Individual Disability Insurance

There are many things in the world which is worst than death and disability is top on this list. A prolonged illness or injury can happen anytime in ones life and prevent us from working for months or years.

A research conducted in the US, states that people insure their life, car, jewellery, home and the least in their priority is protection against disability.

If a person is not protected against disability, he may not be able to earn and all the above mentioned insurance he already has, may not be of any help at a time when he is disabled.

It has been researched that on an average one out of every four people become disabled at some time in their working careers and that there are more chances of a middle aged man being disabled than dying.

The impact that disability can have on an individual and his family is un-imaginable. His expenses like the mortgage payment, utility bills, groceries etc will remain, while his income would have stopped.

To add to this, he will now have to spend on his medical bills. This is when the individual, experiences the shortcomings of the group disability insurance sponsored by his employer. The individual then is forced to apply for the Social security program.

All these hassles both physical and mental can be avoided by buying an individual disability insurance program.

The wise option is to supplement your group long term disability insurance available at work with a small individual disability insurance plan.

In the event of a disability, your income will be higher as you are benefited from the group long term disability program as well as the individual disability insurance program.

The individual disability insurance gives us the confidence that our income is always protected and is independent of the insurance that is provided by the employer. Even in the event of leaving the job, we can be assured that there is some coverage against disability.

While buying insurance, it is very important that we understand the conditions and opt for the best plan. Some of the important points to be considered are:

If your policy is non-cancelable and guaranteed renewable then the insurance company cannot increase the premium amount until the age of 65. The terms of the coverage cannot be altered nor can it be canceled. This type of policy is the most popular and preferred policy.

Another point that needs to be considered is the elimination period. Elimination period is the time it takes before the benefits are paid. This period should be chosen based on ones financial position. If the elimination period chosen is short, then the premiums payable would be more.

You may choose a longer elimination period if your financial situation allows you to manage your expenses for some time on your own. For those individuals who are also covered with an employer sponsored policy, the elimination period can be chosen in such a way that the benefits starts reaching you just about the time when the employer sponsored policy ends.

Not many insurance companies offer the individual disability insurance plans. Some of the providers are:

MetLife
Northwestern Mutual
Unum Provident