Disability Insurance

What You Need To Know

Disability Insurance Coverages

Short-term, long-term and more

If you’re totally disabled due to sickness or injury and can’t work, disability insurance offers coverage that can provide money to help pay your mortgage, rent, car loans, and other monthly expenses. It may also help prevent using your retirement or education savings if you can’t work.

TYPES OF DISABILITY POLICIES

• Short-Term Disability policies (STD) have a waiting period of 0 to 14 days with a maximum benefit period of no longer than two years.
• Long-Term Disability policies (LTD) have a waiting period of several weeks to several months with a maximum benefit period ranging from a few years to the rest of your life.

PROTECTION FEATURES

• Non-cancelable means the policy cannot be canceled by the insurance company, except for nonpayment of premiums. This gives you the right to renew the policy every year without an increase in the premium or a reduction in benefits.
• Guaranteed renewable gives you the right to renew the policy with the same benefits and not have the policy canceled by the company. However, your insurer has the right to increase your premiums as long as it does so for all other policyholders in the same rating class as you.

OPTIONS TO CONSIDER

• Additional purchase options
  Your insurance company gives you the right to buy additional insurance at a later time.
• Coordination of benefits
  The amount of benefits you receive from your insurance company is dependent on other benefits you receive because of your disability. Your policy specifies a target amount you will receive from all the policies combined, so this policy will make up the difference not paid by other policies.
• Cost of living adjustment (COLA) 
  The COLA increases your disability benefits over time based on the increased cost of living measured by the Consumer Price Index. You will pay a higher premium if you select the COLA.
• Residual or partial disability rider  
  This provision allows you to return to work part-time, collect part of your salary and receive a partial disability payment if you are still partially disabled.
• Return of premium
  This provision requires the insurance company to refund part of your premium if no claims are made for a specific period of time declared in the policy.
• Waiver of premium provision
  This clause means that you do not have to pay premiums on the policy after you’re disabled for 90 days.