Got Your Head in the Sand When it comes to disability?

Got Your Head in the Sand When it comes to disability? -


Workers who start today are projected to have about three in 10 chance of suffering a long-term disability during their working years. Yet despite these odds size, nearly 70% of the workforce of America has no private disability insurance.
As part of a consumer research project recently published entitled "The fracture of disability," the awareness of Disability Council found some interesting facts:
employees believe that "disability can happen to anyone at any time" ... but they deny it can happen to them
when asked to choose which of several statements. on disability was more reflective of their beliefs, an overwhelming 83% of respondents chose "it can happen to anyone at any time." other choices like "it rarely happens" (5%) and "most disabilities can be prevented through healthier lifestyles" (6%) were the mostly ignored.
survey participants estimated their chances of suffering a disability during their working life to 1% or 2% ... while the actual odds are more than 10 times higher.
when asked about their chances of becoming disabled during their career, 64% pegged their own chances at 1% or 2%. most thought their chances were below average. so while they recognize that disability can happen, they think it will happen to "the other guy" and not very often about it.
the employees believe essentially disabilities are usually caused by serious accidents ... but the most data show 0% or more disability resulting from disease.
When asked to evaluate the different possible causes of disability, 71% found "serious accident" as or very likely. The next most highly ranked cause was "AVC", 45% second distant, which was followed by "cancer" with 43% choosing it as a probable cause or very likely. In general, the expected causes most often picked disability were bright once, catastrophic events (stroke, stroke, heart attack, cancer, paralysis) while other more chronic conditions like such as muscle or bone pain (26%) and depression / anxiety (14%), which actually cause a high percentage of disability, were considered less likely.
Employees perceive the unrest last long ... but less than a third of America's workforce is. covered by adequate protection of long-term disability income
Nearly 70% of respondents believed that a person had a disability would miss work for a year or more; Surprisingly, 31% said that the person would never return to work. The "catastrophic perception" of disability mentioned above is reflected in the response. Yet about 70% of the US workforce has no private disability insurance.
Where is the money?
Here are some questions you should answer that you consider your disability insurance needs:

• How much are your monthly living expenses that continue or even increase if your income stopped? Have you considered a disease or accident typically increases "out of pocket" expenses such as medical deductibles and co-pays, and hosting fees or custodial care?
• How do you pay your necessary monthly living expenses if your paycheck stopped? How long can you keep paying your bills?
• Do you know that the long-term average disability lasts two and a half years?
• Have you sick plan or paid long-term disability program work? When would it start? How much to pay and for how long? Is there a gap between what the payroll program, and what your monthly expenses will be provided?
• What if you exhaust your personal savings and retirement? How will this affect your long-term financial situation and your dreams for the future?

Enjoy disability related to educational tools that the awareness Council Disability and LIFE Foundation make available and make sure that you get the disability insurance coverage you need.

Barry Lundquist, CLU, is chairman of the disability awareness.