We have not spoken about long-term disability benefits for a while and there are some things that workers in Wisconsin should consider when thinking about their long-term disability benefits. Here are five contemporary issues regarding long-term disability benefits.
The first thing to know is that employers are not as eager to dole out and pay for coverage as they did in days past. Two years ago only 48 percent of companies in the United States paid for their employees’ long-term disability insurance. In 2002, almost 60 percent of U.S. companies paid for the long-term disability insurance of their workers. Clearly, things are changing.
If you are fortunate to work for an employer that covers your long-term disability insurance, your coverage may not be adequate. Many group policies pay only 60 percent of base salary if an injury or illness prevents you from working. Many of these policies also come with a monthly cap of $5000 to $15,000. Therefore, if your base salary is, for example, $200,000 and you have a monthly cap of $5,000, you would only receive $60,000. In addition, the amount of any Social Security disability payments is also deducted from the policy amount. One solution would be to purchase additional coverage especially since the average American worker has a one in five chance of becoming disabled for one year during their working years.
Alan Olson writes this web-log to provide helpful information regarding long-term disability cases. He practices long-term disability law throughout the United States from his offices in New Berlin, Wisconsin. Attorney Olson may be contacted at [email protected] with questions about the information posted here or for advice on specific disability benefit claims.
Piggy backing off the first point, individual policies are fairly priced and that means individual policies are a good choice if you do not have coverage or your employer does not offer additional coverage. Insurance companies have not raised premiums over the last few years because of stiff competition and more scrupulous underwriting.
Next time we will finish talking about the remaining three points.
Source: Money.CNN.com, “Five things to know about disability insurance,” Michelle Andrews, 6/2/11
