Doctors are not exactly known for their financial acumen but one aspect they loathe even more than taxationis insurance. This dislike perhaps boils down to the nature of the medical profession. Practising medicine requires rigorous contingency planning on the part of its practitioners. The scope for things to go wrong is huge.
When broken down, there are many components components that keep a medical practice going strong and each of them requires separate attention and care. It can all get overwhelming. Some of the reasons doctors don’t typically appreciate the matters of insurance are:
They are oversold.
Every Tom, Dick, and Harry keeps ringing them about this insurance policy and that. Insurance companies keep coming up with new products and their salesmen get zealous while selling them. Doctors often bear the annoyance of it.
They are overworked.
Doctors work long and stressful hours. Being responsible for somebody’s health is no small task. In many cases it’s a matter of life and death. One would think that in such a scenario covering one’s bases would become an even more desirable thing to do. But that is not how it is. Doctors may be in the middle of all the action but they usually don’t have the time (or patience) to consider an endless number of scenarios that the insurance sellers love to paint.
The types of insurance cover available are confusing
The fast-paced evolution in this field is difficult to keep up with. There’s a policy available for everything these days: life insurance for doctors, income protection for doctors, medical malpractice insurance, pension schemes, surgery insurance, medical insurance, etc. They are all sold as being of the utmost importance to the doctors. It’s not surprising that this overboard selling gets on the nerves of many of them.
The premiums are never-ending.
It’s a universal fact that we love buying things but hate paying the bills. We would not loathe insurance as much as we do if it was not for the premiums that never fail to arrive on time or increase in value. The premiums are a steady deduction from our income for something that may or may not happen (we rather hope it won’t happen). While in theory we understand the importance of planning for the worst, in practice it just leaves a sour taste in our mouth, especially if it comes in the form of losing a set amount of pounds each month.
Reimbursement is a tedious process.
Claiming compensation from an insurance company is not exactly a walk in the park. There is a tedious process involved which requires a lot of paperwork, phone calls, deciphering the insurance jargon, the insurance companies dragging their feet, sometimes even court cases.
Nobody has yet figured out how to get around taking out insurance policies and paying regular premiums. Insurance is a necessary devil of our times. It, however, need not drive you crazy. For the reasons mentioned above and more it is a good idea to consult a professional financial adviser (initial consultations are usually free) to be pointed in the right direction. Going it alone is genuinely difficult for those who work long hours, have a busy practice to look after, and are in a job that requires a lot of care and consideration.