What your billable hour cannot cover.
Health insurance pays the hospital. It does not pay the firm's overhead while a partner is recovering from a stroke, the bar dues that come due during a long hospitalization, or the office lease that does not pause for chemotherapy. Supplemental coverage closes that gap with cash benefits paid directly to you. For solo practitioners and small-firm partners — counsel without an employer-sponsored disability program — these policies are usually the most consequential coverage we file outside the primary medical plan.
The four coverages we evaluate.
Critical illness — lump sum on diagnosis
A one-time cash benefit, typically $10,000 to $100,000, on first diagnosis of a covered condition: heart attack, stroke, cancer, organ failure, paralysis, major neurological events. The benefit is yours to deploy as you see fit — to fund a deductible, hire interim coverage for your practice, retain a contract attorney to keep matters moving, or pay personal expenses while you recover. Indicative premium for a $25,000 benefit on a healthy attorney in their forties: $24 to $42 per month.
Accident — scheduled benefits, no deductible
Pays a structured schedule of cash benefits for injuries sustained in covered accidents — emergency-room visits, fractures, dislocations, concussions, burns, ambulance transport, follow-on physical therapy. Pays in addition to whatever the primary medical plan pays. Particularly relevant for attorneys with active families, weekend athletes, and the surprisingly common bar-association ski trip. Indicative premium: $14 to $32 per month.
Hospital indemnity — daily cash for admissions
A fixed daily benefit for each day of inpatient admission, with an enhanced benefit for ICU stays. Designed primarily to soften the deductible-and-coinsurance cliff for households on HSA-compatible high-deductible plans. Indicative premium: $26 to $58 per month.
Short-term disability — income replacement
Replaces sixty to seventy percent of your earned income for three to twenty-four months while illness or injury prevents you from practicing. For solo practitioners with no employer-sponsored disability program, this is often the single most consequential coverage in the entire portfolio. We separately recommend evaluating own-occupation long-term disability through a specialty broker; we coordinate the introduction.
Who should carry supplemental coverage.
- Solo practitioners with no employer-sponsored disability protection
- Of-counsel attorneys whose engagement letters exclude them from firm benefits
- Counsel on HSA-compatible plans with deductibles above $3,000
- Single-earner households where one attorney's income supports the family
- Practitioners with a personal or family history of cancer, heart disease, or stroke
- Anyone whose practice could not sustain three months of overhead without their personal billable contribution
Who does not need most of it.
Counsel with a comprehensive group plan carrying a low deductible, employer-paid long-term disability, and six months or more of liquid reserves often have less to gain from supplemental layers — directing the premium dollars into the HSA or a brokerage account may serve them better. We will tell you when this is the case.
A representative monthly portfolio.
What a typical Counsel Health client in their forties carries alongside an HSA-compatible primary plan:
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