The medical market is one of the biggest markets for disability insurance. If you sell disability insurance, there’s a good chance you’re already serving this market—but you may be missing a big segment. The graduate medical education (GME) market is huge, and it’s a great opportunity for experienced disability insurance agents.
The Long Path to Becoming a Doctor
Doctors are responsible for saving people’s lives, so it’s probably a good thing that becoming a doctor takes years of education and training.
First, would-be doctors need to complete their undergraduate studies. Then they need to attend a medical school. But even once they’ve earned their M.D., they’re still not done. They still need to complete a residency program.
According to the AAMC, residency training can take three to seven years to complete. Resident doctors receive a graduate medical education, where they get hands-on training and provide patient care under the supervision of the attending physician.
A Promising Future
Some jobs may start to disappear as technology and society change, but the healthcare industry will continue to flourish. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were 756,800 jobs for physicians and surgeons in 2018, and this figure is supposed to grow at a faster-than-average rate of 7 percent over the next 10 years.
All of these new doctors will need to go through a residency program.
Resident doctors in a graduate medical education program don’t earn as much as doctors who have completed their residency, but they still earn a decent amount. According to Glassdoor, the average annual salary for resident doctors in the U.S. is $62,297.
Resident doctors have also invested a great deal of time and money in their education. If an injury or illness prevents them from working, they might have trouble paying off their medical student loan debt and other bills.
When these resident doctors complete their graduate medical education program, their paychecks will go up, and so will the amount of paycheck protection they need.
Serving the GME Market
Resident doctors can benefit from an individual disability insurance policy that can follow them as their career advances. The right disability insurance agent can help them secure that policy.
This is a rewarding and potentially very lucrative market, but it’s not an entry-level market.
Are you ready to level up? If you’re already serving the physician market, and if you have a relationship with a teaching hospital, the GME market may be a good match for you. Download our new Graduate Medical Education DI Sales Guide to learn more.
