What is the Best Disability Insurance?

Posted 6/15/2011

When trying to determine what the best disability insurance policy is, it is strictly a matter of written contractual language that decides if you get paid. You want to have a contract that provides the most instances in which you would qualify to be paid a claim.  It is imperative that you understand the definitions, exclusions, and limitations in a policy contract in order to differentiate one insurance company’s contract from another. The best disability insurance policy will have less written language in its definitions, having less stipulations of how one must qualify for a claim. In general, more writing can be a bad thing.

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Hopefully included as an automatic part of the policy are features like Non-Cancellable, Guaranteed Renewable, True Own-Occupation Definition of Disability, Presumptive Disability Clause, and No Mental/Nervous Limitations.

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There are also additional benefits that each carrier offers by additional riders that you pay to have attached to your policy.  Some examples of these riders that you should strongly consider are: Lifetime Benefits Rider, Residual/Partial Benefits Rider, Future Increase Option Rider, and Cost of Living Adjustment Rider.

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It is important to compare each insurance carrier’s specimen disability contract to one another in order to see the differences and decide what the best disability insurance contract is for you.  The better the contract, the more instances it will pay, and therefore the more it will cost.  Think about it, it costs more because it is more likely to get used.  Cheap policies cost less because they are less likely to pay claims.

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For an depth closer look at each carrier’s specimen contract, visit the Top Carriers & Why page.  For the side-by-side comparison of carriers based on contract points, click here.