Disability Insurance and COVID-19 Vaccine Risk

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Disability Insurance and COVID-19 Vaccine Risk

April 8, 2021 Leave a commentDisability Insurance, Long Term Disability, Short Term Disability, UncategorizedBy Bob Herum

Recently the insurance company I represent, and I am sure other insurance carriers, have been receiving calls and emails from agents, brokers and policyholders asking about the company’s stance on any disability that might occur as a result of receiving the coronavirus vaccine. While a very fair question, the answer is relatively simple for the insurance carriers, whether group or individual providers of disability income insurance.

Like conditions that result from acquiring the coronavirus, conditions that come about after receiving the vaccine can be covered if the medical conditions meet the definition found in the disability policy. Both group long-term disability and individual disability income insurance policies have contractual language, which defines a disabling event. Most policies will have, at a minimum, some time that policyholders are protected if they are unable to do the regular duties of their occupation. Thus, the issue becomes whether an attending physician validates that the condition creates a period of disability, from whatever cause, and impacts an insured’s ability to perform the normal and regular duties performed prior to the period of disability. Both group and individual policies are regulated by state departments of insurance, which review the definitions for both total and partial disability.

Group and individual disability policies will also have a waiting period, often called the elimination period. This is a period following the onset of the disability where the insureds accrue days of disability until they meet the elimination period. For short-term group policies the waiting period is usually relatively short, such as one day for an accident and eight days for an illness. Short-term disability policies are often provided as a core employee benefit. In such cases, employees will want to contact their human resources or benefits department for specifics. For both individual and group long-term disability policies, common elimination periods are 60, 90 or 180 days. Insureds should review their own policies to determine the elimination period.

In conclusion, both group and individual disability policies will fulfill their contractual obligations, no matter what the cause of the disability. Insureds should review their group and personal coverages to understand how their policies will perform.

About Bob Herum

Bob Herum has written 11 posts in this blog.

Bob Herum, MSFS, CLU, ChFC, RHU, REBC, DIA, DIF, LTCP CDA President. Bob has over 30 years of experience in the insurance industry and has demonstrated success as a producer, a wholesaler and as a manager. Bob has been published in such magazines as The American College’s Wealth Magazine, National Underwriter, Life Insurance Selling, Broker’s World, NAIFA’s Advisor Today and Health Insurance Underwriters (HIU). Additionally, he has spoken at national, regional and state forums on a variety of disability and worksite sales topics and is a recipient of the W. Harold Peterson Lifetime Achievement Award by the International Disability Income Society (IDIS). Bob retired as a Colonel from the Army Reserves. He is a past President of the Columbus, Ohio NAIFA chapter, a two-time past President with the International Disability Society, past-chair of the NAHU’s Disability Insurance Advisory Group, and past-President for the Cincinnati Society of Financial Service Professionals (FSP). Bob is married to Teri and has one son, Nick.