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What You Need To Know About Disability Insurance

Once you become disabled and apply for benefits, you have to wait for a certain amount of time after the onset of your disability before you receive benefits. If you are applying for benefits under a private insurance policy, this amount of time (called the elimination period) ranges from 30 to 720 days, although the most common period is 90 days. If you are applying for benefits under a type of social insurance, your waiting period may be as long as five months (for Social Security).

You can purchase private disability insurance policies that guarantee lifetime coverage, but they are very expensive. Most people buy either short-term policies (benefits are paid for up to two years) or more commonly long-term policies (benefits are paid for a few years or up until age 65). In fact, many injuries or illnesses do not disable you permanently. After a rehabilitation period, you may be able to return to work full- or part-time. Most private and social insurance programs encourage you to go back to work either by paying you partial or full benefits while you try to work or by continually reevaluating your disability. In addition, they usually pay for any training or rehabilitation you might need to help you get back to work.

Both private and government disability insurance are complex because the needs of each individual are complex. or in addition, injury or illness is unpredictable. As a result of complexity, private and government disability insurance programs are designed with many restrictions and--in the case of individual disability insurance, at least--many options. When you purchase a disability policy, you may have to spend a lot of time evaluating your future needs and weighing what coverage you can afford to buy against what coverage you'd like to have. Then, you'll have to compare individual policies and determine what coverage you are already entitled to through your employer or through the government. Make sure to ask us (as an unbiased source) or a qualified broker many questions.

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