How does disability insurance work?

Disability insurance pays a portion of your income if you can’t work for an extended period because of an illness or injury. “Everybody who relies on a paycheck should have this coverage,” says Keith Hoffman, the vice president of disability insurance at NFP Corp., an insurance brokerage and consultancy headquartered in New York. read more

Any occupation disability insurance: To qualify as disabled under this policy, you must be unable to work at any occupation. This is a harder policy to claim benefits from, but it’s also usually less expensive than an own occupation policy. read more

It pays monthly income directly to you when you're unable to work because of a covered total disability. You choose the length of time you must be disabled before you start receiving benefits (Elimination Period) and the length of time you would receive benefits. read more