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:
- Total and Partial Disability reduction in benefits if the insured is found to be partially disabled instead of totally disabled.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- RESIDUAL DISABILITY many policies pay for the unused portion of the total disability period, limited to age 65.
Popular Insurance Terms
Settlement of a dispute that arises when two or more insurers cover a single loss, and there is a question concerning the amount each is responsible to pay. The companies are bound by the ...
Coverage that goes into effect when an individual's claim reaches a specific threshold selected by the employer who has self-insurance. After this threshold is reached, the policy pays ...
Representative of an insurance company who sells ordinary and industrial life insurance policies. In an effort to move their field forces into the ordinary life business, many industrial ...
Primarily a British association whose membership includes risk managers and insurance buyers, with the emphasis on risk management. ...
Complete coverage for hospital and physician charges subject to deductibles and coinsurance. This coverage combines basic medical expense policy and major medical policy. ...
Judicial rule of evidence under which no reduction in damages awarded by a court is allowed for bodily injury, sickness, illness, or accident merely because the plaintiff has other ...
Individual or organization that provides the mechanism in which financial assets are accumulated for the purpose of paying accrued pension benefits. ...
Measure of the sensitivity of the insurance company's liability for the resultant higher expense rates than charged for in the premium. ...
HEALTH MAINTENANCE ORGANIZATION that restricts to a relatively small amount the number of medical providers from which an HMO member may seek services. Usually, HMO members may select the ...
Have a question or comment?
We're here to help.