Disability Insurance for Medical Residents and Fellows, All Five Carrier Programs Compared

Disability insurance for medical residents and fellows works differently than it does for anyone else. All five major carriers, Guardian, Principal, MassMutual, The Standard, and Ameritas, run dedicated resident programs that waive income documentation, disregard the group long-term disability plan your hospital provides, and attach discounts that generally stay on the policy for life. This video compares the five programs on the numbers that decide the choice, published benefit limits by training stage, resident discounts, exam requirements, future increase rights, and application windows, then covers the guaranteed standard issue (GSI) offers many training programs carry and the clean-record timing argument that outweighs every program detail. As of the mid-2026 carrier guides, published resident-program limits run $5,000 a month during the residency years at Guardian, Principal, and The Standard, and $7,500 at MassMutual and Ameritas. Final-year residents and fellows reach $8,000 at Guardian and The Standard, and physicians in their first two years of practice can access $7,500 to $8,500, with Ameritas publishing the top figure. Medical students in their third and fourth years can typically buy $1,500 to $2,500 a month. No income documentation is required under these programs, group coverage is disregarded, and several carriers have removed exams entirely for applicants 18 to 50. Program limits are underwriting rules, not guarantees, and health underwriting applies everywhere. Resident discounts run 10 to 20 percent as of 2026. Guardian offers 10 percent through 180 days after graduation, Principal a 20 percent multi-life discount in the graduation year, MassMutual commonly up to 20 percent depending on program size and state, Ameritas 15 percent with no minimum group size, and The Standard 15 percent from program acceptance through 180 days after training. Future increase rights are the centerpiece of the resident programs. Guardian allows residents and fellows an increase pool of roughly three times base coverage, to $22,000 for fellows and new physicians. Ameritas pairs a $22,500 pool with up to two accelerated increases in the first three policy years, MassMutual's future increase option runs three times base through age 60, Principal's Maximize Your Benefit rider allows full-limit increases in the first three policy years with no labs, and The Standard waives its 75 percent purchase rule so a $1,000 policy keeps full increase rights. The video also explains hospital GSI offers, base benefits to about $8,000 a month with no medical underwriting and up to $15,000 with financial-only underwriting under Guardian's resident GSI, along with the structural limits to check before signing, the benefit ceiling, the trimmed rider menu, a single increase route, and the absence of comparison shopping. Seaworthy does not place GSI, and many of our clients pair a smaller GSI plan with a second, discounted, fully underwritten policy. Finally, the timing argument. In our 2026 audit of placed policies, about 28 percent carry an exclusion or a rating, mental and nervous conditions are the most common exclusion category, and those attach at application based on the record that exists that day. Applying during training, while the record is clean, preserves options permanently. Programs, limits, and discounts are as of the mid-2026 carrier guides and get revised. This video is educational and not individualized advice. Seaworthy Insurance places disability insurance for physicians, dentists, CRNAs, tech workers, and other high-income professionals, with 15+ years placing individual disability coverage. Full written comparison here. https://seaworthy.io/education/best-d... Chapters: 0:00 The short answer 1:07 How much disability insurance can a resident get? 2:49 What are the resident discounts worth? 4:10 Future increase rights, the reason a small policy is worth it 5:59 What about the GSI offer at your hospital? 7:34 The clean-record argument, which beats everything above 9:03 Recap