Don’t Become Disabled both Physically and Financially

The inability to work can be a financial nightmare for anyone, especially those who are physically unable to perform their duties.

The importance of insuring your income is now more important than ever, given a struggling economy and increasing medical costs. Protecting you and your loved ones with disability insurance can give you comfort should you be disabled and unable to work for a significant period of time.

How Would You Survive a Disability?

Should sickness or a major injury impact you and your ability to work, how would you get by financially?

Would you have to turn to family members or friends to help you with your daily bills? Do you have a sizable emergency fund built up that it could sustain you until you’re able to return to work?

Should you suffer from a long-term disability longer than three months you should know now and not then how you would survive financially.

Keep in mind there are government disability insurance plans in place that cover subscribers should they become disabled.

Much to the chagrin of many individuals, they simply think that a stop to the nearest Social Security Administration office will solve all their problems. They think that they simply apply for benefits should they become disabled and the money will be there to protect them. In reality, the rules for this are very strict and many times, more than half of the applicants are turned down for disability benefits with their initial application.

For those individuals who believe that workers’ compensation is their savior should they experience a disability, note that workers are only eligible for disability benefits if the disability or injury was a result of employment.

If you are not properly covered in the event of a disability, it is important to see what kind of insurance is offered through your employer and/or contact an agent to look into an individual disability insurance plan. While individual plans can cost more, they can also offer more liberal benefits as compared to group policies.

How to Shop for Disability Insurance

Be sure to take several things into consideration when you shop for disability insurance.

First, one of the things you want to consider is what your benefit period will be. Keep in mind that the longer the time period you choose, the higher the cost will be. The cost of the policy is also dropped by selecting a longer waiting period prior to when benefits can start to be collected.

While everyone’s situation is different, you may opt to add your own occupation coverage which gives you coverage when you are not able to work in your present occupation as well.

Another possibility is adding residual benefits that provide the subscriber with the difference between your pre-disability income and post-disability income once you have become disabled.

When you include and sign a non-charitable contract, you are ensured that your disability insurance premium will not be terminated and your premium will not be increased as long as you continue to make payments. The best advice is to consult with an agent as to what policy best meets your needs.

In order to better understand the ins and outs of disability insurance, note that some of these policies consider beneficiaries disabled and eligible for benefits only if they are shown to be mentally or physically impaired to the point where they are now unable to perform any type of employment.

While some disability policies are shifting from the formerly standard “own-occupation” coverage to “loss-of-earnings” coverage, others are moving from lifetime coverage to coverage until the time of retirement.