Disability Insurance Policy - How To Get The Best Deal

By Joann Grant

To quote William Shakespeare, “As flies to wanton boys are we to the Gods”. So, just like little boys get some cruel pleasure by torturing the poor, helpless tiny creatures; the Gods also seem to entertain themselves by setting free untold miseries on human beings when they are not pleased with them.

You are left to suffer the heavenly curses while asking yourself what wrong you did to deserve such a horrible punishment. Instead of investigating the reasons, you face the challenge like a brave person, as He wished you to be. Now, you are left with only one choice, give a stiff resistance to it and be well prepared to deal with such an outcome.

Fortunately, Disability Insurance comes to your rescue on such occasions and lends you a helping hand. Several insurance companies are in the fray with stretched hands to help you. Still, it is up to you to study the pros and cons of each insurance policy one after another before arriving at a conclusion. Take your own time and be wise in your endeavor. Listed below are five important things, which you must understand well before you sign up with an insurance policy.

1. There should be enough flexibility in the terms and conditions of the policy. This gives a guarantee that when something unexpected happens seriously, the policy could act as a savior immediately.

2. The policy should give you enough financial coverage to meet all your expenses yourself without losing out on your freedom and honor.

3. The insurance policy you are inclined towards must pay you enough to keep your lifestyle the same as you had been leading before the disaster struck you. To make it clearer, the policy you choose must be able to convince you that there is no financial difference even if you are unemployed.

4. Say goodbye to a policy that has a clause only for security but not any to fulfill your dreams. You may be having your own plans and ambitions about your future. Your search will be completed only with the discovery of an insurance policy that will safely land you in a better career after you regain your fitness.

5. Lastly, make a careful comparison of the amounts to be paid as premiums and confirm whether there is any advantage in paying a higher premium. Never assume that higher premiums will fetch you more coverage.

The amount of disability premium is determined by several factors such as a person’s age, sex and job. Disability Insurance is something that no one likes to think about, but it might produce a big difference in an unexpected eventuality.

To get more information visit disability aids, disability civil rights & http://www.about-disability.com/disability-insurance/

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Disability Insurance - Things to Remember

By Joann Grant

Insurance, needless to say, is a very well known word in the whole world. Not only Life insurance, Vehicle insurance, Building insurance, people today go for even body parts insurance, say eyes or voice insurance. And talking about Disability Insurance, it is definitely one of the much sought after types of insurance.

This insurance, justifying its name, helps the policyholder to take care of his or her necessities when the person fails to attend work due to illness or injury. Some surveys show that one in three people becomes disabled at the age of 35; they get disabled minimum for three months before attaining the age of 65; and one in ten may face permanent disability. This type of coverage will, undoubtedly, solve some of your financial problems such as medical and rehabilitation expenses.

Generally, disability insurance is available in two kinds: short term disability insurance and long term disability insurance. Long-term insurance covers periods more than six months till the time of retirement. No insurance company will offer coverage of 100% of your income fearing that you will not go back to work even after becoming fully fit. Short-term disability insurance covers 40% to 60% of the policyholder’s actual income while long-term insurance will offer 75% to 80% on a tax-free basis. Therefore, it is wise to get as much coverage as possible.

Either, people can go for disability insurance issued by the government or get it as insurance package provided by their employers. Mostly, the insurance coverage provided by the employer ends at the time of termination of one’s job. Several US States are able to manage public disability insurance coverage policy financed by payroll taxes. Again, you have to look into several important factors while choosing a disability insurance policy. Such factors as total disability and renewability have to be considered carefully.

Choose the policy that provides the clause that the insurance company cannot cancel or raise your premiums so that you will not be forced to cancel it. Better look for a non-cancelable policy or guaranteed renewable policy. With this policy you will not be singled out and the raise in premiums could be done only with the consent of the whole class of insured people. Conditionally renewable policies are also welcome.

Other policies needed to be taken into consideration are residual insurance - for hardworking lot falling ill or getting injured; presumptive insurance - protecting severely affected ones; and recurring insurance - for helping people who, after recovery, become disabled again.

Also, elimination as well as benefit periods and policy exclusions ought to be keenly studied. To promote disability insurance, various optional riders such as cost of living, are available. The additional clauses also comprise automatic increase rider, social-insurance-substitute-rider and residual-disability insurance. So, know everything about the policy before going for it. An informed choice is always a better choice.

To get more information visit disability aids, disability civil rights & http://www.about-disability.com/disability-insurance/

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Disability Insurance and Loss of Income

By Lance Winslow

If you run a small business you know that if something happens to you and you cannot work, you are history. Temporary Disability Insurance for your small business is a must. Often you do not even have a choice. You must buy it and if you do not then chances are the bank will not give you a loan to start your small business, reject your business plan or decide not to give you the money you need to expand.

Indeed, banks have check box forms they fill out to CYA themselves and prevent loan defaults. Disability Insurance and Loss of Income Insurance is a box on those forms. Even still, if you do not borrow money from a bank and use personal savings, you could lose your entire business or savings if you are injured or hurt and cannot work.

What if you need major medical treatment and it drains your bank account and you are out of work for a month? What about six months? Can your business survive without you? Chances are that it couldn't, as much as we might wish to think otherwise.

It is for all these reasons that when I found myself needing disability insurance, I consulted an expert on insurance to walk me through it all and explain to me what was covered and what is not covered. It pays to ask questions and listen to the experts.

I certainly hope this article is of interest and that is has propelled thought. The goal is simple; to help you in your quest to be the best in 2007. I thank you for reading my many articles on diverse subjects, which interest you.

"Lance Winslow" - If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; http://www.WorldThinkTank.net/. Lance is a guest writer for Our Spokane Magazine in Spokane, Washington

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Short Term Health Insurance - What You Need to Know

Life & Disability Insurance - What are Riders and How Would I Benefit From Them?

By Joe Stewart

A "Rider" is sold at the same time that you buy your insurance policy and it modifies your policy. These are occasionally called endorsements. The Rider overrides any conflict with the policy. In other words, if there is a provision in the Rider that is different than the same provision that was originally in the insurance policy, then the Rider prevails.

Riders may exclude or remove coverage, which can lower your monthly premium, however, in most cases, Riders will add more coverage to the existing policy.

These are some of the most common Riders found in life insurance policies:

Accidental Death and Dismemberment, also known as "Multiple Indemnity" - These are sometimes known as "A D & D" Riders. The insurance company will pay a multiple of the policy's Face Value, which is the amount that the policy would pay to the beneficiary in the event of the death of the insured person. This Rider may also cover loss of sight or the loss of one or more limbs within a designated amount of time from the date that the accident occurred.

Example, say that the insured person was in a car accident and damage was done to their legs that resulted in amputation a few weeks after the accident occurred. Most of the time this coverage period will depend on the state that the policy is drawn in, however, 90 days is common for this type of Rider.

Note: This type of Rider does NOT cover death by any form of illegal activities, such as committing a crime resulting in a felony, death by suicide or death by a malfunction of the body. An example of this would be someone that suffered a stroke or heart attack while driving, but the physical condition occurred before the accident and the accident was the result of that condition. This type of accident would not be covered.

A D & D will also cover dismemberment. In case of the accidental loss of one eye, one arm, one leg, etc. one half of the death benefit would be paid to the insured. In the event that the insured person suffered the loss of sight in both eyes or lost two or more limbs, then that would result in the entire principal sum (death benefit) being paid to the insured. In this event, the A D & D Rider would be terminated because the entire Face Value would be paid out.

Waiver of Premium Rider - The Insurance company will pay the policy for the person insured in the event that they happen to become permanently and completely disabled. They must also go through a waiting period called an "elimination period", which is often around 180 days (six months).

Disability Income Rider - These can be added to your life insurance policy as a Rider. This particular Rider will pay a pre-determined amount of income after the insured person has been disabled for the length of the waiting period. The waiting period or "elimination period", is the period of time immediately after the insured is determined to have a disability. There are no benefits paid during this waiting period. Your disability income may not exceed the average amount of your average income over the previous two years time. You may not buy more than this amount of coverage.

The disability benefits of the insured are combined with other potential disability income such as lost wage policies, social security disability, salary continuation plans, ect. This is to make sure that the person insured is not collecting more money by being disable than they would if they were employed. Combining or Integrating the benefits means that other forms of disability coverage will kick in to pay the insured individual first. Other forms of coverage being worker's compensation, etc. The Disability Rider will kick in to make up only enough of the difference to assure that the person receiving benefits receives an equal amount of income as the would have had they been working.

Joe Stewart is a Webmaster and former Life And Health Insurance Agent. He's made understanding life insurance simple for consumers. You can read detailed explanations about life insurance at his website TheLifeInsuranceGuys.com or by clicking on life insurance quotes accidental death.

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Reading A Disability Insurance Policy

By Steven Crawford

People often make the mistake of shopping for an individual disability insurance policy the same way they would for a term life, or car insurance policy. The concept seems simply enough, "If I get disabled, the insurance company should pay me." Therefore many shoppers spend time comparing quotes from different disability insurance carriers, and trying to find the lowest price. The internet makes this task even easier when a shopper can simply search for disability insurance on Google, and request free quotes from the top ten search results.

According to statistics, 66% of the people who buy a disability insurance policy in this way will never have a problem because 66% of you will never become disabled for 90 days or longer before they retire. However, 33% of you will become disabled before you reach the age of 65, and therefore will need to understand how the individual disability insurance policy you purchased on-line will work. Buyer beware, not all disability insurance policies work the same way. In fact, no two policies are the same at all.

Definition of Total Disability
The first thing you need to compare is the definition of total disability. This will dictate exactly what the insurance company will pay out a total disability claim for. While many carriers have slight variations on this definition, there are essentially three major definitions in use in the market today. The most comprehensive is a Pure Own-Occupation definition of total disability. This definition will result in you being paid the total monthly benefit if a sickness or injury prevents you from being able to perform the material and substantial duties of your regular occupation, even if you are engaged in some other capacity. The middle definition is a modified own-occupation or income replacement definition. The definition will begin the same way as a pure own-occupation definition does, except for the last sentence which will say so long as you are not engaged in any other occupation. This means the policy will pay you so long as you are not earning any earned income while on a claim. The third major, and least comprehensive, is the gainful occupation definition which starts the same way as the previous two, however adds the language are unable to perform any occupation for which you are qualified by education, training, or experience. This means the insurance company could say that while you can not work in your current occupation they believe you could do something else, and therefore not pay your benefits. As you can see, the three definitions are very different, and depending on your income and occupation, the price could be different as a result.

Residual or Partial Benefits
There are so many variations to residual or partial benefits that I could not possibly cover them all in this article. If you take anything away from this article, make sure you understand when and how the residual or partial disability benefits pay in your individual disability insurance policy. There are policies out there that allow professionals an unlimited recovery benefit as part of their residual benefits. This means that any fee for service professional would be paid under their residual disability rider for the entire benefit period until they financially recovered, not just until they physically recovered. There are also policies that just pay a straight forward percentage of the monthly benefit depending on your percentage loss of income, and policies that pay a limited partial benefit. The scope of benefits is extremely large, so make sure you understand the differences before selecting a policy on your own.

Inflation Protection
My feelings on inflation protection are mixed. It is something you always want to have if you are on an extended long term disability insurance claim, however if you only have a short term claim it is not going to help you. If you are younger, I recommend purchasing this option every time because there is a longer period of time that inflation could affect your benefit amount while on claim. If you are older, feel free to make your own decision. You can always buy it now, and drop it later on in life when inflation is not much of a threat to you.

I hope some of these tips help you make an educated decision when purchasing your own individual disability insurance policy. It is not a contract where browsing by price will give you the best deal, it will only mean you bought the cheapest disability insurance policy out there.

Steve Crawford is the President of Guardian Disability Insurance Brokerage in Rockville, MD. This company has been a leader in on-line disability insurance sales for the previous seven years. In his spare time he is also the owner of Disability Insurance Forums which is a message board with over 4000 registered members discussing all aspects of disability insurance.

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Disability Insurance For Fee For Service Professionals

By Steven Crawford

The Risks of A Long Term Disability

Let us first define what a "fee for service professional" truly is. There are thousands of possible occupations that could use this tag, the important part for this article is that you are clearly able to distinguish between a professional who generates income based upon his or her ability to perform a service, and somebody who is going to earn a salary for the year simply by being employed. People who have occupations that result in income only when he or she performs the duties of their occupation are considered fee for service professionals. Physicians only get paid after they have seen patients and treated them, lawyers get paid for working with clients on all sorts of legal matters, realtors get paid only when they sell a home, and consultants get paid for working with their clients. The systemic problem we have is that so many professionals don't realize just how vulnerable their financial worlds are. One long term disability could wipe out all of their savings in a short period of time, and most professionals don't realize that without them going to work their is no further source of income.

Some Professionals Understand

It is not entirely fair to say that all fee for service professionals don't understand how vulnerable they are. While some occupations seem to walk around with blinders on like consultants, salesman, and attorneys, physicians and nurses all understand just how vulnerable they are. There is a reason physicians buy disability insurance more than any other occupation, they see how people become disabled every day. While a computer consultant may think that if they can think and type that they can work, and physician knows that is just not true. Disabilities are most often illness claims, not accident claims. Many professions think of becoming disabled from a car accident or other accident, reality is that most claims come from illnesses like cancer, diabetes, back problems, heart disease, and hundreds of other diseases. Every professional needs to know that a disease does not care what you do for a living, and will most likely disable everybody in the same way, regardless of what you do for a living. I don't know any computer engineers that are still able to generate new business, and perform consulting services while dealing with something like ALS, Parkinsons, or cancer.

What to Look For as a Professional

There are a decent amount of quality disability insurance policies on the market today. Most of the good policies are Non-Cancellable and Guaranteed Renewable, and I believe you should also own a pure own-occupation definition of total disability. The real key, in my honest opinion, is the residual disability benefits offered to you. You need a disability insurance policy that has a very long recovery benefit, and most of the major carriers differ greatly when it comes to the recovery benefit. While many carriers have Non-Can benefits, and a few good one's also offer a pure own-occupation definition of total disability, there are only a couple that have a recovery benefit for the entire benefit period. Most disability insurance companies have to specify their recovery benefit period in the contract. Some will offer 6 months, some will go out to 2 years, but the best have a residual disability benefit that allows for an unlimited recovery benefit.

Ask Yourself One Question

If you were totally disabled for a period of one year, and one day you were miraculously recovered back to work full time, how long would it take you to achieve your pre-disability earnings level? Many fee for service professionals, when faced with this question, realize it would be a matter of rebuilding their entire business again. Clients and patients typically cannot wait for you to recover from your disability, and end up moving on to your competition while you are disabled. It may have taken you a decade to achieve the level of earnings you had before you were disabled, and it may be another decade before you get back to that level again. Many times you end up starting over when recovering from a long term disability, or even worse you may never financially recover. This is the exact reason why fee for service professionals need to have an individual disability insurance policy that has an unlimited recovery benefit. An unlimited recovery benefit will allow this person to receive monthly disability payments every month while they set back to rebuild their business.

Scary Thing About Some Policies

The scary thing about some disability insurance policies is that they require a loss of time or duties in order to pay any residual or partial disability benefits. Make absolutely sure that the disability insurance policy you end up purchasing does not require a loss of time or duties in order to pay a recovery benefit, or residual disability benefit. If the policy requires a loss of time or duties, when you are back to work full time the disability benefit would be over. As we just reviewed, it may be years until you financially recover, so make sure to buy a disability insurance policy that will pay you until you financially recover with an unlimited recovery benefit, not just until you physically recovery.

Steve Crawford is the President of Guardian Disability Insurance Brokerage, a firm specializing in the sale of individual disability insurance to professionals across the United States. They are the largest disability insurance presence on the internet, and have been in business since 1997 selling disability insurance on-line.

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Business Overhead Expense Insurance – Do I Need It

By Toby Lason

Personal disability insurance protects a physician’s ability to earn income, but what protects his or her medical practice? Business overhead expenses are just as relentless for those who suffer a disability. A practice that relies on a small number of people (or one person) to produce revenue is economically vulnerable if one of those individuals becomes disabled. A business overhead expense (“BOE”) disability policy will cover the ongoing operating expenses of your practice. It ensures that you do not have to use personal assets to pay for business expenses if you become disabled.

If the insured does become disabled, a BOE policy pays a monthly benefit based on business expenses, not anticipated profits. The following are some business overhead expenses that are covered by BOE insurance:

- Rent or Mortgage Payments
- Employee Salaries and Benefits
- Utility Bills
- Property Taxes
- Accounting Fees, Legal Fees, and Professional Dues
- Malpractice and Other Business Insurance Premiums
- Maintenance and Janitorial Services
- Depreciation
- Interest on Business Debts
- Office Supplies
- Other Fixed Expenses that are Ordinary, Necessary, and Tax Deductible

Some policies even cover the salary of a temporary employee hired to do the duties of the disabled. Income taxes, the cost of inventory, and the cost of furniture are a few expenses that are not covered.

There are several key areas in which BOE insurance differs from personal disability insurance.

Benefit Periods – Usually, BOE insurance policies have short benefit periods that do not exceed two years. Remember that BOE insurance is not protecting your ability to generate income—that is what a personal disability policy does. Instead, BOE insurance allows you to keep your practice open, or at least pay for its expenses until you recover. In the case of a long-term disability, it offers you up to two years to make a business decision, such as whether to shut down or liquidate your practice, without worrying about accruing debt from business expenses.

Maximum Benefits – Personal disability insurance pays a monthly benefit as defined in the policy. BOE insurance policies offer a maximum monthly benefit, but only pay the actual overhead expenses if they are less than the maximum benefit. For example, if the maximum monthly benefit is $1,000 but actual business overhead expenses are only $600, the benefit paid is $600. With some insurers, that unused $400 benefit can be applied to increase future monthly maximums or to extend the benefit period.

Taxation – As long as premiums for personal disability insurance are paid with after-tax dollars, the benefits are tax free. DOE insurance benefits are subject to income tax, but the premiums are tax deductible as a business expense.

One similarity that BOE insurance and personal disability insurance policies share is that the sooner you purchase a policy, the better. Not only will you get lower rates when you are younger and generally in better health, but additional coverage can be purchased later without providing further evidence of medical insurability.

BOE insurance is a great idea for small practices with several physicians. If one physician is disabled, their portion of business overhead expenses will be covered by the policy so the other physicians are still able to practice without an extra financial burden.

Your practice should allow you to earn income, not be a financial parasite if you become disabled. BOE insurance doesn’t just protect your practice… it protects you.

Toby Lason is a freelance writer for http://www.doctordisability.com/business-overhead-expense.html>Doctor Disability Insurance

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