The case for long-term disability insurance

Life with a disability can be difficult enough. So often life is made more difficult and complicated by an insurer that denies long-term disability benefits.

A recent column by a financial planner laid out good reasons for workers to acquaint themselves with basic facts about long-term disability insurance and why it is so important to you and your family that you are covered in case you are prevented by injury or illness from working.

One mistake people often make, the planner wrote, is thinking that the short-term disability insurance they have (typically through their employer) is enough. The problem is simply that short-term ends after just a year or two.

The planner says that LTD is more important for young workers to have than life insurance. The risk of disability can be greater when you are young and active than when you are older and more sedentary. Think, too, of the many years your family would face without LTD checks if you fail to pay its relatively inexpensive premiums.

Purchasing the policy is just part of what the financial planner wants you to do, however. She also urges people to become familiar with the conditions under which the insurance pays off. She points out two categories: those whose disability prevents them from working in their current occupation and those who are prevented by disability from working at any kind of job.

Please read the article for more details on the two categories, as well as additional information about private LTD coverage, Social Security Disability and more.

Of course, even if you purchase coverage and are then sidelined from work by a physical or mental disability, you will often have to face an insurance company denial of your claim. In those situations, you can speak with a Milwaukee employment law attorney about the best legal options available to you to pursue full and fair compensation.

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