Skip to content Accessibility info

Rathbun Insurance Blog

All You Ever Wanted to Know About Insurance

Community Highlight - Life as a Zebra

Striving to be a strong community partner, we partner with a different community organization each month through our Quotes for a Cause program. Our agency donates $5 per new business quote, regardless of whether or not the policy is actually purchased! We would like to expand their reach and give each month's organization some space to share their story!

In medical school, students are taught to diagnose patients based on the condition that’s most likely. This idea goes along with the saying, “When you hear hoof beats, think horses, not zebras.” The “horses” are the likely diagnoses, while the “zebras” are less likely. A medical zebra, then, is a person with a difficult to diagnose, often invisible, medical condition. Life as a Zebra works to education, spread awareness , advocate and support those with invisible illnesses.

Nearly 50% of Americans have a chronic health condition. Of these, 96% of people have a condition that is "invisible," meaning they do not have visible signs or symptoms, or use an assistive device. As medical schools provide little education and training on diagnosing and treating chronic, invisible illnesses, Life as a Zebra works to provide that assistance. Of the millions of studies funded by the National Institute of Health, only a small percentage of them focus on rare, invisible illnesses.

Please help us this month in supporting Life as a Zebra as this month's Quotes for a Cause partner!