[piano97]

Hello, I have been looking at various types of insurance to better protect my income in the event I became disabled.

I have LTD through my employer. It has a 3/12 rule, meaning bipolar will be eligible only after 12 months of coverage (April 2017). It pays 60% of pay. I'm going to be requesting the full policy (yes, I already should know details but I don't...) so that I can see exclusions, terms, etc.

I am finding that some plans and coverages have mental health exclusions, either outright or limit benefit payout to 24 months.

Some of the products I've looked at include basics like STD and LTD additional coverages. I asked a broker and he flat out said you probably can't get non-employer based coverage for either type.

I have also looked at mortgage protection insurance, and credit disability insurance. (I think) these would pay mortgage and student loans and credit card bills, though again I think the max is 2 years for mental health.

I am not planning on becoming disabled anytime soon. I'm actually doing well after having an episode recently. I've made a lot of behavior changes that are really helping alongside meds. BUT, if in the future, 2 years, 8 years, 15 years, if I got sick enough I couldn't work I want my assets and income protected.

What are some of your experiences with insurances, STD,LTD,MPI,CID, or any other types, insofar as terms, exlusions, mental health provisions and limits, etc.

Thanks !!

[piano97]

To add to that, the same broker told me MPI and CDI are basically junk products, but in some cases, are worth having. And that would likely be when someone can 'buy-up' STD and LTD because of pre-existing condition.

I talked to my home/auto agent yesterday and requested full info, terms, etc on all policies that may be available.

Thanks,

[Aurelius710]

I hate to say it, but I might be seconding your broker. While you might not be denied out of hand for private coverage, the companies can easily make it prohibitively expensive for you to maintain it. Employer-based plans usually try to keeps costs uniform across the board for their employees. I'd say take the LTD through your employer and run with it.

I will grant my response is based more on navigating the health insurance market and the similarities to your experience . I don't have much in-depth knowledge on the particular policies you're looking into unfortunately.

Hope that helps somewhat!

Luck!

[piano97]

Thanks. Seems to be what I'm finding so far. Am hopeful can find something that will cover me, even if only after needing an extended period of inegilibility and/or only having the claim last a couple years, as I'm seeing some policies have a two year mental health maximum. That is so weird to me. It's a medical condition, like any other.

I do think it 'could' be worth to pay a lot higher premiums, indefinately, if it meant I was getting 70% LTD coverage. As I said I'm hopeful to never need it but I want to protect myself and will regret not doing so, should I not get things in place.

Same on the mortgage protection insurance. I am going to get some quotes and see what I find out there. I'm planning to re-finance and it's mostly a 'new loan' product, but I've read some insurers will start a policy as late as 5 years into your current loans.

Thanks again, I'll update you. All of us that are working need to protect ourselves, and the psychological benefit of that in itself is actually a stabilizing booster.

[BeyondtheRainbow]

The last job I had made you apply for SSDI before giving you LTD. Then they paid anything over what SSDI did to hit the 60%. It still would have been nearly double what I get from SSDI (I hadn't worked there long enough to get LTD). Just telling you b/c it was a surprise to me.

Another thing I learned was to apply for SSDI as soon as you think you need it. You can always cancel later. I had to be hospitalized because I wanted to kill myself rather than face the realization I was done working. When I got out I didn't apply for 2 months, partly because I thought I'd get LTD through my company and partly because I was still in denial. But those 2 months would have made a difference because I wouldn't hav run out of STD before approval if I had been approved as fast as I was with my actual submission date.

Sometimes the underwriters can be strange. I had one policy for STD that called me and said they couldn't cover everything. I thought "here goes bipolar and my ability to keep this job". Instead they excluded a completely harmless health problem that never would make me miss a day of work.

That's about all I know. If you ever need STD it can be a fight, not because you don't deserve it or have done something wrong, but because they make it hard. My pdoc called a company and completely chewed them out once after they left me hanging without income for 6 weeks. She told them that they were stressing me out and she would be keeping me out longer the more stress they put me under. She won that fight

[BipolarMama31]

My job gives 6 months STD at 100% for 13 weeks and 60% for 13 weeks.
Then it rolls to LTD for 24 months at 60%
I tried to apply for private LTD but I was denied because I have missed more than 2 weeks of work due to MI in the past 5 years.

So my only option is my jobs LTD and SSDI. And ive already gotten my first SSDI denial.

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