| Insurance & Financial
Services of Texas is a broker for all the top
disability income providers. It may be possible
that your employer does not offer any disability
protection plans, and due to the nature of your
injury, you may not qualify for any of the
social insurance programs. If this is the case,
or your current employer-provided protection
will not provide you with enough income to meet
your family’s needs, you may want to talk to an
insurance agent about an individual disability
income insurance policy.
An individual disability
policy is the best way to protect your income
from the risk of a disability. An individual
policy will usually only allow you to insure 50
percent to 70 percent of your income. There is a
limit because insurers do not want you to make
more money when you are disabled than when you
are working. If you did, there wouldn’t be much
incentive to return to work when you are able.
Most disability
insurance companies will offer short-term and
long-term individual disability policies.
Think about how long you will need benefits if
you are disabled. Many people believe that
having both short and long-term protection is
important to their financial security.
Social
Security has a very strict definition of
disability. It will pay no benefits for a
partial or a short-term disability. Social
Security will consider you disabled if:
-
You cannot do
the work you did before and it is decided
that you cannot adjust to other work because
of a medical condition. In addition, your
disability must last or be expected to last
for at least a year or result in your death
To qualify for Social
Security disability benefits, you must have
worked long enough and recently enough while
paying into Social Security. You can earn up to
a maximum of four work credits per year.
Generally you need 20 credits earned in the past
ten years, ending with the year you become
disabled.
Also be aware that if
you do receive benefits under Workers’
Compensation, your Social Security Benefits will
be reduced.
Because of the
difficulty in qualifying for Social Security
disability benefits, it is wise to use other
methods to protect yourself from the risk of a
disability.
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