Northrim Benefits Group - Solutions for Businesses

Group Disability Insurance

A company's success is largely determined by the abilities and dedication of its employees. Without a dedicated workforce, a business can lose both production time and revenue. Most employers recognize how important their employees are and spend a considerable amount of resources, including time and money, in recruiting and retaining their valued employees. One of the key components of recruitment and retention is the benefits package, which may contain any number of various benefit programs. Perhaps one of the most affordable, and yet overlooked benefits an employer can offer is disability insurance. Disability insurance pays an eligible employee a percentage of salary when absent from work for a specified period of time. Most employers simply do not consider the risk that an employee will become disabled (and unable to work). According to the Social Security Administration, studies show 3 in 10 workers entering the workforce today will become disabled before retiring.

In addition to paying a regular benefit, disability insurers focus on returning employees to work by providing rehabilitative training, education, and incentives. Disability insurance can fill a gap in an employee benefits program and provide employees comprehensive income protection they'll appreciate. By providing for employees in such hard times, the company typically keeps a valued employee who eventually comes back to work with more loyalty and dedication than ever.

Short-Term Disability Insurance

Short term disability insurance replaces income for the early period of a disability. Plans may offer benefits from as little as two weeks up to two years and typically involve a waiting period of 0 to 14 days.

Long-Term Disability Insurance

Long term disability insurance helps to replace income for an extended period, often five years or until the disabled person reaches social security normal retirement age. Waiting periods on these policies can vary widely but are typically 60, 90, 180, or 365 days.

At age 35, an employee has a 50/50 chance of being unable to work for more than three months before turning 65.¹

Approximately 30% of all people ages 35 to 65 will become disabled for at least 90 days. About one in seven can expect to become disabled for five years or more.²

48% of all home foreclosures are the result of disability, while only 3% of all foreclosures result from death.³

In the last 10 minutes, 498 Americans became disabled.⁴

15% of working age (21-64) Alaskan adults reported a disability in 2007, 3% higher than the rest of the US.⁵

¹ Society of Actuaries, April 2000
² Health Insurance Assoc. of America, February 2000
³ Housing and Home Finance Agency of the US Gov't, 1998
⁴ National Safety Council, Injury Facts 2008 Ed.
⁵ Kaiser State Health Facts, 2007