Group Disability Insurance in West Virginia

The primary purpose of disability income insurance is to partially replace the income of employees who cannot work because of an accident or illness. An employee may miss a few days of work here and there; there is often a tendency to underestimate the frequency and severity of disabilities that last for extended periods. At every age of an employee’s career, the chances of being disabled over 90 days are much greater than the chance of death. The importance of adequate disability income Insurance is frequently overlooked. In terms of its financial impact on a family, long-term disability is more severe than death. In both cases, income from employment ceases. In the case of long-term disability, however, family expenses may increase because of the cost of providing care for A disabled person.

Group disability income insurance protection consists of two standard plans: short-term disability income plans and long-term disability income Insurance. Short-term disability income plans provide benefits for a set period, usually six months or less. Benefits may be provided under uninsured sick leave insurance plans or underinsured plans, often referred to as accident and sickness insurance or weekly indemnity plans. Long-term disability income insurance provides benefits, sometimes for life but often after an employee has been disabled for some time, usually more than six months.

Sick Leave Insurance Plans

A sick leave plan, often called a salary continuation plan is uninsured and generally fully replaces lost income for a limited period starting on the first day of disability or a short time after. Recently, a few employers have combined their sickly plans with other types of payments for time not worked, such as vacations, holidays, and personal leave, into a single paid an off program. One reason for doing programs like this is that many employees view sick days as a right and take the maximum number of days available regardless of whether they are sick. With a paid time off, an employee is given a specified Bank of days off with full pay, and they can take this paid time off for any reason they choose. This number of days is usually less than the aggregate number of days under the prior programs.

Disability Benefits

As in Group life insurance, there are various benefits found in Group disability income insurance contracts. Benefits can be available to all employees or limited to specific groups of employees. Sometimes these groups are separated by income. Benefits may be expressed as a flat dollar amount, varying dollar amounts by classification, or a percentage of earnings. One of the significant difficulties in disability insurance is determining the correct level of benefits to provide employees. Typically, disability income plans are designed to provide a level of benefits that replaces between 50 and 70% of an employee’s gross income. Many short-term disability income plans and most long-term plans are based on a single percentage of regular earnings. This percentage varies wildly for short-term plans, and benefits as low as 50% or as high as 100% are not an unusual period; however, many companies are reluctant to underwrite plans that provide benefits higher than 70% of income.

Group Disability Contract Consultation

At Songer Benefits, We provide in-depth consultation to four employers and their group disability contracts. We can help set up and implement various applications such as sickly plans, eligibility determinations, insured disability income plans, benefits schedules, period of benefit earnings, coordination with other benefits. There are many other contract provisions when setting up a group disability insurance plan that employers need to be made aware of. This is why you must have an employee benefits specialist providing high-quality consultation. For more information regarding a new or existing group disability contract for your company, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us.