Physician Disability Insurance Cost: What Doctors Pay in 2026, by Specialty

How much does disability insurance cost for a physician? In the 2026 quote study Seaworthy ran across the five major carriers we place, a 35-year-old male physician pays $345 to $573 a month for $10,000 a month of true own-occupation coverage with the full rider package, and a female physician pays $527 to $919 for the same policy, because each carrier's female rate sits 39 to 76 percent above its male rate. The bottom of each range is an internal medicine, family medicine, or hospitalist class and the top is a general surgery class, because the carrier prices on the occupation class it assigns your specialty. This video walks through the levers that move a physician between those ends, by specialty group. The study is carrier illustrations generated in 2026 across Guardian, Principal, MassMutual, The Standard, and Ameritas at every physician occupation class each carrier uses. The baseline is a 35-year-old non-smoker in Texas earning $220,000, buying $10,000 a month with a 90-day elimination period, benefits to age 65, a true own-occupation definition, and every optional rider, with no discounts, quoted once as a man and once as a woman. The male profile was then re-run at 28 and 45, at $5,000 and $15,000, and as a California and New York issue, one change at a time. All figures are illustrated standard rates on a hypothetical healthy applicant before underwriting, and about 26 percent of the physician policies we place carry an exclusion or a rating per our 2026 book audit. By specialty group on the male profile at age 35 and $10,000 a month, internal medicine, family medicine, and hospitalist classes cost $345 to $374, psychiatry $405 to $471, general surgery $418 to $573, and anesthesiology and emergency medicine $494 to $573 on a mixed basis, since two of those five quotes carry the required mental and nervous limitation and three are class rates run without it. At the same carrier on the male profile, general surgery ran 20 to 53 percent above internal medicine, psychiatry 15 to 26 percent above, and anesthesiology or emergency medicine 41 to 61 percent above. Each extra $1,000 of monthly benefit costs a male physician $33 to $56 a month, with the female figure estimated at $47 to $90. Waiting from 28 to 45 roughly doubles the premium, and the median physician in our book buys at 36. COLA ran 9 to 18 percent of premium, residual 11 to 17 percent, catastrophic 4 to 12 percent, and benefit increase riders priced at zero. On one carrier's grid, a 180-day elimination period cut the annual premium 15 percent against 90 days. Comparable coverage ran 12 to 29 percent above Texas in California and 0 to 15 percent above in New York. Internal medicine, psychiatry, and surgical classes can elect full-period mental health coverage at every carrier we place, and anesthesiology and emergency medicine cannot at any of the five. Association, multi-life, and employer discounts run 10 to 20 percent, roughly $35 to $115 a month for a man and $55 to $185 for a woman at the study configuration. Carrier filed rates change and none of these figures is an offer. This video is educational and not individualized advice. Seaworthy Insurance places disability insurance for physicians, dentists, CRNAs, tech professionals, and other high-income specialists, with 15+ years placing individual disability coverage. Full study with charts by specialty here. https://seaworthy.io/education/physic... Chapters: 0:00 How much does disability insurance cost for a physician? 2:13 Does your specialty change the price? 4:22 How much more women physicians pay 5:23 What each extra $1,000 of monthly benefit costs 7:08 How much more it costs to wait 8:31 What the riders and the elimination period cost 10:46 California, New York, and the mental health limitation 12:40 What a physician pays after discounts 13:28 Recap