Disability insurance is a type of insurance in which you receive benefits when you cannot work due to being seriously ill or injured. If due to your injury or sickness, you are able to work part time, a disability insurance policy will probably pay you only half the benefits. Having an individual disability insurance policy will give you information on as to how much you will be receiving in terms of benefits, when your benefit (payments) will begin and by what time will it end. It also specifies as to how soon after becoming sick or disabled will you be able to receive your payments and benefits.
Disability insurance policies are quite efficient as these are able to cover up at least 60-70 percent of a person’s income. The amount of benefit which you receive; the time period for it will depend on how long you have been injured and how serious your injury is. Once the waiting period for your payment is over, you are able to receive your benefits. The waiting period generally consists of the time in which you become sick up until the time your insurance company starts paying you your benefits. Waiting periods too are not a fixed amount of time. The waiting period can vary from being as little as a week to as long as a year. This mostly depends on what type of policy you have purchased. It is mostly cheaper insurance policies which make you wait a year before paying you your benefits.
In order to receive benefits which are tax free, it would be best if you pay your premiums for your disability insurance with money which has already had tax deducted from it. There are two features which you should know before going ahead and purchasing a disability insurance policy for yourself. The two features are guaranteed renewable protection as well as non-cancelable protection. If you are able to pay all your premiums on time, the insurance company/insurer will not be able to cancel your disability insurance policy. Your insurance will not even get refused to being renewed.
A guaranteed renewable policy is one in which the policyholder has the right to renew his/her policy. In case of this, you would receive the same benefits as you did before however the insurance company would have the right to increase the amount you have to pay as premiums. A non cancelable policy is one in which the insurance company can never raise the amount of premium being paid above the amount of premium mentioned on the policy itself. And if the policyholder is able to pay his/her premiums on time, the benefits he/she will receive will not be reduced either.
The premiums for a non cancelable policy generally tend to be greater in the beginning compared to a guaranteed renewable policy. However, the premiums for the latter can increase as time goes by. A person should thus purchase a policy according to his/her preference, needs and the budget.