Emergency room physician Valerie King was not a firm believer in disability insurance. She didn’t think she’d need it…until she did – twice.
When Valerie King decided to become an emergency room physician, she wasn’t convinced that purchasing disability insurance (DI) made sense for her. Valerie was certain that she’d always be able to work. Luckily, her insurance agent convinced her that having disability insurance would be a good idea.
That agent was more right than he knew. Over time, Valerie developed a painful condition known as ulcerative colitis. After several surgeries, it became clear that she could no longer handle the rigors of being in an emergency room. But what was she to do? As a single mother, she had three young daughters to support.
But, luckily Valerie had disability insurance. Because of her DI policy, she was able to financially support herself and her children. “The most important insurance you’ll ever buy is disability insurance,” says Valerie. “Because without your income, nothing else works. All the kids now have a bright future because we had a disability policy.”
Then life took another unexpected turn for Valerie. She met Tim, who was also a divorced parent. When they decided to get married, Valerie urged Tim to also get disability insurance. Because as Valerie herself learned from experience…you never know.
And believe it or not, lightning struck twice. Tim almost died due to the discovery of a previously undiagnosed aneurism in his heart. Though an operation did save his life, he was unable to return to his job at a printing firm.
Again, disability insurance came to the rescue for this extended family to ensure a safe financial future.
“Most people think, ‘It will never happen to me,’” says Valerie. “But the truth is it can – and does. Everything else goes away if you don’t have disability insurance coverage and you can’t work.”
Statistically, 1 in 4 of us WILL, during our working lifetimes, suffer some sort of injury or illness that will cause us to miss over 90 days of work.
To hear more of Valerie’s story, watch this video.
Video is courtesy of Life Happens (www.lifehappens.org).
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