Disability Income Protection
THE NO LOOPHOLES CONTRACT
What to look for in a Disability Policy
- Non-Cancelable & Guaranteed Renewable This feature guarantees that the insurance company can never cancel your coverage, raise your premiums, or change any provisions of your contract helping ensure long-term financial security through life insurance. (Group Long term disability (LTD) and Association Plans lack this guarantee.)
- Lifetime Benefit Period Since most people need income for as long as they live, it is essential to have lifetime coverage. Note: This feature has not been available in over a decade, and should be taken into consideration when examining any current enforce contracts.
- No Exclusions Most disability contracts have at least one exclusion. Typical exclusions are for war or acts of war, declared or undeclared, pregnancy, incarceration, self-inflicted injuries, mental illness, air travel, and disabilities occurring outside the U.S. with many requiring you to be stateside to administer the policy
- Only Loss of Income Required The only requirement to start the waiting period and pay claims should be a loss of income due to a disability. The loss of time at work or the loss of certain duties should not be re-Required.
- Total Disability Not Required A period of total disability should never be required to start a waiting period or for the payment of partial, full, or lifetime benefits. In fact, the words “total disability” should not even appear in the policy. Most disabilities are statistically partial.
- Partial Disability Benefit A partial disability is the most likely type of disability to occur and the resulting loss of income needs to be covered.
- Cost of Living or Inflation ProtectionWhile disabled, benefits should increase annually based on a compounded rate to offset inflation. Without this protection, your purchasing power declines due to the impact of inflation on long-term financial planning.
- Guaranteed Increase Agreement Your policy should allow you to increase your coverage in the future regardless of your health.
- Own Occupation Protection Your policy should pay benefits if you become unable to work in your occupation or specialty even if you choose to work in another.
- HIV Agreement You should be considered disabled if you become HIV Positive and legal problems, regulations or the inability to obtain malpractice insurance prevent you from performing your occupation. Group Plans and Association Plans rarely have more than 2 or 3 of the above provisions.
Other valuable features to take into consideration:
Catastrophic– Allows for the lack of ADLs (activities of daily living) to become The trigger for a claim which may be a better fit for the disabling Circumstances as it may provide for a more liberal claim.
Business Loan Protector –Protection to cover existing outstanding debt service in the event, the breadwinner is unable to generate the revenue that would have otherwise been generated pre-disability.
Business Overhead – Protection to cover the necessary overhead (rent, subscriptions, electricity, vehicles, equipment, etc. allowing the business to remain open as a going concern.
Retirement Protection – Provides for the continuous contributions towards retirement savings so that dream remains a reality versus becoming a foregone conclusion.
