Who
are the top disability insurance companies?
According to LIMRA studies for 2002, the top five companies
for in-force Non-Cancellable and Guaranteed Renewable disability insurance policies are
UnumProvident, Berkshire Life, Massachusetts Mutual Life, Northwestern
Mutual Life, and MetLife. A consumer needs to understand that having
the most disability insurance in-force does not mean that a company
has the best policy for you. It simply means that they have a large
market presence throughout the United States.
What makes one contract better than another?
The key components to a disability insurance policy are the renewability,
definition of total
disability, definition of residual
disability, built in exclusions,
and company financials backing the policy. Notice we did not say
price, any company could quote you a policy that looks cheaper than
another. The price depends on what you want in the policy.
What is the normal price of an individual disability insurance
policy?
One can expect to pay between 1-3% of your annual income in disability
premium. Their are many ways to increase or decrease the premium
of a DI policy, and 1-3% is a generalization. The best answer is,
the premium depends upon how much coverage you want to have. You
could buy a disability policy that only pays $400 a month, has a
2 year elimination period, no optional riders, and has a 5 year
benefit period. That policy would be dirt cheap and you would probably
never collect on it, but you get the idea. Disability policies can
be customized to fit your needs in every way.
How long does it take to place a
disability income policy in-force?
Underwriting a long term disability income insurance policy takes
us an average of 30 days. Quite often we have been able to issue
policies within 10 days, however if we need to obtain medical records
from physicians you have seen recently the process generally takes
30 days.
Disability
Income Insurance
