An important feature of long-term disability insurance is the waiting period (also called the elimination period). This is the period of time you have to wait from the start of your disability to when benefits start. Here's how it works: Policies have waiting periods of 60, 90, 180 or 365 days (sometimes 30 days). The longer the period, the less expensive the policy Policies typically pay at the end of the month, so if you have a 90-day waiting period, you won’t receive the first payment until day 120.

The benefit period is the length of time monthly benefits will be paid for a long-term disability Policies typically have periods of 2, 5 or 10 years or up to retirement age (65 or 67). The longer the period, the higher the cost of the policy. A 5-year benefit period would cover the average duration of most long-term disabilities.

What is it? Policies with 'own occupation' coverage define a disability in relation to your ability to work in your own occupation. That means you could still qualify for disability benefits if you're still able to work in other occupations. Without this feature, you'd have to be unable to work in any occupation to qualify for disability benefits. This is a much stricter definition of disability.

What is it? Policies with residual disability coverage will also pay benefits for partial disabilities, which cause a loss in income (but don't totally prevent you from working). There's a higher likelihood of partial disability versus total disability, so this is a recommended feature.

What is it? A non-cancelable policy means that as long as you pay the premiums, the insurer can't cancel the policy, change the premiums or change the benefits. Basically, you "lock in" all aspects of your policy.

Why do we ask? We’ll run quotes with a ‘future increase option.’ That allows you to increase your benefit amount when your income increases regardless of any changes in your health status.