In the day-to-day activities of practicing their profession, health care workers and doctors are inevitably exposed to a multitude of health risks. The inherent health hazards of their occupation were recently highlighted when an individual diagnosed with Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), a disease that causes coughing, fever, and may result in fatal pneumonia, was admitted to Dr. P. Phillips Hospital in Orlando, Florida.
The patient was a health worker who had spent some time in Saudi Arabia, where MERS is more prevalent. Several days later, two Florida medical professionals who had come in contact with the patient during his treatment at the hospital started developing symptoms of the disease, too.
Fortunately, neither tested positive for MERS, but the incident did raise concern over the higher occupational risk of infection and sickness for medical professionals because of their increased exposure. A Huffington Post article voiced similar concerns regarding the incident:
“The Orlando patient’s case highlights concerns over how to prevent the spread of infection, particularly among healthcare workers who are vulnerable due to their close contact with the sick.”
Physicians and health care workers continuous exposure to health risks in the medical environment underscores how important it is that medical professionals buy disability insurance coverage. While MERS is rare in the U.S., other infectious diseases and work-related accidents are more prevalent, making disability income protection plans even more critical for clients in health care occupations.
Financial professionals and insurance brokers play an important role in helping doctors and other medical professionals protect their income in the event they become too sick or injured to work for a period of time. By pointing out the risk and providing disability insurance plans designed specifically for medical professionals, insurance brokers can insure their clients’ continue to have an income, despite being too sick or injured to work.
Additionally, disability insurance allows physicians to protect the sizable investment they put into becoming professionals in their field. Doctors often undergo many years of training before they even begin to practice their profession. After becoming medical doctors, many physicians choose to commit to additional years of training in a medical specialty. Having disability insurance brings security: doctors and healthcare professionals can rest assured that the investment they made in education to reach this point in their careers won’t ever go to waste.
Source Brokerage, Inc, can help insurance brokers obtain the best plans and lowest premiums on individual disability insurance for doctors. Additionally, with their years of experience in the disability income marketplace, brokers can rest assured that they will have access to a wide range of carriers and disability insurance products to serve the disability income needs of their physician health care clients.
(Source: 2 Florida Health Workers Ill After Exposure To MERS Patient, HuffPost Healthy Living, May 13, 2014)
