You cannot live without a steady income or money of some sort. And when you get injured or disabled for any reason for even a short term, it can impact your life heavily. Professional problems aside, most people rarely have enough savings for them to coast through a few months with zero income. This is why you should always have short term disability insurance.
Like it is the case with all kinds of insurances, good short term disability insurance can be very difficult to find. There are various factors that come into play when it comes to this insurance. As all these factors affect the quotation of the insurance in different ways, you should always consult an experienced agent for the right choice; otherwise you might get stuck in the fine print.
Factors that affect the quote
When you start to look for the most affordable short term disability insurance in the market, you usually look for several quotes from different agencies along with the benefits they provide before choosing one to settle for. Some of the important factors that will impact the exact quote of your short term disability insurance are:
- Your age
- Your general health
- Degenerative habits like drinking, smoking, or other drug usage
- Your gender
- Duration for which you will get the benefits
- Your present income
- Your job
- Any add-ons that you ask for
This quote will include the amount you will have to give as premium, and the amount you will be liable for in case you get disabled for a short term.
Things you should be attentive towards
When you have received several quotes from different agencies, you will need to sort through them. The things you should look out for are:
- The actual insurance policy you want. If your work environment or commute or general living condition is such that most injuries you face will be long term, then going for a short term disability insurance may not be the best move. You might want to check out disability insurances for long terms.
- The cost of the premiums you will have to give every month for your policy. While this is an obvious factor to look into, it is also subject to a lot of the points stated below.
- The period of time you will have to wait after you get injured for starting to receive the benefits.
- The amount you would get from the insurance: most quotes will vary from about 40% of your current salary (base salary) to 70%. It boils down to the type of insurance you go for.
- Any conditions which are deemed pre-existing and are hence not included in your insurance policy. This is especially important because it may come back to bite you if you overlook it.
- The amount of time for which you will receive your insurance. This is important because this is the time you will get to become better before having to work again.
- The extra features, if any, those are included in your policy. You can choose to include extra features as well if you feel they are necessary. Those add-ons will obviously come at a price.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we would like to say that before choosing a short term disability insurance, you should ask yourself a few questions like what percentage of your income per month would be enough to sustain your household without you having to dip into your savings, how long would you want them to last, and what are the short term disabilities you are most prone to; because these are things that an agent cannot answer for you. Once you know this entire pick an agent and find the best insurance policy for yourself.
