Disability Income Insurance

Definition of "Disability income insurance"

Health insurance that provides income payments to the insured wage earner when income is interrupted or terminated because of illness, sickness, or accident. Definitions under this insurance include:

  1. Total and Partial Disability reduction in benefits if the insured is found to be partially disabled instead of totally disabled.
  2. Amount of Benefits many policies stipulate that all sources of disability income cannot exceed 50% to 80% of the insured's earnings prior to the disability, subject to a maximum absolute dollar amount.
  3. Duration of Benefits length of time benefits will be paid. Some policies will pay benefits for one or two years, whereupon the insured must agree to be retrained for other work. Other policies pay benefits as long as the insured is unable to do the job for which he or she is suited by training, education, and experience (often up to age 65, when retirement programs take over). Some policies pay lifetime benefits.
  4. ELIMINATION PERIOD (Waiting Period) period beginning with the first day of disability, during which no payments are made to the insured. The longer this period, the lower the premiums.
  5. Physician's Care the insured must be regularly attended by a legally qualified physician because it is necessary to assess changes in severity of disability.
  6. PREEXISTING CONDITION if an insured has a preexisting injury, sickness, or illness, most policies will not pay income benefits either for the duration of the policy or until a period of time (usually from six months to one year) has elapsed.
  7. Recurrent Disability most policies will not pay income benefits to an insured who is experiencing a recurrent disability unless the recurrent disability is deemed a new disability. Some more progressive policies define a recurrent disability as a new disability if there has been a break of at least six months between the first disability and the current disability, and the insured has returned to work during that break.
  8. RESIDUAL DISABILITY many policies pay for the unused portion of the total disability period, limited to age 65.

image of a real estate dictionary page

Have a question or comment?

We're here to help.

*** Your email address will remain confidential.
 

 

Popular Insurance Terms

coverage on the bank's premises for burglary of monies, securities, and other properties from within the bank's safe (s); robbery of monies and securities; loss of monies and securities as ...

Shipper's policies covering one cargo exposure or all cargo exposures by sea on all risks basis. Exclusions include war, nuclear disaster, wear and tear, dampness, mold, losses due to delay ...

Expense of defending a lawsuit. To mount a legal defense against civil or criminal liability, a defendant faces expenses for lawyers, investigation, fact gathering, bonds, and court costs. ...

Form of annuity returning premiums plus interest to a beneficiary if the annuitant dies during the accumulation period. A refund annuity costs more than a pure annuity. If the annuitant ...

Component of necessary coverage determined by the "needs approach" to life insurance for a family. It is intended to cover last-minute expenses as well as those that surface after the death ...

Coverage in which one premium payment is made and the policy is fully paid up with no further premiums required. ...

Apparent agreement that is not a valid contract. ...

Same as term Fronting: procedure under which the CEDING COMPANY (the primary or fronting company) cedes the risk it has underwritten to its reinsurer with the ceding company retaining none ...

Same as term Coinsurance: in property insurance, when the insurance policy contains this clause, coinsurance defines the amount of each loss that the company pays according to the following ...

Popular Insurance Questions