Joanna Szabo  |  April 2, 2020

Category: Insurance

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Disabled woman in wheelchair holds electronic tablet

There are two types of disability insurance offered by insurers like Unum: long term disability insurance and short term disability insurance. The cost of disability insurance can be substantial for individuals, so it is important to look carefully at all of your options, including finding out what might be offered through your employer, determining your budget, and figuring out what kind of coverage you’re looking for.

Short Term Disability Insurance

Short term disability insurance is meant for situations where a worker is unable to work for a short period of time—generally between three and six months, though sometimes up to two years under some policies. These policies are only meant to provide benefits for a short period of time, so they are often more affordable for consumers. Plus, benefits from these policies also tend to begin very quickly after the policyholder becomes disabled and generally amount to nearly 100% of the worker’s salary. However, sometimes disabling circumstances end up lasting longer than expected, and short term benefits do not last forever.

Short Term Disability Insurance for Individuals

Oftentimes, people get their short-term disability insurance policies through their employer, but insurance companies also sell short term disability insurance for individuals. If you’re not sure whether or not your employer offers a plan with short term disability benefits, talk to your company’s human resources department.

If it turns out that your employer does not include short term disability insurance for their employees, you can choose to buy a plan separately. Unfortunately, short term disability insurance for individuals is, generally speaking, very expensive. If you cannot get short term disability insurance through your work for free or at a reasonable cost, you may want to reconsider whether you want short term disability insurance at all.

Indeed, the cost of disability insurance for individuals is sometimes similar for both long and short term policies, despite long term disability insurance lasting for a much longer coverage period.

Long Term Disability Insurance

According to The Balance Careers, long term disability insurance (or LTD insurance) provides monthly payments for disability benefits over a period of six months or more, usually two, five, or ten years, and some even last until the policyholder reaches age 75.

Disabled woman uses walker while crossing street with daughterUnlike short term benefits, which typically provide nearly the full salary of the worker, long term benefits usually provide up to 70% of the salary, but these benefits will last for a much longer time. However, long term disability insurance costs more than short term insurance options. Moreover, it can take three to six months after the worker becomes disabled for the insurer to begin paying benefits, which can be quite costly upfront. Fortunately, employers often provide and pay for LTD insurance for their workers.

The benefits provided in each of these policies vary widely under different plans and through different insurers, so it’s important to do careful research and compare your choices to find the best option for you.

Some people choose to purchase both types of disability insurance. The choice, according to the Insurance Information Institute, all depends on an individual’s needs and expectations—and, of course, the cost of disability insurance available to them.

Will I Need to Pay Back Disability Benefits?

In most cases, you will not need to pay back long term disability insurance money that you receive.

According to Metbreeze.com, a U.S. worker is able to collect benefits from a private company and from Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), but the amount received from SSDI is deducted from the amount provided by the private insurance company.

The length of wait time for SSDI benefits approval can range from months to years because there is a backlog of applications and many applicants must apply more than once.

Long term disability benefits can be helpful.What Does Long Term Disability Cover?

Long term disability insurance most commonly covers these medical issues:

  • Musculoskeletal disorders, such as scoliosis.
  • Pregnancy complications.
  • Cancer.
  • Mental health issues.
  • Serious injuries.

Each policy defines what constitutes a disability. In some cases, a policy will pay benefits if the person is suffering from a condition that prevents them from doing the job they usually are employed to perform, but would allow the person to perform other kinds of occupations. However, some disability insurance policies will refuse to provide payments if the worker is able to perform a different kind of work even if the alternative job will mean a reduced income.

MeetBreeze.com explains that long term disability insurance policies may exclude certain injuries or situations. These are among the circumstances that are most often not covered by disability insurance policies:

  • Acts of war.
  • Criminal actions.
  • Self-inflicted injuries.
  • Civil disobedience.
  • Driving a vehicle while under the influence.

Filing an Unum Lawsuit

Some consumers report that filing their disability insurance claims and receiving their benefits is more difficult than they had anticipated. Indeed, Unum, the largest disability insurance company in the United States, has been hit with accusations of denial of benefits and terminations of the legitimate claims of hundreds of thousands of customers. So far, hundreds of Unum claim denial lawsuits have been filed. Unum handles nearly 40% of disability insurance policies in the country, covering as many as 17 million Americans.

Unum employees have reported they were given a set claim-denial quota.

An Unum class action lawsuit investigation has been launched to look into the claims of Unum benefit denials and terminations. If your Unum insurance claim was denied or terminated, you may be able to file a lawsuit, which could help you recoup your losses and instate your benefits. In some cases, Unum lawsuits have led to substantial settlement awards.

Do YOU have a legal claim? Fill out the form on this page now for a free, immediate, and confidential case evaluation. The bad faith insurance attorneys who work with Top Class Actions will contact you if you qualify to let you know if an individual lawsuit or Unum class action lawsuit is best for you. [In general, Unum bad faith lawsuits are filed individually by each plaintiff and are not class actions.] Hurry — statutes of limitations may apply.

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Join a Free Unum Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

If you were denied a disability claim or had your Unum disability benefits terminated without reason, you may be able to take legal action against the insurer. See if you qualify by filling out the short form below.

An attorney will contact you if you qualify to discuss the details of your potential case at no charge to you.

PLEASE NOTE: If you want to participate in this investigation, it is imperative that you reply to the law firm if they call or email you. Failing to do so may result in you not getting signed up as a client or getting you dropped as a client.

  • The law firm responsible for the content of this page is: The Wilkins Law Firm, PLLC
  • Please note that if you were not denied by at least one of these companies, you will not qualify for this investigation.
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