blood.

329
00:24:26,980 --> 00:24:31,740
You absolutely have to answer a million medical questions a million times.

330
00:24:31,740 --> 00:24:36,420
They have access to your medical records, your pharmaceutical records, your motor vehicle

331
00:24:36,420 --> 00:24:37,420
records.

332
00:24:37,420 --> 00:24:40,960
You want to give that info once and never have to give it again.

333
00:24:40,960 --> 00:24:46,660
And all of these carriers have money sitting somewhere that you can access as your income

334
00:24:46,660 --> 00:24:52,540
ascends, as you change jobs and have different benefits, where all we have to do is show

335
00:24:52,540 --> 00:24:54,600
them proof of income.

336
00:24:54,600 --> 00:24:58,060
So I think that's probably the second most important part.

337
00:24:58,060 --> 00:25:00,420
And then you get into these smaller pieces.

338
00:25:00,420 --> 00:25:03,800
I had mentioned the partial or residual benefit.

339
00:25:03,800 --> 00:25:11,740
There are actually more partial slash residual claims filed and paid every year rather than

340
00:25:11,740 --> 00:25:12,880
total.

341
00:25:12,880 --> 00:25:15,620
So I think that was super important.

342
00:25:15,620 --> 00:25:18,580
There's inflationary protection that you can add.

343
00:25:18,580 --> 00:25:23,140
So it's known as the COLA or the cost of living adjustment.

344
00:25:23,140 --> 00:25:31,220
Now the interesting thing with that is that doesn't kick in until you're on claim.

345
00:25:31,220 --> 00:25:34,660
So you're sick or injured, they're paying you.

346
00:25:34,660 --> 00:25:38,580
When you hit your anniversary, that benefit will go up.

347
00:25:38,580 --> 00:25:44,000
And so as I mentioned, I'm approaching my 11th year out.

348
00:25:44,000 --> 00:25:47,500
I've gone up 10 times.

349
00:25:47,500 --> 00:25:53,940
So what I'm getting this year every month is not the same as what I got in 2013 every

350
00:25:53,940 --> 00:25:54,940
month.

351
00:25:54,940 --> 00:26:00,140
And that can amount to thousands and thousands of dollars over time.

352
00:26:00,140 --> 00:26:04,920
There is something called a catastrophic benefit, which is exactly what it sounds like.

353
00:26:04,920 --> 00:26:09,660
So in the event something awful happens and you're left unable to perform two or more

354
00:26:09,660 --> 00:26:14,460
of your activities of daily living without assistance, or you're severely cognitively

355
00:26:14,460 --> 00:26:18,020
impaired, you could get an additional benefit.

356
00:26:18,020 --> 00:26:19,620
So it's additive.

357
00:26:19,620 --> 00:26:27,500
Think of X plus Y. X is your monthly benefit, Y is the catastrophic benefit that we have

358
00:26:27,500 --> 00:26:31,220
seen utilized in some of our older clients.

359
00:26:31,220 --> 00:26:36,100
I know it can happen younger, but thankfully it hasn't happened with us yet.

360
00:26:36,100 --> 00:26:41,580
But I do think that's important as we get older and bad things happen.

361
00:26:41,580 --> 00:26:46,360
The biggest difference amongst the carriers right now has to do with how they treat mental

362
00:26:46,360 --> 00:26:48,500
health and substance abuse.

363
00:26:48,500 --> 00:26:52,220
And it is a very individualized topic.

364
00:26:52,220 --> 00:26:55,260
Some companies give you options.

365
00:26:55,260 --> 00:26:57,580
Some of them it's built into the policy.

366
00:26:57,580 --> 00:27:00,820
And so there's a lot of movement there.

367
00:27:00,820 --> 00:27:05,660
And one of the first questions I tend to ask people is how important is that coverage for

368
00:27:05,660 --> 00:27:06,660
you?

369
00:27:06,660 --> 00:27:11,220
You know, we know that there are some people that have really good support systems.

370
00:27:11,220 --> 00:27:13,740
They don't have any family history.

371
00:27:13,740 --> 00:27:16,360
They would seek care if they needed it.

372
00:27:16,360 --> 00:27:22,660
They might benefit from a lower benefit that usually comes with a discount.

373
00:27:22,660 --> 00:27:28,820
If you're somebody who's had a strong family history, who is concerned about that taking

374
00:27:28,820 --> 00:27:33,740
you out, then you have to expect that you're going to pay a little bit more to have that

375
00:27:33,740 --> 00:27:34,940
full coverage.

376
00:27:34,940 --> 00:27:39,100
And you might want to look at specific companies that do offer that.

377
00:27:39,100 --> 00:27:45,420
I can tell you back in 2005 when I got my policy, it was actually the only question

378
00:27:45,420 --> 00:27:47,260
that I thought to ask of.

379
00:27:47,260 --> 00:27:52,560
My mom was a very poorly controlled bipolar sufferer who had a late break.

380
00:27:52,560 --> 00:27:56,860
I was petrified that I was going to be in my 40s and have a psych break and have to

381
00:27:56,860 --> 00:27:58,260
leave.

382
00:27:58,260 --> 00:28:02,500
And at the time there were only two companies in the state of Pennsylvania that would cover

383
00:28:02,500 --> 00:28:07,660
OBGYNs for mental health for the length of the policy.

384
00:28:07,660 --> 00:28:10,100
So I only looked at those two companies.

385
00:28:10,100 --> 00:28:16,780
Wish I knew other questions to ask at the time, but that was the one.

386
00:28:16,780 --> 00:28:17,780
Thank you.

387
00:28:17,780 --> 00:28:22,140
That's a really, really good summary of the things that we should be thinking about.

388
00:28:22,140 --> 00:28:27,620
I think definitely physicians need more help and we're going to talk about how they can

389
00:28:27,620 --> 00:28:29,280
access help through you.

390
00:28:29,280 --> 00:28:34,380
But I think what I'm hearing you say is don't just accept whatever policy you're giving,

391
00:28:34,380 --> 00:28:38,660
ask questions, and make sure it's actually tailored to what you might need.

392
00:28:38,660 --> 00:28:39,660
That's important.

393
00:28:39,660 --> 00:28:40,660
Okay.

394
00:28:40,660 --> 00:28:41,660
All right.

395
00:28:41,660 --> 00:28:47,580
And group policy is if they're paid for by your employer, you have to have it.

396
00:28:47,580 --> 00:28:50,020
So it's something that you have to have.

397
00:28:50,020 --> 00:28:52,660
You might as well know what's in there, right?

398
00:28:52,660 --> 00:28:55,500
You can plan accordingly.

399
00:28:55,500 --> 00:29:00,460
And I don't know, I'd like to think that if my husband and I knew what we had and what

400
00:29:00,460 --> 00:29:04,580
we didn't have, that we would have planned differently.

401
00:29:04,580 --> 00:29:06,740
Yeah, no, that's good.

402
00:29:06,740 --> 00:29:09,900
Getting informed is important.

403
00:29:09,900 --> 00:29:12,580
So we're kind of getting close to the end of the show.

404
00:29:12,580 --> 00:29:16,820
I'm wondering what is an important aspect of disability insurance that we haven't talked

405
00:29:16,820 --> 00:29:18,380
about just yet?

406
00:29:18,380 --> 00:29:21,380
Wow, we haven't talked about.

407
00:29:21,380 --> 00:29:23,580
I don't know.

408
00:29:23,580 --> 00:29:28,620
We've hit the major pieces of the puzzle, which are called riders.

409
00:29:28,620 --> 00:29:34,380
And I explained why I think it's so important for researchers.

410
00:29:34,380 --> 00:29:39,820
There's more to talk about the differences between group policies and private policies,

411
00:29:39,820 --> 00:29:45,460
but that would probably be a talk for another day.

412
00:29:45,460 --> 00:29:47,100
There are a few really...

413
00:29:47,100 --> 00:29:52,460
I could say the big differences have to do with taxation, ownership, and language.

414
00:29:52,460 --> 00:29:58,180
So your employer's paying for a policy, any of the benefit that you would get would actually

415
00:29:58,180 --> 00:30:00,460
be considered taxable.

416
00:30:00,460 --> 00:30:05,340
And anything that you're paying for would be tax free because you're paying those tax

417
00:30:05,340 --> 00:30:10,660
dollars and the government hasn't quite figured out yet how to tax up some both sides.

418
00:30:10,660 --> 00:30:15,500
So big difference between money that's getting taxed and money that's not getting taxed.

419
00:30:15,500 --> 00:30:21,700
Ownership, as I mentioned, if you have an employer paid policy, you have to accept it,

420
00:30:21,700 --> 00:30:26,260
but you have no control in creating it, keeping it.

421
00:30:26,260 --> 00:30:31,060
They're usually employment dependent, so if you change jobs, oftentimes it's not going

422
00:30:31,060 --> 00:30:32,540
to go with you.

423
00:30:32,540 --> 00:30:35,380
Whereas a private policy, it's yours.

424
00:30:35,380 --> 00:30:37,640
You should help create it.

425
00:30:37,640 --> 00:30:38,900
You get to control it.

426
00:30:38,900 --> 00:30:40,240
You get to keep it.

427
00:30:40,240 --> 00:30:43,200
It's going to go with you wherever you go.

428
00:30:43,200 --> 00:30:48,420
And again, most importantly, as I mentioned before, has to do with the language and does

429
00:30:48,420 --> 00:30:50,300
it mean what it really says?

430
00:30:50,300 --> 00:30:54,500
How are they defining words or phrases?

431
00:30:54,500 --> 00:30:56,700
What are the limitations?

432
00:30:56,700 --> 00:31:00,460
And I think that's probably the one thing that we didn't really get into.

433
00:31:00,460 --> 00:31:01,460
Sure, sure.

434
00:31:01,460 --> 00:31:04,300
You know, it sounds like more help is needed.

435
00:31:04,300 --> 00:31:09,700
So for those who are saying, huh, I need to figure out if I'm adequately covered or for

436
00:31:09,700 --> 00:31:12,940
those who don't have disability insurance yet, who are thinking about it, how can they

437
00:31:12,940 --> 00:31:14,180
find you?

438
00:31:14,180 --> 00:31:19,060
Well, our website has a lot of frequently asked questions and information.

439
00:31:19,060 --> 00:31:22,220
So PearsonRabbits.com.

440
00:31:22,220 --> 00:31:25,580
Obviously I am on all socials.

441
00:31:25,580 --> 00:31:29,180
I am my name, Stephanie Pearson.

442
00:31:29,180 --> 00:31:33,580
Some of them, it's Stephanie Pearson MD, some it's PearsonRabbits.

443
00:31:33,580 --> 00:31:37,820
But if you Google Stephanie Pearson, you'll find me out a lot.

444
00:31:37,820 --> 00:31:42,540
You can call the office 610-658-3251.

445
00:31:42,540 --> 00:31:46,020
I'm so accessible now.

446
00:31:46,020 --> 00:31:47,020
Thank you, Stephanie.

447
00:31:47,020 --> 00:31:50,020
And for those who are listening, I will put that in the show notes so that you have access

448
00:31:50,020 --> 00:31:52,340
to her information as well.

449
00:31:52,340 --> 00:31:54,820
Stephanie, this is such an important conversation.

450
00:31:54,820 --> 00:31:58,780
I want to thank you for coming on and sharing your story and helping physicians.

451
00:31:58,780 --> 00:32:04,420
I so appreciate that you're very mission-minded and I think physicians are a group that absolutely

452
00:32:04,420 --> 00:32:05,740
need help.

453
00:32:05,740 --> 00:32:08,660
And I'm so glad that you're in this space helping us out.

454
00:32:08,660 --> 00:32:09,660
Thank you, Stephanie.

455
00:32:09,660 --> 00:32:11,660
Oh, thank you so much for having me.

456
00:32:11,660 --> 00:32:13,580
I'm honored and humbled.

457
00:32:13,580 --> 00:32:20,700
And please don't forget you guys need this protection.

458
00:32:20,700 --> 00:32:21,700
Thank you, Stephanie.

459
00:32:21,700 --> 00:32:22,700
Thank you.

460
00:32:22,700 --> 00:32:23,700
All right.

461
00:32:23,700 --> 00:32:24,700
All right, everyone.

462
00:32:24,700 --> 00:32:25,820
Thank you so much for tuning in.

463
00:32:25,820 --> 00:32:32,940
I hope you have seen how important this is and definitely reach out to Stephanie, get

464
00:32:32,940 --> 00:32:37,020
the help you need, make sure you have the disability coverage that you need because

465
00:32:37,020 --> 00:32:43,220
we need to continue to be able to protect our income really for as long as we're working.

466
00:32:43,220 --> 00:32:47,620
So thank you all for tuning in and I look forward to seeing you again next time on the

467
00:32:47,620 --> 00:32:57,460
Clinician Researcher Podcast.

468
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Thanks for listening to this episode of the Clinician Researcher Podcast where academic

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clinicians learn the skills to build their own research program whether or not they have

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a mentor.

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If you found the information in this episode to be helpful, don't keep it all to yourself.

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Someone else needs to hear it.

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So take a minute right now and share it.

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As you share this episode, you become part of our mission to help launch a new generation

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of clinician researchers who make transformative discoveries that change the way we do healthcare.