Disability insurance

[Daniel Stilling DFF]

Hey all

 

 

I am in the process of researching about disability insurance. Other than a mention to AFLAC I haven't seen any mention of it.

Does anybody have it?? through who??

There are so many variants and carriers. Does anybody have experience with Petersen international??

 

Thanx a bunch

 

Dan

[Dan Coplan]

I have disability insurance through Union Secure (http://www.unionsecure.com/) which is attainable if you're in the union. Ignorantly, I can't comment on whether it's good or bad, cheap or expensive, but it seems reasonably priced and I feel better knowing that I'm covered somehow.

 

I recently heard about Tom C. Pickard and Co. (http://groupinsure.com/) which is supposed to cater to the photographic still and motion picture industry for liability and gear (up to $15,000 only for the gear, apparently). Not sure if they cover disability.

 

Very interested to hear what other people are doing. Are there generally discounts for people who buy insurance as a group?

 

Dan

[Janice Arthur]

Hey all

 

 

I am in the process of researching about disability insurance. Other than a mention to AFLAC I haven't seen any mention of it.

Does anybody have it?? through who??

There are so many variants and carriers. Does anybody have experience with Petersen international??

 

Thanx a bunch

 

Dan

 

I have Petersen International Disability insurance and it is a good plan. The actual insurer is Lloyd's of London for my policy.

 

The key thing with any disability policy is that it be industry specific. Meaning if you can't be a Steadicam operator it pays. Most "generic" disability policies say, "Hey you can't walk, you can do something else. Get a job doing something else." Therefore they won't pay off.

 

Obviously whatever other job I happen onto is not going to pay well enough to keep me going.

 

They all have 90 day waiting periods and they all pay for max of 60 months. They ask about your current salary to gauge payout amounts. (People could, in a fraud environment, take out a huge policy then go for a claim and then skate for 5 years.)

 

I get 4-6k a month if I'm ever forced to use it for a premium of under $2k a year. (vague exact numbers)

 

Its not bad and that's a good return too.

 

The Walter P. Dolle insurance company (cinti, OH) that does the Steadicam policy wrote my disability policy.

 

AFLAC does disability too but I don't know anything about theirs.

 

Janice

[Bill Brummond]

I had disability insurance for over 10 years. And we all know about my accident. The insurance company wiggled out of paying. Read your policy and exclusions VERY carefully.

 

Bill

[Lawrence Karman]

I had disability insurance for over 10 years. And we all know about my accident. The insurance company wiggled out of paying. Read your policy and exclusions VERY carefully.

 

Bill

 

 

Bill, I'm so sorry to hear that. Yet another story of someone being screwed by an insurance co.

[Brad Grimmett]

Bill, I'm so sorry to hear that. Yet another story of someone being screwed by an insurance co.

I'm sorry to hear that too. It seems that the very definition of "insurance company" is a company that screws people over for profit. If they do anything else I'm certainly not aware of it. I've seen them screw people over and over again in FL after hurricanes and tornadoes, and now they're doing it in Miss. because of Katrina. They're always there to send you a bill or start a new policy for you, but when you need them to do what you're paying them for, they disappear and/or don't do what they're suppossed to do. Compared to insurance companies, Enron looks ethical.

Sorry to babble on, but this really hits a nerve with me.

OK, end of rant.

[Tony Reyes]

I know this thread is very old, but I have some questions. I'm looking in to long term disability through Northwestern Mutual. Not real happy with the person I'm working with. They have been persistent about a "Life insurance plan" that is also a savings. That's a whole other issue.

This plan would cover me if I was seriously disabled for life and could not work. It's roughly $600 a year and they are saying they could get me 90% of my income for life (if I needed it).

Just kind of torn because this client has lost my trust. But at the same time, if I can't operate I'm screwed. I've already gone through the interviews and health screenings.

 

Does anyone have this? Specifically with NWM?

 

Thanks,

Tony

[Janice Arthur]

Tony;

 

When insurance is tied to life insurance be careful its usually so form a derivative of the life insurance what you're really buying is life insurance.

 

True disability insurance has two/four components; 90-120 days of disability before it starts, which means you have to be really in bad shape and haven't recovered for a long time. The reason is that otherwise you with shorter time like two weeks you could have a broken leg and claim you were disabled. The good news is you get a lower premium with longer time til its active.

 

Second, limited time of coverage; the policy I had covered me at a fixed amount, I think 2000 a month for five years max. Virtually NO policy will cover you for life. The disability insurance is supposed to get you over the hump of disability but not sustain you for life. Its also hardly ever affordable for your entire month's bills so you pick a number that will keep you from financial disaster and/or that you can afford the premiums.

 

Third, amount of disability. Thankfully most are not totally impaired from life's activities.

Let's say you lost a limb and couldn't shoot, terrible but you can do a thousand other things with some training/education. They won't pay you to sit home just because you are only able to shoot.

 

There is a/was when I had it job specific clause and I don't remember the details but it did have some pay feature that said if I couldn't be able bodied enough to be a shooter. Obviously it was a niche disability insurance and higher. Mine was through Lloyds of london about 20 yrs ago and only paid 2-3k a month and was $1200-$1500 a year if I remember right. Physical etc. It still only lasted for something like five years, not infinite pay out. It was written through Walter P. Dolle and I don't think even exists any more. I had it for years but then it was not reasonable to pay for any longer.

 

I did recently have a disability policy through State Farm insurance that paid after 60-90 days and paid off my mortgage or something like that. When my mortgage got small it wasn't reasonable to pay for that even any longer.

 

Another tip, do not in any world buy from an on-line carrier you've never heard of.

 

The good news is AFLAC has some disability policies and so do many others so shop. The AFLAC has policies for accident and cancer etc which for me are great. $40 a month and cover a lot of what the disability seemed to and not a big exclusion zone and not big waiting period and fast pay outs etc. I've found it a neat stop gap insurance.

 

The maybe more logical insurance to buy is long-term care insurance. Its something about all of us will need and may be better for the truely disabled. You buy a time frame of coverage like 5-10 yrs and at a 2-5k a month. It becomes a set pool of money and when needed you draw from that pool. Again not infinite. About $250-500 a month.

 

Terry Savage, the adviser, even says kids should go together and buy policies for their parents on days like Mothers's days or Father's day instead of gifts because if you don't your parents are going to end up living with one of the kids and most famiilies cannot do that. Its a brilliant suggestion. Every kid pays a portion of the policy for the parents and its a plan.

(The government plans are not what you think they are as a stop gap help here.)

 

Savings. The sure way to avoid many of these needs is a big savings account, however you measure it. Who ever says "I've got a savings account, darn!"

 

Sorry don't know beans about NW or the one you mentioned.

 

Janice

[Janice Arthur]

Tony;

 

Also, expect that the more expensive the payout the more they may ask about your income.

 

One of my policies regularly asked me to verify income.

 

Couldn't figure out why, then it occurred to me. You could in theory sign up for a big policy, way over your income, and then step out in front of something bad and make a big claim and end up making more than you do toiling away at your job.

 

Lots of people, not even smart ones, have thought of this.

 

JA