What is it called when you Cannot work due to illness insurance that is designed to replace your income?

Disability benefits are designed to replace a percentage of your income if the unexpected happens.

You may be eligible for DI if you are unable to work and are losing wages because of your own non-work-related illness, injury, or pregnancy.

Receiving disability benefits provides you the means to buy food, pay bills, and cover household expenses while you’re unable to work.

How Do I File for Disability?

You can file the Claim for Disability Insurance (DI) Benefits (DE 2501) (PDF) claim by mail or even faster with SDI Online. We recommend that you register and create an account with us through Benefit Programs Online so that you can file and manage your disability claim with SDI Online.

To learn more, review the following:

  • Overview: DI Claim Process
  • DI FAQs: How Do I Apply?
  • Estimate Benefit Payments: Calculator
  • Options to File for DI Benefits (Online or by Mail)

Once your completed claim application is received, we will confirm eligibility. You can expect this process to take up to 14 days.

Note: Processing time may vary depending upon the claim. If your claim is incomplete or requires additional information, confirming eligibility can be delayed.

Short-term disability insurance is a particular kind of insurance designed to protect a portion of your income for a short period of time, if a covered injury or illness briefly prevents you from earning a wage.1

How each short-term disability insurance plan and procedure works varies from company to company. At Aflac, you can access and apply for short-term disability insurance through your employer. Payments are deducted from your paycheck, and you may receive benefits for covered illnesses or injuries that occur on or off-the-job.

Aflac Short-Term Disability Insurance pays cash benefits for covered disabilities (subject to exclusions and limitations). Payments can be used as needed – to help with medical bills, recovery expenses or even to help you pay for rent or groceries. This may be particularly helpful if others depend on your income or if you have outstanding bills to pay.

What Does Short-Term Disability Insurance Cover?

The main qualifier for short-term disability coverage is if the incident temporarily puts you out of work. However, it can be useful to review circumstances that are not covered by short-term disability insurance:

  • If you lose your license to work2
  • If you are unable to work due to a war2
  • If you get injured due to active participation in a riot or protest2
  • If the injury is self-inflicted2
  • If you committed a crime and are in prison or jail2
  • If you have a pre-existing condition3

We recognize that understanding the qualifications of each short-term disability insurance plan is important. In addition to reviewing the limitations and exclusions in each plan, it can be helpful to consider your budget for a short-term disability insurance plan and how long you are able to stay afloat without income.

How Long Does Short-Term Disability Insurance Last?

The duration of coverage depends on how each short-term disability insurance plan works. At Aflac, we can help provide income relief for up to 24 months. If your injury or illness lasts longer than three months, you may want to consider a different kind of insurance that provides more long-term coverage. Luckily, you have many options with Aflac:

  • Cancer Insurance: This type of insurance plan is designed to help with the physical and emotional costs of a cancer diagnosis.
  • Critical Illness Insurance: This insurance can help cover costs related to a covered life-changing event, like a heart attack or stroke.
  • Hospital Insurance: Hospital insurance can help with the high costs of hospital stays.

What is it called when you Cannot work due to illness insurance that is designed to replace your income?

There are many different types of insurance designed to protect one of your biggest assets: Yourself. There’s life insurance, health insurance, long-term care insurance—some celebrities even protect  parts of their body against the possibility of injury.

While you might not need to insure your teeth for $30 million like Julia Roberts and you probably don’t need $70 million leg insurance like David Beckham, there are types of insurance designed to help you if you can’t work due to illness or injury.  These are  disability insurance and critical illness insurance. 

While these two types of insurance have similarities because they can help you and your family with often-difficult personal experiences, they  have many important differences and provide solutions to  different financial protection needs.

Disability insurance is a monthly payment that replaces some of your income if you can’t work because of an injury or illness. It usually provides you with 60 to 70 per cent of your income so  you can maintain as much of your standard of living as possible until you can return to work.  

Critical illness insurance,  provides a one-time, lump-sum payment that you can use any way you want if you experience one of the serious conditions as defined by your protection, such as cancer, heart attack or stroke. Not everyone’s recovery costs are the same. In addition to the possibility of a leave of absence from your job, a critical illness can sometimes mean that you’re left with the  costs of recovery. This could include a need for costly assistive devices, or even travel expenses—things disability insurance may not cover.

Why should you get it?

Disability insurance

Critical illness insurance

Life happens:

Almost half of Canadians live paycheque to paycheque Footnote *. If you were unable to work due to injury or illness, disability insurance can help you keep your desired lifestyle by replacing some of your lost income. This is typically in the range of 60-70% of your salary.

Getting sick is expensive:

A critical illness can be expensive.  Lost income if you can't work, medication, treatment costs, etc., all add up. 42% of working Canadians couldn't last six months on their current level of savings if they became critically ill Footnote **. With critical illness insurance, you could have the money you need when you need it.

What would I use the money for?

Disability insurance

Critical illness insurance

Keeping up with your expenses:

The money you get is supposed to cover costs normally covered by your income. This could include your bills, mortgage or rent, groceries, child care, and other household expenses.

Any way you want:

  • Pay for small costs like hospital parking
  • Get a private hospital room
  • Cover higher-than-expected medication costs
  • Hire a housekeeper or yard maintenance company so you and your family can spend less time doing chores and more time together
  • Get away from it all - go on a trip with your family while you recover

How long does it take to pay out?

Disability insurance

Critical illness insurance

It varies:

Your monthly payments typically start after you've been off work with a covered disability for between 30-120 days, depending on your coverage.

Usually after 30 days:

When you survive most of the defined critical illnesses for more than 30 days, your coverage is paid out.

Who can apply?

Disability insurance

Critical illness insurance

Employed people:

Disability insurance covers you for an amount based on your salary.

Anyone:

Parents, grandparents, even children (through their parents or grandparents).

Disability insurance can help you keep up with your existing expenses, but for most, a critical illness comes with costs.

Many people diagnosed with a critical illness may still be able to work and are ineligible for benefits under their disability insurance coverage. On the other hand, if you break your leg and are unable to work, but all you have is critical illness insurance, you might struggle to make ends meet.

To build a complete financial protection plan it’s important to consider both disability insurance and critical illness insurance.

Is a type of insurance program for employees who have become unable to work?

Disability Insurance (DI) is a part of the State Disability Insurance (SDI) program. It provides partial wage replacement benefits to eligible California workers who are unable to work due to a non-work-related illness, injury, or pregnancy.

What medical conditions are considered long term disability?

Are you wondering what medical conditions qualify for Long Term Disability benefits? Many medical conditions qualify someone for disability if severe enough. Examples include back and neck problems, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, non-epileptic seizures, cancer, and Parkinson's disease.

What is a disability income policy designed to do?

Disability income insurance is a supplemental policy designed to protect policyholders if they are unable to work due to an illness or accident. Disability income benefits offer a monthly income so the policyholder can cover regular expenses while he or she is unable to work.

What happens when an employee goes on long term disability?

If your disability benefits are paid by an insurance company, then your employment status won't affect your benefits. But if it's paid by your employer, then your disability payments may cease. Although, there are instances when your insurance company can legally terminate your benefits.