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

Report developed by or supplied by a credit agency to an insurer dealing with the financial standing and character of an insurance applicant. These factors are carefully weighted by the ...

Procedure in which a home office interviewer (who may or may not have underwriting experience) interviews applicants on the telephone. The questions asked the applicant are automated and ...

Type of disability income insurance that provides income payments to the wage earner when income is interrupted or terminated because of illness, sickness, or accident and can continue to ...

Policies that have their future cash values closely correlated with a high lapse ratio of the insurance company's book of business. In theory, gains resulting from these lapses will result ...

Clause in legal contracts that excuses a given party to the contract from liability for unintentional negligent acts and/or omissions. ...

Form of inland marine insurance under which an insured is indemnified for damage or destruction of his or her on-premises property if it is due to radioactive material stored or used within ...

Eligible rollover distribution that is paid directly from an employee's employee benefit insurance plan to the employee's individual retirement account (IRA) or to another plan maintained ...

Frequency with which employees resign, are fired, or retire from a company, usually computed as the percentage, of an organization's employees at the beginning of a calendar year. The ...

Arrangement in which individuals serve as trustees of their own living trust and name another party (successor trustee) to manage the assets if they should become incapacitated. In this ...

Popular Insurance Questions