Insurance County

What is disability insurance? The word “disability” refers to someone who does not have an ability to do something. If a person is speech disabled, he or she has difficulty speaking. If a person has a physical disability, that person has a limb injury (arms, legs, hands, feet, etc.), a body part that cannot operate normally. A person could have chronic arthritis or a crippling disease that prevents him or her from writing a letter or signing a check. A person could have a limp in his or her leg that requires the use of a walking cane in a grocery store or public setting. Simply put, disability insurance is a medical policy granted to someone who has a physical limitation in mind, body, or both.  Disability allows someone who cannot work long hours at his or her place of business to have a length of time (whether definite or indefinite) away from his or her job and still receive a monthly income to cover the cost of living expenses.

Disability insurance comes in two types: short term disability insurance and long term disability insurance. Short term disability is a medical policy that provides a monthly check for someone who needs a few weeks or months to recover from an accident or other physical injury. A professor who twisted his or her ankle accidentally may need a few weeks to ice the ankle, lounge around the house, and allow the swollen ankle to subside before resuming teaching duties. A high school gym teacher who sprained a back muscle while stretching during his or her morning stretches with a class of students may need a few weeks to rest the back and take painkillers and muscle relaxants before returning to fitness instruction. These are but two examples of individuals in situations that sustain small injuries (sprains, swollen limbs, etc.) that only require a small amount of time out of work—a few weeks, at best. The policy not only ensures that an individual receives the medical care he or she needs, but also protects up to 66.6% (two-thirds) of a person’s income for a duration of sixty to ninety days.

Despite the variety of disability plans, short term disability insurance can be broken down into three major types: individual short term disability insurance, group short term disability, and voluntary short term disability. Individual short term disability is a form of financial help for individuals who have a physical handicap in a limb or face the daily challenges of a mental handicap. This form of disability insurance is for a definite period of time (weeks or a few months) and is selected by an individual based upon personal factors such as income, necessary recovery time, policy benefits, geographic location, income and ability to pay, and others. Individuals often select these types of policies when they do not have employee disability policies in the workplace (such as Workers’ Compensation) or they do not like the policy benefits and regulations their workplace offers. Group short term disability policies are paid for by employers, who provide medical care and financial well-being for their own employees. Voluntary short term disability allows the employee to continue his or her short term benefits, even if the individual leaves his or her company due to unemployment, sickness, or a simple desire to find a suitable job.

A short term disability insurance policy may last for six months; however, at the end of six months, individuals on short term disability will start to lose a portion of their monthly income as well as needed money for medical expenses. At this point, you will need a long term disability insurance policy. A long term disability policy exists to protect a patient from losing medical coverage and monthly income when a short term policy is exhausted financially. Long term policies are necessary for patients because injuries and physical limitations can often necessitate long, recovery processes. A person cannot always pinpoint with accuracy the time he or she will return to work.

There are two major types of long term disability: Group long term disability and individual long term disability insurance. Individual long term disability insurance allows specific persons who purchase this policy to retain their same income and medical care even after being out of work or unemployed for up to six months. Group long term disability policies come in three forms: 1) employer pay options, 2) employee pay options, and 3) employer-employee, co-pay options. Employer pay options allow business owners to cover their employees’ insurance policies. This type of policy allows employers to decide whether or not an employee should be covered. Existing medical conditions (such as a heart murmur or a pacemaker, for examples) may disqualify a person from an employer’s insurance policy. Employee pay options allow an employee of a company to cover his or her own company policy out of his or her monthly income. Companies usually remove the price of monthly insurance from an employee’s income each month. Co-pay options feature employers and employees covering half of the policy price. Employers cover fifty percent of an employee’s policy, leaving the employee to cover the other half of his or her monthly insurance plan.

To find out how much a month you could pay for your disability insurance, you will need to research disability insurance quotes. Insurance quotes ask you personal information such as your age, medical condition, medical history, employment (self-employed or not), and so on. Then, a computer application takes the personal information, processes it, and provides an on-screen insurance price that is typical for someone with the same information that you provided. The sooner you discover your disability insurance quotes, the sooner you can be on the road to medical and financial security.