I love looking at statistics and when it comes to disability income we have a lot of statistics that show that most Americans do not have the coverage they need to protect their income. Just over 1 in 4 of today’s 20 year-olds will become disabled before they retire¹. You might be thinking that most disability claims are due to some sort of an accident, but that’s usually not the main cause.
Here are the most common causes of disability:
Injuries at work? Freak accidents? It’s true, they happen. But the truth might surprise you.
Rick Roberts
Medicare Marketing Manager
800.541.6705
- Illnesses like cancer, heart attack or diabetes cause the majority of long-term disabilities. Back pain, injuries, and arthritis are also significant causes.
- Most are not work-related, and therefore not covered by workers’ compensation.
- Lifestyle choices and personal behavior that lead to obesity are becoming major contributing factors.
- Musculoskeletal disorders are the #1 cause of disabilities. Examples include; arthritis, back pain, spine/joint disorders, fibromytis, etc¹.
Are your clients prepared for this? If they’re like the majority of Americans, they don’t have disability insurance, and if they do they may only have what is provided by their employer. The average length of disability is just over 34 months, do your clients have that kind of money saved if they can’t work that long? It seems like we make sure we have insurance on our homes, our cars, and have life insurance, but without your income how are they going to be able to pay for those things and pay for the insurance they need if they
are not able to work? I believe income protection is one the most critical insurance needs that every person should have.
Selling disability insurance is about as sexy as selling Long-Term Care insurance, it is not a simple policy to sell, but if you are not at least trying to bring this awareness to your clients then you are not doing them any justice. Most Americans live paycheck to paycheck, and they have little or no money left for unexpected emergencies like an injury or illness, and therefore it is critical to help them get that coverage.
To help, here’s is a chart of claim diagnosis categories in lay language to provide clear examples of common causes of disability.
Here at Producers XL we can provide you with some options that can help you help your clients with disability insurance. We have access to some of the top carriers that can help you with individual, key person, business buyout coverage, and more. Please reach out to me if you would like to learn more about disability insurance, or if you have a client that needs it.