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

Modified collateral split dollar life insurance plan under which the employee purchases and owns a life insurance policy on the employee's own life. The employer makes the unscheduled ...

Status in which an insurance company holds funds of its insureds (the payment of premiums) in trust, and through an insuring agreement promises to make all benefit payments for which it has ...

Reinsurance: surplus reinsurance contracts under which the agreement between an insurer and a re insurer is based on the ceding company's line guide, such that the amount re insured is ...

In property insurance, percentages of basic coverages which may be applied to provide coverage for other real and personal property. For example, under the homeowners INSURANCE POLICY ...

Procedure for offering reduced auto insurance rates to drivers with good records, and imposing higher rates on bad drivers. Typically, premiums are weighted under a system that assigns ...

Clause in a property insurance policy that stipulates that either the insurer or the insured has the right to demand an appraisal in order to determine the monetary damage or loss to an ...

Provision in commercial property coverage under which an insured must report the value of an insured property at periodic intervals in order to preserve coverage up to values reported. In ...

Combination property, liability, and business interruption policy. It is usually written to cover expenses of small and medium size businesses resulting from damage or destruction of ...

Nonparticipating life insurance under which the first few annual premiums are smaller than would be the case under a traditional nonparticipating policy. While the maximum amount of these ...

Popular Insurance Questions