California Disability Insurance

Disability insurance of California pays an insured person an income when that person is unable to work because of an accident or illness. While that option seems simple enough, the truth of the matter is that many disability insurance carriers do actually not follow the rules when it comes to providing the benefits they promised. Planning for the possibility that a disabling injury or illness will interrupt the income stream is one of the wisest steps people can take to protect their retirement plan.

Loss of earning power not only disrupts the ability to save for retirement but also may mean liquidating investments at a loss or taking on debt to pay living expenses. Because building a future financial security depends on the income-producing capacity, disability coverage can be as important as life insurance. Making sure people are adequately protected starts with understanding coverage options. Even if people are covered by a group plan, they may wish to explore an individual policy to supplement that coverage. Besides being this much portable, an individual disability policy lets people to expand benefits beyond what the group plan pays.

In California Disability insurance, it must be shown that people cannot do the material and substantial duty of their position with reasonable continuity. What that means is that they have to look at just their job, not anybody else's job. Of course that is the only thing they are insuring anyway because they do not know what anybody else does, people just have to know what they do - and that's the disability policy they are buying. So it looks at the material duties of that particular job, and while most of those focus on physical activities, they could also include or mostly focus on more mental capabilities as well depending on what type of occupation they have. Then they look at their job and compare that to the restrictions and limitations that their doctor has put on them.

If the employer does not offer group coverage, or if they are a business owner, they will definitely want to consider purchasing an individual policy. People can choose a policy with provisions to suit their needs; benefits from an individual policy are generally not taxable1; most policies include waiver of premiums, cost-of-living adjustments, and guaranteed renew ability; as a business owner, they protect their own income or protect their business if a key employee is disabled. Programs such as Social Security insurance or state-mandated disability plans pay benefits under certain conditions; workers compensation coverage may entitle them to benefits if their disabling illness or injury is work-related; people may be eligible for Social Security disability benefits if they are incapable of doing any kind of work. California and other similar states have mandatory programs that can provide short-term disability income. Although it might be reassuring to know these programs exist, they may provide limited benefits. People need to protect themselves from loss of income and should contact a UBOC Insurance Services specialist to discuss their insurance needs. One of the ploys disability carriers perform is to use a nurse to reapply the restrictions and limitations without talking to their employer as to what their job was, and most importantly, without talking to their doctor.

• Juliana Breckinridge
• 30/12/2008, 6:59 AM
• 0 Comments