A few years ago, I worked for a company that discriminated against me because of my type 1 diabetes.  They didn’t have a group health insurance plan, and because I am diabetic, it is virtually impossible for me to get health insurance without one — health insurance companies are perfectly within their legal rights to refuse to cover me under an individual plan because of my diabetes.  (I’ll rant more about that another time, but it’s one of the worst ills of the health insurance industry.)  I did ultimately find health insurance, but it cost an arm and a leg, and about four months into it my employer refused to pay the full amount anymore (even though he still did for all of my coworkers).

Anyway, my doctor told me a little bit about when he has his own practice.  He said all that you need in order to get a group health insurance plan is two people.  He had one just for himself and the other doctor who shared his practice, so there was no reason why my employer, who had at least six employees at any one time, couldn’t get a group health insurance plan.

He also said that part of having your own practice — or business, in my boss’s case — is taking care of this kind of stuff.  You also have to provide things like life insurance, and as a doctor you have to think about things like own occupation disability insurance.  Basically, this is a disability insurance policy that pays out full benefits any time you are unable to do your “own occupation,” i.e., your work as a doctor.  However, not all disability insurance companies offer own-occ clauses with their disability insurance for physician, which can mean a lot of tedious shopping around.

To make a long story short, my doctor was appalled that my employer would discriminate against me because of my diabetes, especially because — as he pointed out — there was no reason to.  He could have simply gotten a group plan, and called it good.

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