What Surgeons Pay for Disability Insurance in 2026

A surgeon's disability premium depends on a decision the surgeon never sees, which occupation class each carrier files the specialty under, and the five carriers we place file the same surgical specialty as much as two tiers apart. That is why the gap between the cheapest and the most expensive carrier for a male surgeon ran 35 to 37 percent within general, neuro, and plastic surgery in our 2026 quote study, wider still for ophthalmology, against about 9 percent for a male internist. The study priced these specialties at Guardian, Principal, MassMutual, The Standard, and Ameritas for a male and a female surgeon, and this page sets the prices beside the contract language that decides whether a surgeon who can no longer operate gets paid.

Every premium here is an illustrated standard rate for a healthy, non-smoking 35-year-old in Texas earning $220,000, before underwriting, for $10,000 a month of benefit with a 90-day elimination period, benefits to age 65, a true own-occupation definition, and every optional rider. Underwriting is where a real surgeon's number moves, since about 26 percent of the physician policies we place come out of it with an exclusion or a rating (2026 book audit).

How much does disability insurance cost for a surgeon?

In Seaworthy's 2026 quote study, at $10,000 a month, a 35-year-old male surgeon pays $418 to $573 a month and a female surgeon $587 to $919, across general surgery, orthopedic and hand surgery, neurosurgery, plastic surgery, and OB/GYN, or $4,777 to $6,674 a year for a man when paid annually. Dropping the cost of living adjustment rider takes 9 to 18 percent off a male surgeon's premium and 9 to 20 percent off a female surgeon's, which brings the ranges to $351 to $515 and $512 to $798. The COLA share differs by carrier, so those percentages do not subtract from the range ends. The ranges are published for the five specialties together, and ophthalmology appears only in the specialty comparisons.

Measured monthly premiums from the 2026 illustrations, before any association, multi-life, or employer discount, across general, orthopedic and hand, neuro, and plastic surgery and OB/GYN at the five carriers, each carrier using the occupation class it assigns the specialty in its mid-2026 producer guide. The without-COLA row subtracts the cost of living rider premium itemized on each illustration, the male and female illustrations separately.

Why the same surgeon gets such different prices from each carrier

Because the carriers do not agree on where a surgical specialty belongs. On the male profile, the most expensive carrier charged 35 percent more than the cheapest for a neurosurgeon, and 37 percent more for general and plastic surgeons, all on identical coverage, against about 9 percent for a male internist. On the female profile the spread was 41 percent or more for general, neuro, and plastic surgery and for ophthalmology.

Ophthalmology is the clearest case, with the widest price gap in the study on the male profile, because the carriers file it anywhere from a surgical class to one of their better medical classes. One quote from one carrier shows a surgeon the class that carrier chose and hides the four it did not. The class each carrier assigns each surgical specialty is laid out on our physician occupation class grid. A carrier that priced a colleague well can still price another surgical specialty poorly.

What happens if a surgeon can still work in clinic but can't operate?

Under a true own-occupation definition with specialty language, the policy generally treats the surgical specialty as the occupation, so losing the ability to operate can count as total disability even while the surgeon earns income seeing patients or teaching. All five carriers we place write true own-occupation coverage for surgeons, and the difference is the mechanism each uses to decide that the surgery itself is the job.

Guardian spells out a surgical-income test. For an MD or DO who earned more than 50 percent of income from performing surgical procedures, meaning incision-based procedures regularly performed in the 12 months before disability, Guardian deems the physician totally disabled once they can no longer perform surgery, even while gainfully employed in the practice or elsewhere. MassMutual's Own Occupation Rider takes a records-based approach, treating the specialty that the surgeon's billing codes verify over the 12 months before disability as the occupation. Principal builds professionally recognized specialty language into its contract at no added cost, Ameritas's contract states that a recognized medical specialty is considered the occupation, and The Standard deems a specialty recognized by the ABMS or AOABOS the regular occupation and carries that into its Own Occupation Rider, which is available at every surgical class it uses.

When a surgeon's loss is partial, the residual disability rider is the provision that pays. It replaces income in proportion to the loss once earnings fall at least 15 percent at Guardian, Principal, MassMutual, and Ameritas, and at least 20 percent at The Standard. That is the rider for the surgeon who cuts back a caseload after a hand or spine injury without stopping entirely, and it runs 11 to 17 percent of a surgeon's premium in the study. Contract language here is summarized for education, and the policy wording governs a claim. The definitions themselves are covered in our guide to own-occupation disability insurance.

Which surgeons carry a required mental and nervous limitation?

Orthopedic and hand surgeons and OB/GYNs are the surgical specialties that do. The Standard places orthopedic and hand surgeons and OB/GYNs in its 3P class, where the 24-month mental and nervous limitation is required, and Ameritas requires one for OB/GYNs in every state except Vermont, running 24 months, or 12 months per occurrence on Texas policies. General surgeons, plastic surgeons, neurosurgeons, and ophthalmologists can buy full-benefit-period coverage at all five carriers, whether by default, by election, or by endorsement, everywhere except California, New York, and individual Florida policies. In California, Guardian, Principal, MassMutual, and The Standard limit mental and nervous benefits (have the Ameritas provision quoted for your state), and New York and individual Florida policies add a requirement at one carrier.

The quotes in this study were run the way a surgeon in each specialty would be quoted, so where a carrier requires the limitation, that illustration already carries it along with any discount the carrier gives for it, and where it does not, the illustration carries the full benefit period. Where a surgeon's specialty leaves the choice open, the full period costs more, and it is the version we generally suggest evaluating first, because mental and nervous conditions are the most common reason for an exclusion across the policies we place. The carrier-by-carrier mechanics are in our physician mental health coverage guide.

What women surgeons pay

A female surgeon pays 39 to 76 percent more than a male surgeon in the same specialty at the same carrier, and all five carriers priced that way at the study baseline, which is why the table carries both figures. Across the five surgical specialties that puts a woman at $587 to $919 a month where a man pays $418 to $573. Some multi-life and employer-sponsored arrangements price both sexes on one rate table and remove the difference, so a woman surgeon with access to a hospital or group case should have it quoted beside the individual rates.

How much a surgeon saves by buying during training

Across the five surgical specialties, the same $10,000 of coverage costs a male surgeon $332 to $432 a month at 28, $418 to $573 at 35, and $611 to $878 at 45. Carrier by carrier, the same policy cost 15 to 35 percent more at 35 than at 28 and 45 to 55 percent more at 45 than at 35, so waiting from 28 to 45 raised the premium 77 to 104 percent. The age ladder was quoted on the male profile only, and a woman surgeon can apply the 39 to 76 percent figure above as a rough guide.

For a surgeon the purchase age and the underwriting file move together, and residency is where both are most favorable. A resident buying today locks the rate on the left of the chart and applies with a shorter medical record than the attending will have after years of long cases. What that looks like with the resident discounts applied, including the $1,000-a-month policy some residents buy only to lock in their health, is on our page on what medical residents pay.

What a larger benefit costs a surgeon

Each additional $1,000 of monthly benefit costs a 35-year-old male surgeon $39 to $56 a month, measured between each carrier's own $5,000 and $15,000 illustrations. Across the five surgical specialties the coverage runs $209 to $322 a month at $5,000 of benefit, $418 to $573 at $10,000, and $616 to $842 at $15,000. At every carrier the step from $10,000 to $15,000 cost less than half again the $10,000 premium, so the price per dollar of coverage falls as the benefit grows.

A surgical income can support more than the study's $15,000, since carrier issue and participation charts typically allow about $18,000 a month at $500,000 of income, and at that level the issue limits start to matter as much as the price. The top physician classes at the carriers we place generally issue to $30,000 a month, but Principal caps its 3M and lower physician classes, where it places general, orthopedic, and plastic surgeons, at a $20,000 monthly issue limit. A surgeon sizing coverage above that level is choosing among fewer carriers before price enters into it. Sizing against income is covered in how much disability insurance you need.

Surgeon pricing in California and New York

On the male profile, at the carriers selling the same product in each state, the five surgical specialties quoted $418 to $573 a month in Texas run $442 to $573 in New York and $539 to $716 in California. Carrier by carrier that is 0 to 15 percent above Texas in New York and 12 to 44 percent in California. Two carriers sell a structurally different policy in California and one of them does the same in New York, so their quotes are left out of the state figures, and every California policy carries a mental and nervous limitation.

What a surgeon pays after discounts

Most of the physician policies we place carry an association, multi-life, or employer discount of typically 10 to 20 percent depending on carrier, which at the study's $10,000 configuration is worth roughly $45 to $115 a month to a male surgeon and roughly $70 to $185 a month to a female surgeon, applied carrier by carrier, so those figures do not come from the range endpoints. The hospital-employed surgeons we place often have a multi-life case available through the employer, and the terms of that case, including whether it prices both sexes on one table, can change which carrier comes out cheapest. Our disability insurance discounts directory lists the programs we can apply.

How the study was run

Our team generated the illustrations in August 2026 at each of the five carriers we place, using the occupation class each carrier assigns general surgery, orthopedic and hand surgery, neurosurgery, plastic surgery, OB/GYN, and ophthalmology in its mid-2026 producer guide, with the dollar ranges combining the first five specialties and ophthalmology appearing only in the specialty comparisons. Each carrier quoted a 35-year-old non-smoker in Texas with $220,000 of income, as a man and as a woman, for $10,000 a month with a 90-day elimination period, benefits to age 65, true own-occupation coverage, and every optional rider, with no association, multi-life, or employer discount. The male profile was then re-quoted at 28 and 45, at $5,000 and $15,000 of benefit, and as a California and a New York issue, one change at a time.

Where a carrier requires the mental and nervous limitation for a specialty, the illustration carries it, and where it is optional the illustration carries the full benefit period, so each quote reflects what a surgeon in that specialty would be offered on that point. Several figures are derived from the illustrations rather than printed on them. The without-COLA columns subtract the COLA premium itemized on each illustration, the per-$1,000 cost is each carrier's slope between its $5,000 and $15,000 quotes, the sex, age, and state percentages compare each carrier with itself, and the discount value is the 10 to 20 percent discount at the level our placements most commonly reach, applied carrier by carrier and rounded on purpose. Monthly figures are the carriers' monthly-pay rates, which at four of the five include an installment charge, so the annual figures are not twelve times the monthly ones. The contract comparison is drawn from the carriers' current policy forms and producer guides and summarizes language that the policy itself governs.

A surgeon reading these ranges is looking at filed rates for a hypothetical applicant, and filed rates get refiled, so we intend to repeat the illustrations on a six-to-twelve-month cycle and replace every figure here when we do. The rest of the surgical picture, from procedural own-occupation risks to the injuries that end operative careers, is on our surgeon disability insurance page, and every physician specialty group is priced on what physicians pay. To see where your own specialty lands at all five carriers, request a surgeon quote comparison.