Residents and fellows occupy a strange position in disability insurance: the lowest income of a medical career, and the best buying window of one. Every major carrier knows it, which is why all five run dedicated resident programs that waive the income documentation the rest of the market requires, disregard the group coverage your hospital provides, and attach discounts that persist for the life of the policy. What the carriers do not publish anywhere convenient is how those programs compare. This page does.

Everything below is compiled from the five carriers' current producer guides as of the mid-2026 editions, with the usual caveat: programs and limits are revised periodically, and a current quote is the only reliable read.

Is one carrier best for residents?

Not universally, and for residents the honest comparison is between programs rather than a single ranking. All five majors write residents on true own-occupation contracts with no income documentation, so the separating variables are the published benefit limits at each training stage, the size and mechanics of the future increase rights, the discount programs, the exam requirements, and the application windows. Different residents genuinely land best at different carriers: a psychiatry resident, an orthopedic surgery resident, and a fellow six months from an attending contract are three different cases. The comparison below shows why.

Benefit limits by training stage

Monthly benefit limits by training stage across Guardian, Principal, MassMutual, Ameritas, and The Standard resident programs
Training stageGuardianPrincipalMassMutualAmeritasThe Standard
Residency years$5,000$5,000$7,500$7,500$5,000
Final year / fellows$7,500$7,500$7,500$7,500$8,000
New in practice (first 2 yrs)$7,500$7,500$8,000$8,500$8,000
Medical students (M3/M4)Program-based$2,500$2,500$1,500-$2,500$2,500

Sources: the five carriers' producer and underwriting guides, mid-2026 editions. Program limits are underwriting rules, not guarantees, and health underwriting applies everywhere.

The five resident programs, side by side

Limits are only the opening line. The mechanics below, increase rights, discounts, exam waivers, and application windows, decide which program actually fits a given resident.

Guardian

Future increase rights
Pool to $22,500; residents get a 3x multiple where the standard is 2x
Resident discount
10%, available through 180 days post-graduation
Exams / labs
Standard requirements
Group LTD & timing
Hospital group coverage disregarded; apply from 12 months pre-graduation to 24 months post

Principal

Future increase rights
Maximize Your Benefit rider: full-limit increases in the first 3 policy years, no labs
Resident discount
20% multi-life, applied in the graduation year
Exams / labs
No labs in the resident program
Group LTD & timing
Disregarded for trainees and the first 2 years in practice; a signed contract is usable 6 months pre-start

MassMutual

Future increase rights
FIO pool of 3x base coverage, exercisable annually through age 60
Resident discount
Commonly up to 20%, program-dependent
Exams / labs
Express path: no financial documentation to $10,000/mo; residents qualify to age 40
Group LTD & timing
Disregarded in the first-2-years window; a signed contract is usable 180 days pre-start

Ameritas

Future increase rights
Pool to $22,500, plus up to two accelerated increases in the first 3 policy years
Resident discount
15% with no minimum group size; teaching-hospital attendings also eligible
Exams / labs
No mini-exam within 180 days of completion (to age 45); none at any amount with a signed contract
Group LTD & timing
Disregarded under residency limits; exam waivers run 180 days either side of completion

The Standard

Future increase rights
75% purchase rule waived: a $1,000/mo policy keeps full increase rights, with an accelerated increase within 12 months post-training
Resident discount
15%, with program acceptance through 180 days post-training
Exams / labs
No blood work, urinalysis, or exams at any amount, ages 18-50
Group LTD & timing
Not counted for new-in-practice physicians; apply up to 6 months pre-graduation with a signed contract

Where each program stands out

The Standard and MassMutual publish the strongest raw limits. The Standard's $8,000 for final-year residents, fellows, and new-in-practice physicians is the highest training-stage figure among the five, and its no-exam rule (nothing at any benefit amount through age 50) removes the last practical friction. MassMutual matches at $7,500 through the residency years, earlier in training than most, with an Express path that skips financial documentation entirely up to $10,000 a month.

Guardian's 3x increase multiple is the sleeper feature. Most carriers cap a resident's future increase pool around twice the base coverage; Guardian explicitly allows residents and fellows three times, to $22,500. A resident who buys $5,000 during training can carry rights to $15,000 or more of additional coverage into an attending contract with no new medical underwriting. For specialties with steep attending incomes, that multiple is worth more than any discount on the page.

Ameritas built the most forgiving mechanics. Its 15 percent discount requires no minimum group size, so a single resident qualifies without their program being enrolled, and eligibility extends to attending staff physicians at medical teaching hospitals, a group every other carrier's resident discount excludes. Pair that with the signed-contract rule (no exam at any benefit amount) and two accelerated increases in the first three policy years, and it is the program that best fits irregular career paths.

Principal's program has a quirk worth knowing: psychiatry residents are carved out at a slightly lower limit ($6,500 for early-practice psychiatrists versus $7,500 for other physicians). Its 20 percent resident discount is the largest published resident discount among the five, but it applies through multi-life arrangements in the graduation year and is gender-specific in pricing, which cuts differently for different applicants. The Maximize Your Benefit rider is genuinely strong: for its first three years it allows increases to full financial limits with no labs at all.

The Standard's $1,000 minimum is the lowest commitment that preserves the full option. Its usual rule requires buying 75 percent of what you qualify for to keep increase rights; for residents it waives that, so even a minimal policy locks the door open. A resident who genuinely cannot budget more than a small premium can still secure the insurability that matters.

The two facts that matter more than any program detail

First: what you are really buying in residency is your health record, frozen. About 28 percent of the policies in our placed book carry an exclusion or a rating per our 2026 audit, and mental and nervous conditions are the most common exclusion category. Those attach at application, based on what is in the record at that moment, and they generally persist for the life of the policy. Residency is precisely when charts accumulate: burnout treatment, a therapy course, a back injury from call nights. Every one of those, once documented, follows you into every future application. The resident who applies in year two with a clean chart keeps options the attending applying at 34 no longer has. See the full case for timing on our residents and fellows page.

Second: residents declaring high-risk specialties inherit those specialties' rules. A resident who has declared anesthesiology, emergency medicine, or pain management is placed in that specialty's occupation class and picks up its mandatory 24-month mental and nervous limitation at most carriers, exactly as an attending in that specialty would. Undeclared residents are typically classed at a middle physician tier until the specialty is declared. How carriers class each specialty, and how differently, is mapped on our occupation classes by carrier page.

How to use this comparison

Treat the table as a map of which conversations to have, not as the decision itself. The program limits converge within a couple of thousand dollars, and for most residents the deciding variables are the same ones that decide any physician placement: the own-occupation contract language, the occupation class your declared specialty lands in, your health record, and price across all five. A quote comparison run across the five majors resolves it against your actual situation, and because every carrier's resident pricing carries into practice, the choice made in training is usually the contract you keep for a career. The broader physician picture, from specialty recognition to benefit sizing, lives in the physician coverage hub.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much disability insurance can a medical resident get?
As of the mid-2026 carrier guides, the dedicated resident programs publish limits of roughly $5,000 a month during the residency years at Guardian and Principal, $7,500 at MassMutual and Ameritas, and $5,000 rising to $8,000 in the final year at The Standard. Fellows and physicians in their first two years of practice can generally access $7,500 to $8,500. No income documentation is required under these programs, and third- and fourth-year medical students can typically buy $1,500 to $2,500 a month. Limits are program rules, not guarantees; health underwriting still applies.
Does my residency program's group disability coverage reduce what I can buy?
Generally no, and this is one of the most useful features of the resident programs. All five major carriers disregard group long-term disability coverage when writing residents under their training-program limits, and several extend that treatment through the first two years of practice. That means the GME plan your hospital provides does not shrink your individual benefit during the window when the programs apply. Outside those programs, group coverage does offset individual limits, which is one more reason the training window is worth using.
Do residents need income documentation or medical exams to apply?
Income documentation: no, at any of the five majors under their resident programs. Medical exams increasingly no as well: The Standard requires no blood work, urinalysis, or exams at any benefit amount for applicants 18 to 50; Ameritas waives its mini-exam for physicians within 180 days of residency completion and, with a signed employment contract, at any benefit amount; Principal's medical resident program runs without labs; and MassMutual's Express underwriting path covers residents up to age 40 with no financial documentation up to $10,000 a month. Health questions still apply everywhere, and what is on your medical record still drives the offer.
What resident discounts exist, and do they last?
As of 2026: Guardian offers a 10 percent student and resident discount through 180 days after graduation. Principal runs a 20 percent resident multi-life discount for those applying in their graduation year. MassMutual's resident and student group programs commonly reach 20 percent depending on program size and state. Ameritas offers 15 percent with no minimum group size, and extends eligibility to attending staff physicians at medical teaching hospitals. The Standard's 15 percent residency discount runs from program acceptance until 180 days after training ends. These discounts generally attach to the policy permanently once issued, which is part of why buying during training prices well for the life of the contract.
Can I increase my coverage when I finish training without new medical underwriting?
Yes, through future increase provisions, and this is where the resident programs earn their keep. Guardian lets residents and fellows carry a future increase pool of up to three times their base coverage, to $22,500. Ameritas pairs its $22,500 increase pool with up to two accelerated increases in the first three policy years. Principal's Maximize Your Benefit rider allows increases to full financial limits in its first three years with no labs. The Standard waives its usual purchase minimum for residents, so a policy as small as $1,000 a month keeps full increase rights, and offers an accelerated increase within 12 months after training. Increases are financially underwritten only: your attending income drives the new amount, and your health is not re-examined.
When exactly should a resident apply?
The windows are wider than most residents assume: you can generally apply up to 6 to 12 months before finishing training (with a signed employment contract, several carriers underwrite to the new attending salary), and the training-program pricing extends 180 days to as much as 24 months after graduation depending on carrier. The better answer, though, is before anything lands on your medical record. About 28 percent of policies in our placed book carry an exclusion or rating per our 2026 audit, those attach at application and generally persist, and mental and nervous conditions, the most common exclusion category, are exactly what residency tends to put on a chart. The clean-record window closes without notice; the discount windows are the smaller prize.