Talk to me about Disability Insurance

[redredwine]

A while back I posted about life insurance, partially due to my H's motorcycle hobby and partially due to the fact we're homeowners, plan to have a kid, etc. Thanks to your advice, we now have almost 10x our salary in term life. Yay! 
He sold the bike he had and is about to get another (nothing fancy, no Harley, etc. just a bit nicer) I told him he can upon getting additional disability insurance - thanks to those ladies who insisted. He agreed. I wanted to ensure that if he were to get into a major accident and can't work, we still have income on top of the limited SSDI, etc. 
I emailed my agent and he seems to only have a policy that has accident + disability (and it was $$$ with only a little disability payout) . I know his medical coverage from work will cover him for medical expenses (yes, I realize he could need long term care and become unemployed and lose coverage, etc) so I really just wanted a separate disability policy.
Does those exist? A "shit, I can't work but we still have bills to pay" policy? I see a couple online, but am nervous to buy coverage from a randoms company. Does anyone have disability insurance outside of their work policy?

**I KNOW that many of you are like "hell NO" to a motorcycle. While it worries me, life is short and it's something he really enjoys. I had an XH who really wanted to ride, I refused to let him and I know he resented me for it, so that's part of it. So, no lectures on why he shouldn't ride. I also enjoy riding with him in the summer. 

PSA-if you don't have life insurance, GET IT NOW! DO NOT WAIT! H had a pretty major medical event happen to him DAYS after we finalized insurance. It would have excluded him from coverage and even only a few years later when he was eligible, his rates would have been SO HIGH. Don't wait, get it now while you know you're health. 

[Susie]

I have a long term disability policy through MetLife. I don't ride motorcycles, but I do ride road bikes, and many of the same risks apply. It's a lot more expensive than my life insurance, but IMO it's more important.

[starryfish]

What about an Aflac policy?

[redredwine]

Feb 9, 2016 18:47:50 GMT -5 starryfish said:

What about an Aflac policy?

They only do short-term disability. I'm more interested in the long term disability we have a decent short term policy at work (and emergency savings). If he's out long term, that's a much bigger issue. 

[scout8]

Feb 9, 2016 16:15:43 GMT -5 redredwine said:

PSA-if you don't have life insurance, GET IT NOW! DO NOT WAIT! H had a pretty major medical event happen to him DAYS after we finalized insurance. It would have excluded him from coverage and even only a few years later when he was eligible, his rates would have been SO HIGH. Don't wait, get it now while you know you're health. 

Not sure if it is an ongoing issue, but it may make it difficult to get disability insurance. I have never been able to get it due to a medical condition. Hopefully, that won't be the case for your H.

[redredwine]

Feb 9, 2016 19:35:41 GMT -5 scout8 said:

Feb 9, 2016 16:15:43 GMT -5 redredwine said:

PSA-if you don't have life insurance, GET IT NOW! DO NOT WAIT! H had a pretty major medical event happen to him DAYS after we finalized insurance. It would have excluded him from coverage and even only a few years later when he was eligible, his rates would have been SO HIGH. Don't wait, get it now while you know you're health. 

Not sure if it is an ongoing issue, but it may make it difficult to get disability insurance. I have never been able to get it due to a medical condition. Hopefully, that won't be the case for your H.

It's not an ongoing issue - well, there was no cause for it after a million tests (he had a seizure), but not sure if our agent is able to use the latest medical tests from our life ins. exams as they're less than 6 months old. 
We'll see though. Our LTD at work is pretty decent, so we may just keep that for now. 

[redredwine]

Feb 9, 2016 20:13:08 GMT -5 @mrsbecky said:

I don't think it's disability insurance but my brother has a separate rider in one of his policies (it may be part of life insurance not sure) that covers him if anything happens to his hands or eyes (he's a surgeon). It is expensive but it is also a large payout. Is that what you are looking for?

Oh, that's interesting. I didn't think of a separate rider. He's not a surgeon though, lol, he's in management, but worth checking into. 

Thanks all! 

[sadlebred]

I highly recommend getting an independent policy. Principal is one of the big players in Disability Insurance. It isn't cheap, and the process to get it can be long. It's worth it. It's best to talk to them or an agent because there are many factors that will go into the cost.

www.principal.com/individuals/insure/income-protection-disability-insurance/disability-income-protection

[WOUNDTIGHT]

I'd also check out Northwestern Mutual and MassMutual in additional to Principal. Fidelity also is good with DI for people in less than perfect health.

[tres3]

Do you have disability through work?

[WOUNDTIGHT]

Feb 10, 2016 7:42:13 GMT -5 tres3 said:

Do you have disability through work?

Even if DI is offered thru work, it's in most cases, not enough. A supplement policy is extremely prudent.

[tres3]

Feb 10, 2016 8:06:26 GMT -5 WOUNDTIGHT said:

Feb 10, 2016 7:42:13 GMT -5 tres3 said:

Do you have disability through work?

Even if DI is offered thru work, it's in most cases, not enough. A supplement policy is extremely prudent.

We have it through work and it pays out 70% of DH's income. We pay with after tax dollars so that 70% isn't taxed so basically we are "whole".

[WOUNDTIGHT]

Feb 10, 2016 8:08:35 GMT -5 tres3 said:

Feb 10, 2016 8:06:26 GMT -5 WOUNDTIGHT said:

Even if DI is offered thru work, it's in most cases, not enough. A supplement policy is extremely prudent.

We have it through work and it pays out 70% of DH's income. We pay with after tax dollars so that 70% isn't taxed so basically we are "whole".

Thats great that it's paid for with after tax dollars, but that's not always the case. Its very common for a group policy to cover only 60% of your income, and then that benefit it taxable. Which, for a one income household, could be financially devastating. Group policies also only cover your salary and commission, but not bonuses. So for someone who relies heavily on a bonus, it's another big blow.

[mpc]

We have our policy through state farm. It pays a portion of salary (60% maybe?) and we paid a little extra so that that payout would not take social security into account. otherwise they would let SS pay first and then only pay enough to reach 60% after that. It is expensive and I hate paying it, but I know it's a good idea.

Oh, and we chose to only have it start paying after 6 months. We figure we have an emergency fund to get us through at least that far.

[ladyk]

My LTD outside of work is with NW Mutual. MassMutual has good polices as well.

[redredwine]

Feb 10, 2016 7:42:13 GMT -5 tres3 said:

Do you have disability through work?

We do. It's decent, but we're still checking into supplemental policies.