Disability Income Insurance
A serious illness or injury can harm more than your health-it can have an impact on your ability to work and meet your family's living expenses. Long-term disability income insurance helps you pay living expenses while you are unable to work.
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| Long Term Disability Insurance
It offers paycheck protectionproviding cash directly to you for spending on mortgage payments or rent, groceries, utility bills, car payments, or whatever else you choose. A policy also can pay for training or other assistance you may need to return to work.
With disability income insurance, you can avoid depleting the savings you may have accumulated for your children's education or your retirement.
Before purchasing an individual long-term disability income insurance policy, evaluate the benefits you may already be eligible to receive from your employer, the government, or other programs.
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Employee Benefits
Disability benefits from your employer may include workers' compensation insurance for work-related injuries. For short-term illness, your employer may provide sick leave, shortterm disability insurance, or both. For a longer illness, lasting six months or more, your employer may provide group long-term disability income insurance.
Sick leave and short-term disability coverage from your employer can range from a few days to as much as a year, depending on your company's benefits and your length of employment.
Group long-term disability coverage through employers replaces part of your salary if you are disabled and unable to work. A typical policy replaces at least half of your salary up to a specific maximum benefit, such as $5,000 per month. Long-term benefits begin when short-term disability benefits stop. Benefits from group long-term disability policies generally continue until either age 65 or your retirement age under Social Security, or until you are able to return to work. In some policies, benefits may also be available for a period of time after you return to work.
Social Security Benefits
Social Security provides long-term disability benefits based on your salary and the number of years you have worked and contributed to the Social Security system. However, Social Security replaces only a limited portion of your salary, and the qualifications to receive benefits are very strict. To be eligible for Social Security disability benefits, all of these conditions must be met:
- You have been disabled for five full calendar months.
- Your disability is expected to last at least 12 months or end in death.
- You are unable to be gainfully employed at any occupation, not just your occupation at the time your disability began.
Other Resources
Other programs besides Social Security aid those who have become disabled. You may qualify for:
- Workers' compensation for work-related injuries or illnesses, required in all states.
- Special disability programs for veterans injured in war, federal and state government workers, railroad employees, or miners who develop black lung disease.
- State vocational rehabilitation programs.
- Automobile insurance benefits for a disability resulting from an auto accident.
- Temporary disability programs available in California, New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico.
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