What should I know about LTD pay elimination periods?

When you can’t work because of a long-term injury or illness, you have a lot of concerns about how you’ll pay your bills. You may soon exhaust your short-term disability coverage and need to make a long-term disability (LTD) claim. However, what you may not realize is that your long-term disability policy includes an elimination period.

What is an elimination period?

An elimination period is the amount of time you’ll need to wait before receiving money from your long-term disability insurance. Typically, long-term disability insurance policies have 90-day elimination periods. So, you may have three months before you can receive long-term disability pay. This is when many workers either:

  • use short-term disability benefits
  • or tap into their savings

When an insurance provider may waive an elimination period

If you are suffering from cancer, a condition that can reoccur, your long-term disability provider may waive an elimination period. So, if you use long-term disability coverage and then relapse, you likely won’t have to wait 90 days to get LTD pay again.

Other issues to know about long-term disability pay

Some people confuse a long-term disability elimination period with a policy’s probationary period. Most policies require those who are insured to wait through a probationary period before making a claim. So, if you just recently signed up for long-term disability coverage, you may not be eligible to use it until that probationary period is over.

Dealing with long-term disability claims often is complicated and difficult. You should consult an attorney, so you have a better chance of getting your long-term disability benefits approved and know when your elimination period will end.

If you are suffering from cancer, a condition that can reoccur, your long-term disability provider may waive an elimination period. So, if you use long-term disability coverage and then relapse, you likely won’t have to wait 90 days to get LTD pay again.

Long-term disability insurance coverage can be confusing, especially when your energy and focus should be on recovering from your illness or injury. For help navigating the red tape, contact the Milwaukee law office of Alan C. Olson and Associates.

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