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Disability Insurance  Frequently Asked Questions |
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| 1. How Much Does Disability Insurance Cost? |
Disability insurance is based on several factors. The price will be in accordance to the
elimination period, benefit period, age, occupational class, and benefit amount. Your
plan is capable of being as inexpensive or as expensive as you would like it to be
depending on the type of plan you select. As a rule of thumb, you could anticipate to pay
between 1-3% of your yearly income for a superior disability insurance plan. We
approach in this manner:
If you were offered two identical jobs, the one paid you a $100,000 annually while you
were working but would not pay you anything if you were sick or hurt. While, the other
paid you $98,000 annually while you were working and would pay you 60% of your
annual income tax-free if you were sick or hurt until you reached the age of 65 or when
you recovered. Which job would you choose?
Disability insurance, in our judgment, is one of the most important parts of your financial
plan. If you do not have a reliable income protection plan through disability insurance,
your entire financial future is unpredictable. Odds are if you are reading this page you
are no longer 18 years old and invincible, so discover what a reliable disability insurance
contract costs by requesting a disability insurance quote now. |
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| 2. What Is a Disability? Who Defines Disability? |
| What is a Disability? |
| There are several definitions of “Disability” within a disability insurance policy, thus
there are several ways you can be disabled in accordance to the terms of the contract. In
simplest terms, a disability is sickness or injury which interferes with your ability to
work. Hopefully this answer your first question, “Does this policy cover accident and
sickness?” with an absolute yes. |
| Possible Disability Insurance Claims |
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Totally Disabled – The definition of this term for occupational classes 6-4P is:
Because of sickness or injury you are unable to perform the material and substantial
duties of your regular occupation, or occupations if more than one, in which you are
engaged at the time of disability. |
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Residual Disability – This can be viewed in two different claim scenarios. First,
consider a residual disability as a partial disability, or as a recovery benefit. The
residual disability rider in the Provider Plus disability insurance policy can act as an
unlimited recovery benefit, and does not necessitate a loss of time or duties in order to
pay a claim. Individuals who own their own business, are in sales, or are the chief
rainmaker for their company, there has to be a residual disability rider on your policy. |
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Presumptive Disability – If you unfortunately suffer the total and complete loss of
hearing, speech, sight, or the use of any two limbs the insurance company will pay
you first day benefits. Simply, you do not have to wait through the elimination period
before you become eligible for monthly benefits if you suffer from one of the above
losses. |
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| Who Defines Disability? |
In reality, the disability insurance company defines disability. The claims examiner will
make the final decision as to whether or not your sickness or injury falls within the
definitions of the policy. Normally if the physician taking care of your accident or illness
states that you are incapable of performing the material and substantial duties of your
regular occupation, the claims examiner will utilize that for a claims determination.
However not every claim is cut and dry, and at times the disability insurance company
will require an independent medical examiner to assist with the final claims
determination. While there are definitive medical tests that can show a claims examiner
that you just had a heart attack, a stroke, cancer, or diabetes complications, there are
some disabilities that are difficult to verify such as depression, anxiety, and stress
disorders.
The bottom line is if your injury or illness falls within the definitions of the disability
insurance policy, then you are classified as disabled. |
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| 3. Can I Qualify For Disability Insurance Because Of My Medical History? |
| Our Possible Underwriting Action Database is State Of The Art |
There are very few people who can cruise through the underwriting process. It is not
easy to attain maximum coverage at competitive rates. It is for that reason that we have
become so successful. To add, there are people that the insurance company will not offer
coverage to because they seem to be too risky, or there has been a possible claim under
the disability insurance contract. Many circumstances require the disability insurance
company to limit the benefit period, extend the elimination period or add an additional
rated premium onto the policy.
As an individual considers about attaining disability insurance, you need to keep an open
mind when entering into the process. There are very few individuals that come out of
underwriting with a preferred risk discount, even if they just recently received a super preferred
discount on a life policy. There are several significant differentiations between
life insurance and disability insurance underwriting. The disability insurance company is
assessing the prospect of you becoming incapable to carry out the material and
substantial duties of your regular occupation, they are not assessing the odds of you
passing away in the near future. Items such as chiropractic visits, arthritis, back
problems, neck pain history, mental or nervous counseling, use of anti-depressant
medication, and many other conditions take part in disability insurance underwriting. Please do not hesitate to give us a call to discuss your medical history; we will not waste
your valuable time. We will let you know up front whether or not you are likely to be a
candidate for a personal disability insurance policy. |
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| 4. Do You Offer Temporary Disability Insurance? |
My New Company Does Not Offer Long Term Disability Insurance For One Year
We (The Perzel Agency) do not provide temporary disability insurance to fill your gap in
coverage. In order to apply with us you have to include a list of any disability insurance
that you possess, have applied for, or will be qualified for on the application. If you are
qualified for group LTD with your company for a specific amount of time you would be
legally obligated to include this on your individual disability insurance application. Since
you will be qualified for the coverage, we could only present you with a small
supplemental disability insurance policy over and above the LTD benefit.
Actually, we are not aware of any major insurance company that provides gap disability
insurance coverage for circumstances like this, the only thing we could provide you with
is a small supplemental policy that would be designed to overlap your future long term
disability protection through your company. |
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| 5. Do You Offer Supplemental Disability Insurance? |
Supplemental Coverage To Pick Up Where Group LTD Is Lacking
Group long term disability insurance normally provides 60% of base salary to a monthly
maximum benefit of $5,000 or $10,000. The existent policy definitions are normally
more limiting than an individual disability insurance plan, and if your company is
formulating the premium payments for you than the benefits are taxable during a claim.
Hence, if you believe that a policy that pays you 45% (60% less taxes) of your earnings,
with limiting provisions and definitions, and does not permit you obtain your income
protection benefit to any other company is satisfactory then you do not necessarily need
supplemental disability insurance.
Those of us who live in a world where rationale rules our decision making process should
assess a supplemental disability insurance policy. This type of policy can increase your
percentage replacement of earnings from the actual 45% (60% less taxes during the
claim), can guarantee you the ability to attain manageable disability insurance, and can
provide you more liberal definitions within the policy.
There are many group long term disability insurance plans that have very limiting
definitions that define when an employee is paid for a disability claim. Normally, it is
own-occupation for only the first two years in a claim, then changes to a profitable
occupation definition of total disability. Normally, a group LTD policy also has a
restrictive partial disability benefit, and typically does not provide any inflation
protection. This should be enough of a reason to not to rely on group long term disability insurance, if it is not then you must also realize that you cannot take your LTD coverage
with you if you ever leave the company. A supplemental disability insurance plan
through us (The Perzel Agency) will have a more comprehensive definition of total
disability, a considerably superior residual disability rider, and can also have inflation
protection. If you choose to use the group long term disability insurance replacement
rider, than you will be capable of converting a large portion of your LTD benefit into
your supplemental disability insurance policy. Hence guaranteeing that if you purchase
supplemental disability insurance with the replacement rider, then it will not matter how
many various companies you work for, you will always have equal amount of income
protection.
One Major Reason Not To Rely On Group Long Term Disability Insurance
It would be an enormous mistake to believe that you will always be insurable; in regards
to disability insurance you may or may not be able to acquire a supplemental policy at
this present time. This type of insurance is difficult to obtain, you have to apply, and then
the company will assess detailed medical records to make sure that you do not have a
possible existing disability. Even though, you could be healthy at this present time, there
is no guarantee that you will healthy a year from now. There is the possibility of you
developing back problems, diabetes or some other condition that could prevent you from
obtaining a policy. By purchasing a supplemental disability insurance policy you are
guaranteed the ability to always have income protection no matter how much money you
make, what company you work for, or what medical condition you may develop in the
future. If you choose to apply for a supplemental disability insurance proposal from our
site, make sure you put in the “additional information” section that you would a
supplemental coverage. |
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| 6. I Have Disability Insurance At Work, Can I Get More? |
Supplemental Coverage To Pick Up Where Group LTD Is Lacking
Group long term disability insurance normally provides 60% of base salary to a monthly
maximum benefit of $5,000 or $10,000. The existent policy definitions are normally
more limiting than an individual disability insurance plan, and if your company is
formulating the premium payments for you than the benefits are taxable during a claim.
Hence, if you believe that a policy that pays you 45% (60% less taxes) of your earnings,
with limiting provisions and definitions, and does not permit you obtain your income
protection benefit to any other company is atisfactory then you do not necessarily need
supplemental disability insurance.
Those of us who live in a world where rationale rules our decision making process should
assess a supplemental disability insurance policy. This type of policy can increase your
percentage replacement of earnings from the actual 45% (60% less taxes during the
claim), can guarantee you the ability to attain manageable disability insurance, and can
provide you more liberal definitions within the policy.
There are many group long-term disability insurance plans that have very limiting
definitions that define when an employee is paid for a disability claim. Normally, it is
own-occupation for only the first two years in a claim, then changes to a profitable
occupation definition of total disability. Normally, a group LTD policy also has a
restrictive partial disability benefit, and typically does not provide any inflation
protection. This should be enough of a reason to not to rely on group long term disability
insurance, if it is not then you must also realize that you cannot take your LTD coverage
with you if you ever leave the company. A supplemental disability insurance plan
through us (The Perzel Agency) will have a more comprehensive definition of total
disability, a considerably superior residual disability rider, and can also have inflation
protection. If you choose to use the group long term disability insurance replacement
rider, than you will be capable of converting a large portion of your LTD benefit into
your supplemental disability insurance policy. Hence guaranteeing that if you purchase
supplemental disability insurance with the replacement rider, then it will not matter how
many various companies you work for, you will always have equal amount of income
protection. |
One Major Reason Not To Rely On Group Long Term Disability Insurance
It would be an enormous mistake to believe that you will always be insurable; in regards
to disability insurance you may or may not be able to acquire a supplemental policy at
this present time. This type of insurance is difficult to obtain, you have to apply, and then
the company will assess detailed medical records to make sure that you do not have a
possible existing disability. Even though, you could be healthy at this present time, there
is no guarantee that you will healthy a year from now. There is the possibility of you
developing back problems, diabetes or some other condition that could prevent you from
obtaining a policy. By purchasing a supplemental disability insurance policy you are
guaranteed the ability to always have income protection no matter how much money you
make, what company you work for, or what medical condition you may develop in the
future. If you choose to apply for a supplemental disability insurance proposal from our
site, make sure you put in the “additional information” section that you would a
supplemental coverage. |
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| 7. How Long Does It Take To Get A Quote? To Get A Policy Placed In-Force? |
| Quotes Available Within 24 Hours |
| If you decide to ask for a disability insurance quote from our site, you will receive an
email from our agency within 24 hours. That email will include a link to your own web
page which will have your detailed disability insurance proposal, supplementary
resources for research, and an application for your use if you choose to purchase the
policy from us. Feel free to request a free disability insurance proposal now. |
| How Long Does It Take To Get A Policy Placed In-Force? |
| The standard underwriting time of our agency is 35 days; this incorporates from the
precise moment we receive the completed application until the issued policy is sent to
your home. Underwriting is the insurance company’s selection process, and while 35
days is standard, it is very customary for the process to take as brief as 2 weeks, and as
lengthy as 2 months. There are several major factors that effect the underwriting period
of your application. |
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How Detailed Is Your Application? – If you give all of the details the insurance
company requires up front, it will take us less time to clarify the answers on the
application. So it is always a good idea to give as much detail as you possibly can
when you apply for disability insurance through us (The Perzel Agency). |
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How Long Does It Take To Obtain Your Medical Records? – This most likely causes
more delays than any other part of the disability insurance underwriting process. The
insurance company normally asks for a copy of your medical records from your usual
physician and then the insurance company has to wait to see if their office fulfills the
request. Occasionally, they receive medical requests within a few days, but there are
times that it takes an extended period of time for your physician to send the insurance
company a copy of your medical records. There is a third party company that follows
up on this request frequently in order to receive the records as soon as possible. |
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Scheduling The Paramedical Exam – One our office obtains your completed
disability insurance applicant we will arrange for a paramedical company to get in
touch with you so they can schedule a paramedical examination. This consists of a
blood test, urine sample, BP reading, and several medical questions. If you arrange
this sooner instead of later, it will help reduce the underwriting time of your
application.
In simplest terms, a disability insurance application can be underwritten on a timely
basis, but there are some possible delays. As a consumer you can assist us in an
effort to reduce the delay time by giving us as much information as you possibly can
when you complete the application, ask your physician to provide the medical records
as soon humanly possible, and by setting up the labs in the same week you receive the
phone call. |
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| 8. Where Can I Get Detailed Product Information? |
| Please contact Rick Courtney at (800) 440-4380 for more information pertaining to our
product information. |
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| Additional Frequently Asked Questions |
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| 9.What Are The Odds Of Becoming Disabled? |
This question is asked on a daily basis, and truthfully we wonder why it is asked. So, ask
yourself this question, “When was the last time I took a 7 month vacation?” If the answer
is never, then you should have disability insurance. If you were aware of the odds of
becoming critically disabled is only 5%, would you do without disability insurance?
Would you put your entire financial security in jeopardy of a complete collapse by not
obtaining disability insurance? That is what happens to individuals who do not have
disability income insurance when they become sick or injured and not able to bring home
a paycheck. Just think about the financial anxiety in your life at this present time, and
then magnify it ten-fold when there is no monthly income because of your disability. The
odds are higher that you could suffer up to a period of 90 days or more before you reach
65 years old.
Now that you have a better grasp of the risk, is it enough to show you the importance of
acquiring a personal long term disability insurance policy? Can you go on a 7 month
vacation without worrying about your financial situation? That is one the biggest
mistakes individuals make when they decide on disability insurance and frequently we
hear the excuse “I could get by almost a year without an income.” Our first question
would be “Why?” and then our second question would be “Why would you want to?”
Disability insurance premiums are normally only 2 or 3% of your total annual earnings to
make sure that if you ever became sick or injured you are guaranteed a monthly income.
It is not a good idea to do without disability insurance and you should not go without it
unless you are independently wealthy. The worst and most common excuse is “I cannot
afford it,” that only means that verge of reaching that point and have the most to lose in
the shortest period of time. |
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| 10. How Do I Apply? |
| You Have Several Options To Obtain Coverage |
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Most Common Way To Apply For A Policy |
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Many individuals who purchase disability insurance from our agency receive a
personal disability insurance proposal first by either requesting an online quote or
calling our office to receive a proposal over the phone. You can request a
disability insurance quote online or call us at 800-440-4380. Regardless of the
approach you select to request a free proposal, you will wind up with your own
personal web page which you can use to print the application they you need to fill
out and send to our office. As soon as you have the personal web page from us,
you just need to print the disability insurance application from the page, and
follow the instructions on the first page. If you would like to know what happens
after you send the completed application, just go to our disability insurance
application process page. This page was created for the purpose of letting you
know how to apply for disability insurance with our agency. |
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Fastest Way To Apply For A Policy |
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If you are interesting in applying for an individual disability insurance policy with
us (The Perzel Agency), you can start the underwriting process today. You do not
have to acquire a quote, and you do not need to fill out the application on your
own. You can call our office at 800-440-4380 and ask to speak with Ricky, and
tell him you would to start the underwriting process today. He will work with you
to create a disability insurance policy, and when you have agreed on the amounts
and optional riders; your specialist can fill out an application with you over the
phone. When the application has been completed over the phone, our office will
send it to you so you can review it and then sign it. Once we receive the signed
application at our office, we will start the application process. |
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| Ways You Cannot Apply With Our Agency!!! |
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Occasionally, we have seen individuals decide for one reason or another that they
are going to apply for several disability insurance policies at the same time. This
insurance company will not allow this and most other respectable insurance
companies will not allow this either. If you apply with our agency for our
disability insurance policy, you should have already made up your mind that this
is the type of policy that you want. If we happen to find out about another
application with a different company, we will discontinue the underwriting
process of your application. |
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You Should Not Apply Through Us After Being Declined By Another
The reason we say “should” is because there are exceptions to the rule. However,
the majority of the time if another disability insurance company has already
declined your application for an individual disability insurance policy; it is most
likely that this insurance company would do the same thing. As a rule, please do
not put an application in until you have spoken to a specialist in our office who
has confirmed that it would acceptable for you to apply even though you have
been recently declined by another insurance company. |
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11. My Occupation Is Not Listed On Your Website; Can You Offer Me A
Disability Insurance Quote? |
| The purpose of this website is to know some of the most frequent occupations buying
disability insurance from us (The Perzel Agency). It is impossible to list every
occupation that our agency can quote, so we have provided a list describing the
occupational class system that we use. Please review the descriptions that we offer and
make sure that when you ask for a disability insurance quote from our website, that you
list what occupational class you think you fit into based on the material and substantial
duties of your occupation. |
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| 12. Do You Offer Short Term Disability Insurance? |
At this point of time, we do not offer individual short term disability insurance. There are
very few insurance companies that do offer this type of product. We (The Perzel
Agency) do not offer group short term disability insurance, but we do have a group
department within our agency that is more than capable of working with your company to
secure a group short term disability insurance policy. Regrettably, we do not broker out
with other companies for individual short term coverage.
If you are interested in working with our group department on a proposal for your
company as a whole, and you have 50 or more people in your company, please call us at
800-440-4380 and ask to speak with Ricky regarding group insurance for your company.
One of our group insurance specialists will be able to help your company create a long or
short term disability insurance program. |
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| 13. How Is My Personal Information Kept Private and Secure? |
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How does This Website Keep My Personal Information Private, Confidential and Secure? |
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First, you should be able to notice that when you request a disability insurance quote
from our website is the Secure Seal. The digital certificate symbol means that our quote
request form is encrypted, and that an outside source cannot get access to your personal
information when you provide it through the request form. If you go onto the quote
request page, you will see a small padlock icon on the lower right hand side of your
browser window at the bottom right of the page. This is how Internet Explorer tells you
that the page you are visiting is secure. |
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Privacy Statement |
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Contrary to a vast majority of disability insurance sites on the internet, this is not a lead
generation system. If you request a disability insurance proposal from this website, the
only individuals that will have access to your information are the disability insurance
agents who will be running your proposal. We assure you that we will not put you on
any email lists, will not give your information to any other company, and you will not
receive spam from our office. If you would like to request for a long term disability
insurance proposal, you will receive one email letting you know what agent you will be
assigned to, one email containing a link to your personal web page which will allow you
to print your quote and application, and you will not receive more than three follow-up
emails. Our office has a specified follow-up process, and if you decide at any point that
you are no longer interested in a disability insurance policy through our company (The
Perzel Agency), then we will erase all your information from our system immediately.
We take internet security very seriously, and we mostly likely dislike spammers more
than you do because most of our business comes from individuals like you who
discovered us online. |
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Personal Nature of Disability Insurance |
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This is a type of product where underwriters from our insurance company will asses your
medical records and look at all the details of your personal healthy history. You should
feel relieved to know that the disability insurance company you select has an exceptional
reputation in customer service. |
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| 14. Can I Get Disability Insurance For A Pregnancy? |
The disability insurance policy that The Perzel Agency offers is not a contract that the
insurance company will use to cover individuals looking for protection for their current
pregnancy. Many disability insurance companies will not protect current pregnancies,
simply, if you are pregnant when you turn in your application for a personal disability
insurance policy, the insurance company could do one of two things - they could issue the
policy with an exclusion for the current pregnancy, or they could decline the application
if they think the pregnancy is too far along.
Our agency prefers to use pregnancy as a wake-up call for individuals when it concerns
disability income insurance. We have found that many couples are trying to find
companies who will cover them for a current pregnancy, but the problem is the quality
contracts will not cover it because it is a pre-existing condition. We think your best
alternative would be to obtain a comprehensive disability insurance policy with an
exclusion rider for a current pregnancy, and after you had the baby, then come back to the
insurance company and ask them to review the policy so they remove the exclusion. In
this way, you can have one of the most comprehensive disability insurance policies
accessible on the market today, and if the insurance company can remove the exclusion
rider, then you can be protected for you next pregnancy.
Bottom Line For Currently Pregnant Women
Regrettably, the disability insurance policy cannot offer you a policy for your current
pregnancy. |
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| 15. Do You Offer Business Overhead Expense Disability Insurance? |
The Answer Is A Resounding Yes!!!
This is an overhead disability insurance policy that is offered to physicians, attorneys,
accountants and other professionals.
If you like an overhead expense insurance quote, please visit our website which offers an
interactive worksheet to assist you in figuring out what expenses you need covered. Here
is a tip, do not purchase overhead expense insurance for your total monthly overhead. If
your monthly overhead is $25,000, you should figure out which of these fixed expenses
would continue if you become disabled. If you decide to take the time to look over
schedule C, usually you would find expenses that could stop if you become disabled. Figure this, while you are working at your particular occupation your total monthly
overhead is $25,000, but while you are disabled the overhead could be only $10,000. It is
important that you only purchase an amount that you absolutely need during your
disability. The underwriters at The Perzel Agency will happily help you during this
underwriting process and make any necessary recommendations concerning the monthly
benefits. |
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| 16. I Am Getting A Business Loan, Can You Insure That Loan? |
On a daily basis, we receive request for disability quotes from individuals who choose
not to reveal the reason for the requested quote. If you are requesting a quote to insure a
loan for your business, The Perzel Agency has a completely product made just for you.
You should not purchase an individual disability insurance product if your bank or
lending institution requires you to so just so you can take out a loan for your business.
Personal disability income insurance is designed for your home mortgage, providing food
for your home, and paying your personal medical bills if you become disabled. You are
setting yourself up for a potential catastrophe if you are using your personal disability
income policy to pay back a business loan.
Business Reducing Term Is Inexpensive
The best thing about our product is that it is so economical, and is designed specifically
to work with your business loan. If you have a $300,000 loan that you paying off over 11
years, then your Business Reducing Term disability insurance policy will have an 11 year
benefit period. The loss payee of the policy is the bank or lending institution, so if you
ever become disabled according to the terms of the policy, the funds will go directly to
paying off your scheduled monthly loan obligation.
If you are thinking of expanding your business, purchasing a business, buying into an
existing business, you should make sure you protect yourself just in case you happen to
become disabled. The bank will be expecting you to pay monthly, even if you become
disabled, so make sure that you protect your business with a Business Reducing Term
Policy. So if you decide to request a quote on our website, please make sure you specify
that you want a Business Reducing Term quote. Additionally, please inform us how
much your scheduled monthly payments will be and how long you will be making those
payments. |
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| 17. I Recently Changed Jobs, Can I Get Temporary Disability Insurance? |
Unfortunately, we do not offer a gap disability insurance policy. The only thing that you
should be worrying about is, will you be healthy enough to obtain disability insurance
next time you are not covered? Obviously, many people do not work for one company
their entire life, so if when and if you changed companies, what would happen if they did
not offer a long term disability insurance plan? What would happen if you purchased a
long term disability insurance plan next time around and you found out you were
uninsurable because of a pre-existing health condition?
If you want to make sure that you always have some kind of income protection the only
way is to purchase your own policy that will continue up until you retire. If this is
something you are looking for, please feel free to request a disability insurance quote. |
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| 18. My Question Is Not Listed, How Can I Contact The Perzel Agency? |
If you did not find the answer you needed in the most commonly asked questions in
regard to acquiring disability insurance through our agency, please contact us by letter,
email, or give us a call. Our agency is open from 9am to 7pm EST Monday through
Thursday and 9am to 5pm on Friday or e-mail us at info@perzelagency.com.
Phone: 1-800-440-4380 |
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