Legal considerations for protecting the physician's assets.

Most states require that as a consideration of obtaining and maintaining a medical license, all applicants must demonstrate "financial responsibility." Usually this includes: (1) establishing an escrow account of cash and/or readily marketable securities; (2) an irrevocable, non-transferable letter of credit; or (3) in most cases, medical malpractice insurance coverage. In recent years, some states have passed legislation that provides that under certain circumstances, a physician may qualify to forego any of the financial requirements, commonly referred to as "going bare." In this regard, much of the impetus for the recently enacted Obama healthcare plan was the rising cost of healthcare in the United States arising from the extensive, and, to some, unnecessary and extraneous testing and retesting to confirm medical diagnosis and treatment-for the patient's benefit but, as importantly, to forestall a potential medical malpractice claim. As the political challenge to what is commonly referred to as "Obamacare" proceeds, and in the absence of any legislative support for "tort reform" and limitations on frivolous malpractice claims, it is abundantly clear that an integral part of any professional's "estate planning" should include and incorporate the asset protection and exempt property statutes available under the laws of the jurisdiction where the physician resides.