Why You Should Start Giving A Sh*t About Disability Coverage Right Now

Flickr / Edo Zollo

Hey, cool kid. We know you’re super busy living on the edge and not caring about insurance stuff, but one day, you might fall off that edge and find yourself in a pickle. Yes, you. No one is exempt from accidents and illness, and if you’re in a bind, you’ll wish you paid more attention to your disability coverage benefits. So do yourself a solid and start paying attention STAT.

Not sure about what exactly disability insurance covers? Ariel Anderson Fortunato, a certified financial planner at Society of Grownups, told Swirled that “disability protects you from the event that you become mentally or physically unable to work and gives you a percentage of your salary — enough to just pay some bills.”

The word we want to stress in her response is percentage. If you thought that your employer would grant you time away and your full salary in the case that you were hurt or sick, think again. And the only way you’ll know what your employer covers is to check your benefits package and ask human resources (or your appointed benefits person).

Unsplash/Jad Limcaco

Something else to consider is whether you’d like to get independent coverage. If your employer doesn’t provide enough for you to live if you needed to use your disability coverage, look into some outside options. Depending on where you live, you can find a myriad of disability coverage options to pay into that could cover more than your employer would. The key here is to find an option that would give you enough money to sustain yourself in the event that you couldn’t go to work every day.

“It’s one of those things that you’d rather have but not need, rather than need and not have,” said Fortunato.

Don’t play with fate, friends. We hope you’ll never have to use disability insurance — at least while you’re young. But if (or when) it becomes relevant, be prepared. Learn about your coverage now and take control before life does for you.