Safeguard your livelihood with short term disability insurance
Are you a healthy social worker, government worker or private employee? Think you don’t need short term disability insurance? Think again.
Securing short term disability insurance -- whether through and individual or group plan -- is more critical than you might think. Whether the short term disability plan is for social workers, government workers or the employees of corporations or small businesses, this type of health coverage is essential to staying out of financial ruin.
That’s because life is quite likely to throw you a curveball now and again. Injuries or illnesses that occur off the job (called “non-occupational” conditions) can happen to anyone, at anytime. Deciding to forego your short term disability insurance plan is a gamble that’s simply not worth taking.
Imagine. You could be perfectly fit 27-year old office manager who is a regular attendee of the workplace gym, has low cholesterol, no hypertension, no known ailments or chronic medical conditions – not even any allergies – indeed, you could be “invincible.”
Even if you are the picture of health, such a superman mindset is especially dangerous. Bad things happen to healthy people all the time, and it’s good to be prepared. Suppose, for instance, that a car hits you as you cross the street or walk through the office park parking lot. It happens all the time. And in big cities, bus-pedestrian casualties are a major problem.
Suppose your injury keeps you from working for, say three months. What about six months? Who is going to pay for you while you recover?
A typical short term disability insurance plan for social workers works by paying a percentage of your salary while you are kept off the job for medical reasons. It’s usually based on your salary, and cuts a percentage that should be enough for you to live on until you get better, and can go back to work earning your full salary once again.
It should be mentioned, however, that most short term plans for disability insurance will only go into effect if the illness or injury is the only reason for your inability to work. This stipulation draws a fine line, to be certain, regarding an employees’ rationale for taking work off, and is often found at the center of legal disputes.
Furthermore, the employer is the one who determines which workers qualify for short term disability insurance benefits. When applying for and taking a new job, employees will be made aware of their benefits package, what it includes and what it doesn’t include.
In order to balance the quest between making jobs more attractive and bolstering his or her bottom line, an employer is able to choose from various possible benefit levels, benefit periods (i.e. 3 months, 6 months, 9 months, etc), and what percentage of the salary will be paid.
Typically employers fund the entire cost of short term disability insurance plans, and benefits come out at just over half of what the salary started at. It’s also important to note that maternity is lumped together with normal insurance benefits for short term disability. | 
