Thank goodness we had some insurance.

Keith Livingstone | December 18, 2008 
 
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"Thank goodness we had some insurance (but no trauma cover!)"

Hi, I'm Keith Livingstone and I'm a chiropractor who has practised for twenty years now in Victoria. I'm married to Joanne, and we have five children ranging from newborn to 13 years old. If you're also a chiropractor, you may
know me from my work with the CAA and the ASRF over the years.

I've recently turned 49, and all my adult life I've chosen a healthy lifestyle and diet. I've been checked chiropractically on a weekly or fortnightly basis for many years. I was one of the best distance runners in Australia or New Zealand for 10 years, training about 200 kilometres a week. I won a number of titles and medals over track, cross-country and road, beating some of Australasia's sporting legends on occasion. In the years since, I've done
everything "right". I've been to the gym, kayaked, and cycled. A couple of years ago I covered 311 kilometers on my bike in just over 11 hours of riding in a big charity event, absolutely demolishing some youngsters in their twenties
who made one "old man" remark too many.

In other words, I was a very proud, healthy trout who thought he was "bomb-proof" and would live to 100 in good shape (which I still plan to do!). But here's the clanger: On July 26th last year, I collapsed after work in my
new (heavily financed!) practice. BANG. Just like that. One moment I was writing up a newsletter for the ASRF at my desk, then I heard a very loud "blast" in my head and experienced a "flash" of white that was just like
what you would see if you pulled the power cord out while watching TV. No - I didn't go into a tunnel of white light and meet my granny. Instead, I "came to" on the floor with urine in my trousers and paramedics attending
to me. Apparently they asked me if I could state my children's names, and in my confused state I said: "Children? What children?" Then I was taken to hospital with a brain tumor, and I haven't worked a day since.

Chiropractors need comprehensive personal insurance cover – your financial future is totally dependent on your ability to continue working and investing.

The thing is, apartfrom all the hassles involved with moving home, and establishing a new practice, I HAD NO SYMPTOMS. Never any of the expected headaches, vomiting, memory loss, dizziness, etc, and I really
haven't had any of that stuff since either. The brain is an amazing thing. The MRI shows this little octopus that is definitely still squashing my frontal lobe and 4th ventricle aside - but I can still do everything the same as before.
I do have a ripper of an excuse for any misdemeanor now, which I'm thankful for and intend to apply at the first good opportunity.

The other thing is that I flew through every medical check-up and neurological test when I applied for a large, new personal life cover: we thought this was absolutely essential, with a new practice, a young family and a modest property portfolio to cover. I remember groaning when the insurance agent said I needed another round of blood tests and doctors' visits to satisfy several covers with several insurers.

But I'm awfully glad I did it, or we'd be totally up the creek without a paddle now.

It doesn't bear thinking about - Joanne was pregnant during all this time with our fifth child, and we could've been forced to sell up everything at fire-sale prices to get by. Cash flow is king, and although chiropractic is a wonderful
profession, it's a top-heavy business proposition. We can't just sell adjustments like hamburgers, with teenagers at the helm. As a health practitioner, you ARE your business. You go, your business goes, and life changes. Take it
from me.

Other things don't bear thinking about. I could have collapsed at any time, in any place. Just two nights before, at the same time of night, I was flying steadily at low altitude in my trusty 1996 Jaguar X-300 Sport ("Chester") on the familiar long dark stretches of road between my country practice and Bendigo.

Six days before I collapsed, I drove my whole family and a CA down to Melbourne for the Parker Conference, on major highways and through the city. I was argumentative on the trip and a right royal pain, and in Melbourne at Parker I forgot my debit card pin numbers, and completely forgot a team meeting I was supposed to have attended earlier in the day, as well as several other things.

You'd think an experienced chiropractor would take note of these things and suspect something was up - but no - as a true bloke I kept on going. I thought I was just very tired.

So - why this letter? Apart from wanting to thank our chiropractic family on both sides of the Tasman for the wonderful loving supportwe have received, I want to make sure that YOU ARE INSURED, ACROSS THE BOARD. DO IT NOW, FOR EVERYONE'S SAKE.

Please seek professional advice from a broker (not from a sales agent) and comprehensively cover you and your family with:
• Income protection and business expenses cover
• Critical illness (trauma) cover (I should have had at least $1million of critical illness cover)
• Life and ‘own occupation' total & permanent disablement

I had a small income protection policy and some life cover, but I could have done much better. Wehad switched to a local insurance agent who was renting a room from us several years ago, when our favourite adviser, Dennis Jones, was re-structuring his group. Unfortunately, our local man didn't cover the details to the extent Dennis and his team does. We really didn't understand that we were missing one particular cover that would have been awfully useful. i.e. critical illness or trauma cover.

We simply weren't informed about or offered some of the tailored choices and covers available, and how to economically have a complete spectrum of realistic cover. When Joanne quizzed our agent about business overhead (business expenses) protection, he glibly replied: "That only lasts 12 months and you just get a locum!" (Right!)

Our insurance agent simply didn'tunderstand the comprehensive and specific insurance requirements of a sole health professional in a rural practice wherethe income and financial futureis totally reliant on the DC's ability to practice.

Critical illness or trauma cover would have paid out a very big sum (say $1million) following my diagnosis and that would've helped us enormously as we mop up the mess and sell off property.

These are things to ACT ON NOW. If it can happen to me, it could possibly happen to you.

Since my collapse, I have spoken to several friends and colleagues in my age group who have volunteered in conversation that they're not personally insured and that they "should do something about it." (!!!!???). These are intelligent men with great practices.

One is a health practitioner with a big family! He has let his insurance "lapse". One is an orthopaedic surgeon with a family. One is a very good accountant with a family. It would be fair to say that none of them have looked after themselves to the extent I have, but they were still happy to toss dice. Joanne made absolutely sure that two of them got onto things immediately, and she was personally thanked by their wives on the school "pick-up" line. After my collapse, many of our friends have got themselves insured properly, and so they should.

Unfortunately, I know of two tragic cases where the practitioner has died, and not been insured at all, or totally under-insured. It must be awful for the wives of these men to try and pick up the pieces after the double whammy of grief and loss of income.

Most of us insure our house and contents, and our car. Why don't we insure ourselves? I don't know. Decent insurance cover will cost money but is generally tax deductible and quite frankly you cannot afford to take the risk
of not fully protecting yourself and your family.

So thank you for reading. I hope this makes sense, and that you make sure you're covered across the board.

See you all around the traps, and if you ask me how I am, I guarantee I will ear-bash you about getting yourself insured! So just get yourself insured, save yourself the ear-bashing, and maybe one day you'll thank me for it!

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Keith Livingstone