Searching for Individual Disability Insurance: An Online Guide

True long term, income replacement disability insurance is a form of private, individual insurance that will replace a part of your income—up to 60% or 80% depending on your premium—if you should become unable to do your regular job. Good, personal policies replace the predetermined percentage of your income and can be used along with temporary disability you may have on the job. In any case, however, the amount you can draw will not exceed your income. request quotes online >>

Disability income is a good part of adult financial planning as individuals under age 40 are several times more likely to become disabled than they are to die. When that happens, a family can be financially devastated long before Social Security disability would begin to pay. However, not all disability plans are alike. You should examine the features closely and ask questions.

Points of Inquiry

• What is the highest percentage of income that will be replaced?
  
  
• Can the policy be used for any type of disability including sickness, or is it limited to accident?
  
  
• Does the premium stop once a person goes on claim?
  
  
• What is the time limit that a person can draw the disability income?
  
  
• Is there a maximum time limit or a maximum dollar amount that can be drawn?
  
  
• Does the policy include a restoration of benefit? This would mean that once a person is no longer disabled, benefits are restored and the entire policy is available at a future date.
  
  
• Does the policy help pay for additional education if such is necessary for obtaining a new job after being disabled on the previous one?
  
  
• What happens to the policy when a person reaches Medicare eligibility age? Sometimes benefits reduce by half.
  
  
• Does the policy have a conversion factor? Some policies can be converted to Long Term Care insurance with no medical underwriting when a person reaches age 65.
  
  
• Can the policy be adjusted later on?
  
  
• Is a return of premium rider available, meaning that if a person never uses the policy, either the insured or a beneficiary would eventually get the premium back.
  
  
• How long does a person have to be out of work due to disability before the policy will kick in?
  
  
• How does a person go about filing when a disability occurs? Will there be help from an agent? Or does the individual have to do it through an 800 number system?
  
  
• What documents will be needed at the time a claim is filed? Will income be recalculated at that time? Usually the amount paid is based on the average income over the three years immediately preceding the disability.

Other things to check

When searching for disability insurance, you should check out the company itself. Has the company been bought up by other companies? How long has it been in business? How long has it been offering disability insurance?

Companies that take on such products, which are usually not their core products, sometimes sell that portion of their business to another insurance company after a few years. When that happens, it can be difficult to find the correct place to file a claim.

Most people don't stay informed about the companies they have insurance with, unless it is their car insurance. Life insurance is not a problem as it is usually fairly easy to track down the new owner and file a claim. Disability insurance, however, can change hands several times without even changing the address to which you send payment. If you don't know where your insurance is being handled, you can experience unnecessary frustration when it comes time to use it.

Make full use of the many outstanding, local insurance agents/ professionals, who are well suited to assist you in understanding precisely what to look for in a policy.

request rates >>

Note: Words commonly misspelled when searching for information on this type of coverage include: disabilityinsurance, diability, disablity, insurnace and insurence.