The need to have and review your long-term disability benefits plan

Today more employers are trimming long-term disability benefits and at the same time pushing the costs of long-term disability coverage to employees. The sea change in how the cost of long-term disability benefits coverage may go unrecognized by many employees because a number of employers in the past covered the whole cost of long-term disability and because many employees focus more on healthcare coverage. Employees should be sure to review their long-term and short-term disability benefits.

Employees should review their long-term and short-term disability benefit plans like they would their health insurance. More employers are shifting costs to employees and reducing benefits and employees should not be left out in the cold.

Often employees overlook their disability benefit plans. One of the major reasons people think that they do not need long-term disability coverage is because they do not think they will ever need it. As one human resources consultant at Mercer put it many people buy life insurance and home insurance, but the risk of long-term disability exceeds the chances of a house fire or early death.

For example, a 20-year-old has a 30 percent chance of becoming disabled by the time she or he retires according to the Social Security Administration. When thinking about long-term disability benefits many people believe accidents are the major reason for coverage, but illness accounts for 90 percent of all long-term disability claims. According to the annual claim study by the Council for Disability Awareness the most common conditions people claim disability for are back problems, arthritis and cancer.

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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.

Proper long-term disability coverage is also important because the average disability claim lasts around two and one half years. Employees in Wisconsin should therefore take the time to review their plans.

Source: The Washington Post, “Employers shift disability insurance costs to workers and trim benefits,” Michelle Andrews, Sept. 19, 2011

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