denied disability insurance for being a teacher...and it is expensive too

[dooo42]

i'm 36, in good health, married with one child so far and i teach high school science in a small, white, rural rhode island town. i got in touch with guardian life insurance about a disability quote and they told me that due to the duties of my job they didn't have a policy for me. i had to laugh....it's not like i'm a professional stunt man or pilot. unless they think little johnny is going to come in my room and shoot the place up it's just crazy... well anyway they referred me to another company that wants 1500 dollars a years for a good disability policy...that's nuts...am i that much of a risk?

[Urchina]

Have you asked the school (or district) that you teach for about group disability insurance, or looked at TIAA-CREF or another teacher's union/group? That's where I'd start. Likely to have much lower premiums.

Good luck.

[dooo42]

already got in touch with my school. we don't have disability at all.

[haha]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dooo42 already got in touch with my school. we don't have disability at all.

Just move out of that small white world to the big city, where schools will offer disability insurance and teachers will need it.

Ha

[Urchina]

So, it might be time to start agitating for that type of coverage through work. However, in the interim, you might check out groups founded for teachers. For example:

https://www.horacemann.com/

Edited to add: I don't know anything about them other than the fact that a Google search of "teachers disability insurance" turned them up at the top of the page, so YMMV.

[dgoldenz]

What are the duties for your job? I just looked at the underwriting guide and it says this:

Occupation: Teacher - classroom only, including principals
Class: 5


Class 5 is the second best risk class.

[mickeyd]

i

Quote:

got in touch with guardian life insurance about a disability quote and they told me that due to the duties of my job they didn't have a policy for me.

One question not asked is if you are covered by a DI policy as part of your job (group benefit)? If you are already covered by another plan for loss of income, you are probably not eligible for another plan. No insurance company will cover you for more that your income as that pretty-much guarantees that they will have a future claim.

[dgoldenz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mickeyd i One question not asked is if you are covered by a DI policy as part of your job (group benefit)? If you are already covered by another plan for loss of income, you are probably not eligible for another plan. No insurance company will cover you for more that your income as that pretty-much guarantees that they will have a future claim.

He mentioned in a posted that his school district has no disability benefits. Also, $1500/year for a good disability policy that carries to age 65 is not expensive. If your disability benefit was $40k/year and you became disabled the year after you bought the policy, their total payout would be somewhere around $1.5-2 million if a COLA rider was included.

[chinaco]

Puzzling... never saw an insurance company turn down premium for what would appear to be a relatively low risk candidate.


Are you sure you did not get tripped up on some sort of health underwriting issue?

The other big issue is something related to the occupation or the group in the occupation. Perhaps school teachers have a higher incidence of seeking disability for some issuess.. perhaps stress, nervous breakdown, etc.

[Carnage]

We recently looked into disability insurance and we were surprised by how high it was as well. Luckily it was only as a supplement to what was offered through our work, we have the benefit of our insurance through work paying out more over time, so we can wait it out and it gets better over time.

[ziggy29]

Another thing is that unlike many types of insurance (life, health), disability can be more costly for younger people since most of them only pay out until age 65 -- so someone who is 55 would have at most 10 years of benefits whereas someone who is 25 could have 40 years of payout. Add a COLA kicker and it becomes even more costly for the younger folks.

[ksolliday]

I am a teacher in MN, and although we have group disability benefits, it's only for 2 years as "can't work in your own profession" - it then morphs into "can't do anything at all, including breathing" (well, OK, I might be exaggerating just a tad...) I have been on disability for almost 2 years due to a very rare immune disorder (I basically have no immune system) and was recently told by the dis. co. that since I could still speak, I could be a telemarketer from home (don't think that will quite pay the bills though), so my benefits will be stopping - UNLESS I go back to work, at my same teaching job, for 12 weeks. Then I can go out again on disability and my 2 years at "can't work at your own profession" starts over. Nope, not making this up!!!!!! Anyway, I would give my eyeteeth (or some other body part) to have private disability insurance - and for $1500 that is a BARGAIN - just make sure it covers "own occupation" - Good luck!!!!

[73ss454]

Sorry about your disability but are you saying that you want to collect and still teach?

[dgoldenz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ksolliday I am a teacher in MN, and although we have group disability benefits, it's only for 2 years as "can't work in your own profession" - it then morphs into "can't do anything at all, including breathing" (well, OK, I might be exaggerating just a tad...) I have been on disability for almost 2 years due to a very rare immune disorder (I basically have no immune system) and was recently told by the dis. co. that since I could still speak, I could be a telemarketer from home (don't think that will quite pay the bills though), so my benefits will be stopping - UNLESS I go back to work, at my same teaching job, for 12 weeks. Then I can go out again on disability and my 2 years at "can't work at your own profession" starts over. Nope, not making this up!!!!!! Anyway, I would give my eyeteeth (or some other body part) to have private disability insurance - and for $1500 that is a BARGAIN - just make sure it covers "own occupation" - Good luck!!!!

Guardian is one of the few companies that does offer true own occupation disability coverage and has a specialty definition for physicians, which is a huge benefit (if you were a physician, that is). Sorry to hear about your situation, that's a tough position to be in. I see the same thing happen time and again with people's health insurance who bought watered-down policies that won't cover expensive drugs or limit benefits, then get stuck when it's too late.

[ksolliday]

Hi 73 - NO!!!! I am not saying I want to work AND collect disability!! (What I would like is to be healthy so I can live a productive life.... but that's not the purpose of this thread). My point was that the rules for the Dis. Ins. are so convoluted that they will REQUIRE me to go back to work for a time (without collecting disability) in order to re-qualify for benefits... that is, if I live through their requirement!! SO, my point to the OP was to purchase independent disability, and make sure it was for OWN OCCUPATION, not 'any occupation'.