InsuranceThought — Blogs About Insurance

The odds of sustaining a personal injury severe enough to prevent you from working are astounding – thirty percent of individuals between the ages of 35 and 65 will be disabled enough to prevent them from working for an average of 90 days.

When you’re facing these kinds of odds, you want to be sure you are protected; you may be anxious to begin finding ways to be prepared for a possible injury that disables you severely enough to keep you from working, but first let’s take a look at the protection you may already have in place:

Social Security

Social Security provides both disability and retirement income; however, qualifying for social security disability is pretty difficult and often requires the assistance of an attorney to win access to the funds you may be entitled to. Because of the level of difficulty involved in qualifying for social security disability benefits is so high, it isn’t the best idea to count on it as your only protection should you be too ill or injured to work.

Workers Compensation

Employers, as required by law, must provide workers compensation to employees. Remember, though, that this type of disability insurance will only pay if you are disabled due to a job-related accident or illness. These payments are often quite low and only paid for a short period of time. Given these limitations, workers comp is also a form of disability insurance you shouldn’t count on to cover all your expenses should you be rendered unable to work.

Individual Disability Policies

If you want to fully protect yourself and your family should you become disabled, an individual policy is the safest and most comprehensive way to do it. These types of policies vary widely, so keep several variables in mind. Of course, you’ll want to be sure you find a policy that will provide the highest monthly payments for which you would qualify.

You also need to consider to what degree you want to be covered. Two of the options you will find are “own occupation” and “any occupation.” A policy that covers you “own occupation” is guaranteed for life and will allow you to work part-time in another field while you are collecting disability payments for not being able to conduct work in your chosen field. “Any occupation” coverage will only be effective if you are unable to any type of work; this is not as good a coverage, obviously, but will be somewhat less expensive.

Another important variable is the period of time between being injured or ill and the time it will begin payment. Policies that require longer waiting periods are more cost effective in the long run, assuming you don’t become ill or injured during this period of time.

Lastly, consider the length of the benefit period. You’ll want to choose the longest benefit period you can afford that the insurance company offers. This is the most important variable; it should be considered first when selecting a disability insurance policy.

Disability Insurance Companies

Once you’ve considered the variables, utilize your decisions to search for an insurance company that offers disability insurance. Do research on the companies’ financial stability to ensure the likelihood of them paying a claim should you need to file one. Additionally, you should find a company that offers a non-cancelable contract guaranteeing your rates and benefits without having to negotiate a renewable policy.