Long-Term Disability Insurance—Safety Nets for Chicagoland Families
Financial experts agree that every working adult should retain six month’s worth of their salary in savings in the event of an emergency. While that sounds like practical advice, for many people, it’s just not feasible.
In 2015, the Federal Reserve Board surveyed adults and found that 53 percent of respondents don’t have enough savings to cover them for even three months. In other words, if those people become disabled and are unable to work, even for a brief period, more than half are walking a tightrope that could end in financial disaster.
The solution? Long-term disability insurance.
Coverage for the Long Term
Long-term disability insurance protects you from loss of income should you be unable to work for an extended period due to injury, accident or illness.
The chances that you’ll need this kind of coverage at some point in your life is greater than you might think. Recent data indicates the most common causes of new long-term disability claims include:
- Musculoskeletal/connective tissue disorders including diseases such as lupus, scleroderma, polymyositis or dermatomyositis, and rheumatoid arthritis.
- Cancer such as cancer of the brain, breast, prostate or melanoma.
- Injuries and poisoning such as back and neck injuries or poisoning that results in long-term pulmonary, kidney, or neurological impairment.
- Cardiovascular/circulatory diseases including myocardial infarction, hypertension, heart failure and coronary artery disease.
- Mental disorders such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s Disease, and dementia.
- Nervous-system related conditions including stroke, meningitis, brain or spinal cord injury, epilepsy, and Parkinson disease.
- Pregnancy and childbirth complications such as post-delivery complications or post-partum depression that would prevent you from returning to work.
Of course, some occupations are at higher risk for serious, long-term injury. For example, someone who works for a utility company in the field or as a construction worker on the highway take greater risks every day than do office workers. That said, just because you work in an office in front of a computer all day does not mean you’re immune to a long-term injury that could prohibit you from working, whether that’s carpal tunnel syndrome or a serious fall at work. And, of course, cancer does not discriminate by age or occupation.
Long-term disability insurance will pay you a percentage of your salary until you can either return to work or for the number of years stated in the policy. Some policies may even pay out up to age 75, as long as you’re disabled.
Safeguard Your Future—Call for a Quote Today
If your employer does not offer long-term disability coverage, it is well worth exploring coverage from a broker like the Gulbransen Insurance Agency. Because we work with multiple carriers, we can customize a policy just for you. We’ll work with you to determine waiting period before benefits kick in, benefit amount, and length of payout.
Recovering from an illness and injury is hard enough without adding financial stress to the equation. Call Gulbransen Insurance Agency today at 630.393.6700 to get a quote or contact us online to learn more.
