One certainty is that life is full of surprises. It’s impossible to predict the future, but the good news is that you can plan ahead for it. There is perhaps no part of life where this is more important than when it comes to your health. You may feel as if you are in optimal health. You may feel that you have many years ahead where you are strong and healthy, and physically capable of earning an income.

While that is certainly what most people hope for, it’s also important to realize that your health can change overnight. If that happens, it can make a tremendous difference to be prepared. You don’t want to find yourself struggling to make financial ends meet and to provide for yourself and those you love if a health condition or an accident renders you unable to work and earn an income as you normally would.

One of the ways you can prepare and plan is to ensure that you have disability insurance. For many people, disability insurance can be an essential tool to plan for – and protect – their financial future. Disability insurance can help to replace all, or part of, your income if you sustain a disability that renders you unable to work. Let’s take a closer look at how disability insurance works, and how much you might need if you sustain a disability.

A Closer Look At Disability Insurance

Disability insurance is intended to provide a financial safety net if you suddenly find yourself disabled and unable to work. Disability insurance can cover disabilities that result from sudden and unexpected accidents, as well as longer-term health conditions like heart attacks or cancer for example.

There are two primary types of disability insurance – short-term disability insurance and long-term disability insurance. Short-term disability insurance is, as its name implies, intended to replace income for disabilities that last for only a brief period of time. Typically this includes injuries, illnesses, and other conditions that heal fairly quickly. Long-term disability, by contrast, is for disabilities that are more severe and longer lasting, and perhaps even permanent.

Both short and long-term disability can be purchased as an individual policy or can be provided through an employer. The question is, how much disability insurance do you need? Ideally, you would be able to replace all of your income with your disability insurance benefits – but it typically doesn’t work that way. Most policies are designed to replace some portion of your income – usually, around 40 to 80 percent, depending upon a variety of factors.

Determining your “ideal” amount of disability benefits will be a matter of analyzing your own circumstances and budget and thinking through what you may truly need. Generally, experts say that having disability insurance that could replace around 60 to 70% of your income would be ideal, but again, it is ultimately a matter of personal preference.

What About Social Security Disability Benefits?

It is important to realize in addition to privately purchased disability insurance, disabled individuals may also qualify for disability benefits from the Social Security Administration. Generally, there are two types of benefits available:

• 1). Social Security Disability Insurance: Social Security Disability Insurance (or SSDI for short), is a type of benefit the Social Security Administration pays to disabled individuals who are “insured”. This means that they worked a job for a sufficient length of time through which they paid a portion of their salary into the Social Security system.
• 2). Supplemental Security Income: Supplemental Security Income (or SSI for short) benefits are benefits paid by the Social Security Administration to those individuals who have income and resources below a certain threshold determined by the Social Security Administration. These individuals do not have to be “insured” to receive benefits.

To receive either type of benefit, an individual must be able to establish that he or she has a qualifying medical condition that has rendered them disabled for at least one full calendar year or more.

As with any legal matter, the laws surrounding disability benefits can be complex. If you find yourself struggling with a disability, legal stress is the last thing you need. You want to fully assert your rights to the benefits you need and deserve. The talented and experienced team at London Eligibility is here to help you do exactly that.

London Eligibility – Your Disability Advocates

At London Eligibility, we understand every aspect of the law surrounding disability benefits. Even more importantly, we understand all of the difficulties that disabled individuals can face. We know that instead of focusing on stressful legal matters, you deserve to focus on being as healthy as you can be, and enjoying life with those you love. You can leave the legal matters to us. We’ll pursue the best legal strategies on your behalf, and help you fight for the benefits you need and deserve. If you’re ready to get started, there’s no time like now. Give us a call. We look forward to helping you soon.