Top carriers for Family Physicians
All five carriers below can be written as true own-occupation for most professions. Guardian and Ameritas build it into the base definition, MassMutual and Principal deliver it through their own-occupation rider or definition, and at The Standard it comes through a rider whose availability depends on your occupation class. Your optimal carrier depends on your specific specialty, income structure, and state. We compare all five side-by-side in every analysis.
| Carrier | Product | AM Best rating | Contract strength |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Provider Choice | A++ (Superior) | Strongest contract; best default mental-health |
 | Platinum Advantage | A (Excellent) | Contract clarity |
 | Income Protector | A+ (Superior) | Most flexible underwriting; deep rider menu |
 | Radius Choice | A++ (Superior) | Mutual-company dividends; billing-code own-occ |
 | DInamic Cornerstone | A (Excellent) | Competitive pricing; highest BOE limit |
Provider Choice
- AM Best
- A++ (Superior)
- Strength
- Strongest contract; best default mental-health
Radius Choice
- AM Best
- A++ (Superior)
- Strength
- Mutual-company dividends; billing-code own-occ
Income Protector
- AM Best
- A+ (Superior)
- Strength
- Most flexible underwriting; deep rider menu
Platinum Advantage
- AM Best
- A (Excellent)
- Strength
- Contract clarity
DInamic Cornerstone
- AM Best
- A (Excellent)
- Strength
- Competitive pricing; highest BOE limit
Get a comparison of all five carriers tailored to your specialty
Get a Quote ComparisonHow do carriers classify family physicians?
Favorably, everywhere we place coverage. The mid-2026 producer guides put family practice at 5M with Guardian, 5P/1 with MassMutual, 6M with Ameritas, 5M with Principal, and 5P with The Standard. Guardian's placement is an upgrade, since family practice and internal medicine both moved up from 4M between its 2022 and 2025 guide editions, and MassMutual's 5P/1 is the best physician pricing tier it has. Premium follows class, which puts a family physician close to the cheapest per-dollar rate any of these carriers charges a doctor. Our occupation class grid maps the rest of medicine against the same five carriers.
A lower income ceiling than surgery does not make the income small. Family medicine physicians earned a median of $244,180 in May 2025, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data, and twenty-five years at that pay is roughly $6.1 million of earnings. The lower pay mainly changes how much benefit a carrier will issue, covered in the sizing section below. Family physicians are one of the specialties Seaworthy places most often.
What does disability insurance cost a family physician?
The numbers below are Seaworthy's 2026 quote study priced at the five family medicine classes just listed. Every figure carries true own-occupation, a residual (partial) disability rider, the carriers' increase riders, and benefits to age 65.
| Profile | Monthly benefit | 180-day wait | 180-day wait + inflation protection | 90-day wait + inflation protection |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Male, 30 | $10,000 | $185–$220 | $225–$270 | $265–$320 |
| Female, 30 | $10,000 | $310–$345 | $355–$420 | $415–$495 |
| Male, 35 | $10,000 | $220–$260 | $265–$300 | $310–$350 |
| Female, 35 | $10,000 | $370–$415 | $425–$485 | $500–$570 |
| Male, 45 | $10,000 | $330–$415 | $385–$460 | $450–$540 |
| Female, 45 | $10,000 | $560–$650 | $625–$715 | $735–$840 |
Lowest to highest carrier, monthly, 2026 list price, Texas basis. Figures include residual coverage, the no-cost increase riders, and the own-occupation rider at carriers that sell one separately. They exclude the catastrophic disability rider, and inflation protection appears only where a column says so.
Picture a male family physician of 35 who wants $10,000 a month. With a 180-day wait the carriers charge him $220 to $260. Adding inflation protection and dropping to a 90-day wait moves him to $310 to $350. A female colleague, also 35, is quoted $370 to $415 for the 180-day version. If he waits ten years to apply, that same 180-day policy costs $330 to $415.
Seaworthy ran each carrier's illustrations in August 2026 for applicants aged 28, 35, and 45, at $5,000, $10,000, and $15,000 of monthly benefit. We estimated the age-30 rows between those runs, built the women's rows from each carrier's own measured female-to-male ratio, and set the 180-day column at 85% of the 90-day illustration. Every price assumes the full mental health benefit period, the election family medicine is allowed to make, and a carrier that prices the 24-month limitation will generally charge less if you take it. Our breakdown of what physicians pay for disability insurance sets family medicine against the other specialties, and the disability insurance cost guide covers the pricing factors that apply to any occupation.
How much disability coverage can a family physician buy?
Income decides it. Carriers publish issue and participation limits keyed to earnings, and the individual-pay ladders at the five carriers we place sit close together, near $13,000 to $13,700 a month at $300,000 of income and about $18,000 at $500,000. Most physician classes can go as high as $30,000 a month, but a family physician at typical pay reaches the income limit long before the class cap. That makes the paperwork the lever. Put base pay, productivity bonuses, and any ownership distributions in the file. A benefit-increase feature adds coverage as pay rises without new medical underwriting, useful in the first attending years while income is still climbing away from resident pay, and the benefit sizing guide shows how the limits work.
An employer's group LTD plan usually leaves gaps a family physician should see before relying on it. Monthly benefits are commonly capped at $10,000 to $15,000, the formula typically counts base salary only, and own-occupation protection commonly ends about 24 months into a claim. Benefits are generally taxable when the employer pays the premium, though the tax result depends on how premiums are paid, so a tax professional should confirm it. Our group vs individual guide lays the two side by side.
Can a part-time or locum family physician get individual coverage?
Yes, though carrier choice matters more than usual. Most of the five carriers we place want 30 or more hours a week. Principal accepts physicians working 20 to 29 hours if they earn at least $40,000, in every state. Guardian handles contract income well. A first-year 1099 contract goes in at a 50% expense ratio, which an underwriter can lower to 25%, and locum contracts of six months or longer get the same rule. Guardian also commonly credits a physician recruitment agreement at up to 60% of the contract amount. Short locum stints are harder, and generally need a year of full-time history plus steady documented income.
So a family physician on a nonstandard schedule still has options, just fewer of them, and a five-carrier comparison is how you find the ones that fit. The locum tenens guide walks through the documents underwriters ask for.
What should a family practice owner add?
Business overhead expense coverage, because a family physician who owns the practice carries two distinct financial exposures, personal income and the fixed costs of an office that keeps costing money while its physician cannot work. The personal policy answers the first. Business overhead expense coverage answers the second, reimbursing rent, staff salaries, and operating costs during a disability so the practice survives to be returned to or sold rather than collapsing into the lease.
The physician-market BOE programs are substantial. Ameritas writes physician BOE to a $100,000 monthly maximum on a 12-month benefit period, and includes a substitute-salary benefit. Outside California its electronic application has no medical requirements at any benefit amount for ages 18 to 50, and in California a simplified application runs to $25,000 a month with no mini-exam for the same ages. An employed family physician can skip this section entirely. An owner should read the business overhead expense guide before assuming the personal policy covers the practice.
Can a family physician get full-benefit-period mental health coverage?
Yes, outside California. No carrier puts family medicine in the group that must accept a 24-month mental and nervous cap. Anesthesiology, emergency medicine, and CRNAs make up that group at every carrier, and some carriers add pain management and a handful of other occupations. For a family physician the full benefit period is available at Guardian by electing up to unlimited coverage, at Principal by declining its limitation rider where the rider is optional, at MassMutual through an endorsement costing about 14% more premium outside California, and at Ameritas and The Standard by election, where accepting the cap earns about a 10% discount instead. California is the exception. Guardian, Principal, MassMutual, and The Standard put the limitation on every California policy, and Principal also puts it on every New York policy and every single-life Florida policy.
The election carries weight in primary care. The AMA's 2025 data show 41.9% of physicians with at least one burnout symptom, an improvement on 48.2% in 2023 and 43.2% in 2024 (AMA report). Family medicine adds patients of every age, every organ system, and a heavy charting load, and our 2026 audit traced about 40% of the physician exclusions in our placed book to mental and nervous conditions. The residual rider belongs on the same policy, because a family physician's claim can start with a trimmed schedule long before practice stops, and residual pays on lost income alone.
When should a family physician apply?
In residency if possible, and without delay after it. Our 2026 audit found an exclusion or a rating on about 26% of the physician policies Seaworthy has placed, and the median physician in that book was 36 when the policy issued. Underwriting reads the medical record as it stands on the application date, so each year adds history it can price. Residents get the best terms, with no-income-documentation programs and resident discounts across the carriers. After that, compare all five carriers against your real schedule, income mix, and ownership stake, the three facts that change a family physician's answer most.