Curious what everyone's thoughts and experiences are on disability insurance.  In my mind, fire, theft, death, and disability are the top 4 day-to-day prep items that we should address.  I figure term life insurance is a given "prep" item that every income-provider should have for the family, but disability insurance isn't talked about as often.

And if anyone feels the desire to do so, I'm curious what others are paying and from what provider.

I have both short and long-term disability through my employer.  My employer covers the premium for coverage to 50% of my salary, and I pay a few bucks extra per paycheck to get to 66%.

IMO disability insurance is more important than life insurance, as a young healthy worker is more likely to be disabled and unable to work for a period of time, than to be killed.

I have always carried it when it was available thru my employer and reccomend all do the same, the cost is negligable compared to the advent of a catostraphoic event that could change your life and livelyhood..

I if it had been handled properly by my employeer would be in EXcellent shape as I am disabled but my company didnt dot the I;'s or cross the T;s properly years of paying for nothing, change a job and events lead to waste...

Short term disability insurance is good, but in my experience, long term disability insurance is worthless and a bit of a scam.

My wife has Lupus and had a hard time of it for over a year and was unable to work after a medical procedure didn't go so well.  Well, her short term disability kicked in for a few months with no problems, then when it was evident that she may be off work for a longer period than we first realized, long term came and took over.  For both short and long they send a pile of forms every month for both you and a doctor to fill out.  No big deal, but when long term kicked in, the first letter we get was telling us that we were to apply for Social Security disability or they they would cut her benefits by the end of the first month that LTD was to kick in.   So we had to trudge through the bureaucracy of that mountain of paper work and eventually did get approved for SSD and my wife was dropped anyway from her long term disability insurance since there is a clause that they won't pay if SSD is being collected.  

So basically, for over five years that my wife paid into having long term disability, as soon as she needed it, they threatened to cut off all benefits if we didn't apply for SSD during the first month of coverage and dropped her anyway after SSD was approved.  They just rake in premiums and pass the buck to tax payers when they should be covering it.

Everyone should have life insurance and long term disability insurance.

Accountant

 This has been my experience also. Short term kicked right in and paid 6 months. No problems. Then long term was supposed to start. Song and danced for for 5 months and then denied. Said when I was 40 a doctor told me to take a baby aspirin a day. Said that was treatment for vascular disease.  Even though I did not have my first heart attack until 47. Said sorry but that's treatment even if preventative and denied. If you have to go on disability, GET A LAWYER that specializes in disability insurance right away! And as above, mine required me to apply for SSD but mine was to pay the difference between SSD and 1/2 of my salary until age 62. The lawyer I talked to said its a rigged game and worthless. Short term is not though and well worth it. I was lucky my illness was so bad (what the hell?) and my SSD started within 5 weeks after I applied so no gaps where I would have had nothing. So if you get hurt, get a insurance lawyer right away. WJ

Long Term Care ranks right there with it, maybe even more important.  While it is a good idea to plan for "what if I get hurt" I think we all have a much better chance of living and needing help as an old timer.

Grove

Agreed on that, based on first-hand stories of older folks who've wasted their last few, abandoned long term care insurance, and make quite a few people miserable, themselves included.

I feel this is one of the ABSOLUTELY MOST IMPORTANT INSURANCES THAT YOU CAN HAVE.

You can even insure yourself for your savings you put away every month (only a few companies offer this though).

Don't let a disability destroy your financial life..........get a good policy....and keep it renewed.  Try to get it thru your employer though......

Good luck!

Michael

when I got medical released from a former employer the disability ins saved my ass, spent nearly three years on it, couldn't have kept what I did if I didn't have it and do a bit of refinancing.

Disability insurance is good stuff one of those things in life you don't ever really want to use or pay for but is great to have when you need it.

I hate paying for it but i know it's good insurance because my boss(not even close to the top dog at work) has used it 4 times (real injuries not fake shit) and they pay no problem.

Mine pays 90% of my paycheck picks up instantly if i'm hospitalized overnight or in 3 days if i'm not admitted to the hospital.

I work in the insurance field and alot of people don't see the need for disability or life insurance.  Both are very important.  If getting any insurance with your employer (life or disability) make sure it is something you can take with you if you leave you place of employment.  Also in the case of disability insurance make sure your policy pays if you are disabled without any extra requirements.  Policies should pay if you are considered disabled from your current line of work, no SSI required.  Our policies will actually pay even if you have disability with your employer or have a claim with SSI.

Lastly don't underestimate your life insurance needs, I see to many people come in to collect after they have lost a loved one and look at me and say "is this all we have".  Its not greed they feel, its worry.  It hurts to have a young mother come in after she lost her husband who was the bread winner of the family and I can only hand her a small check.  Life insurance is one of the most selfless things a person can purchase, especially a person that will leave a spouse and children behind.
Mike

I do disability ins for a living as part of a wealth management practice I own.  the horror stories above are no different than saying, "I will never own a gun because I had one that was unreliable"  That is true if you don't know what gun you bought and you got a shitty one.

A DI (disabillity) policy is a contract.  No more, no less.  KNOW what is in the contract.  When it comes to insurance contract if it is not spelled out it settles in FAVOR of the policy owner (you).  

DI is not that complicated.  You just have have to know what you want in that contract.  

If you need help with it (I am not trying to sell it to you.  I don't know what state you are in and aren't licensed in it anyway) let me know and I will help you figure out what you want over the phone, then you can go and get it with whatever local agent you have.  Consider me a resource.  DI is important and I have seen a lot of financial lives saved with it so I want to make sure you get set up properly.  Let me know if you want some help figuring out what you want.

AKconvert

Dentist.

I pay a little over $3,000 a year to cover short & long term. HATE paying it (due around the holidays), but I've "pulled" my back a few times and I don't want to be without.