Your health insurance will pay for your medical bills, but what about your other monthly expenses if you are unable to work due to a disability? Long-term disability insurance is designed to replace wages if you are unable to work for an extended period of time due to a disability. Whether you have an ERISA group policy or an individual disability insurance policy, they are designed to protect your income if you are unable to work due to illness, injury, or accident.
Typically, these policies pay about 60% of your income. There’s also usually a built-in elimination or waiting period where the benefits aren’t paid until a certain amount of time after you stop working, usually after you’ve been unable to work for 90 or 180 days. A separate short-term disability insurance policy is usually used to pay disability benefits until long-term disability benefits begin.
You can buy coverage that covers you for as long as you cannot perform the essential duties of your own individual job, and you can buy coverage that covers you for two years, five years, or until retirement age. You should buy as much coverage as you can afford.
Why You Should Consider Long-Term Disability Insurance
The United States Census Bureau has indicated that you have a 1 in 5 chance of becoming disabled before retirement age. In 1997, the Census Bureau released the results of a study showing that more than 152,000,000 people between the ages of 21 and 64 (which is a prime working age for most Americans) have some form of disability. As such, this is a particular area of concern for employees and self-employed individuals who should seriously consider having a long-term disability policy.
A Long-Term Disability Attorney Can Help You Appeal a Denied Disability Claim
If you need help with your claim, contact long-term disability attorney Nick Ortiz. He offers a free case review if your claim has been denied or terminated. Call the Ortiz Law Firm at (888) 321-8131 or contact us online to schedule a free case review.
