Life, health & Medicare
Disability income insurance
New York's statutory disability benefit is fifty per cent of wages capped at $170 a week, and that cap has not changed since 1989. Everything beyond it you arrange yourself, and most people have not.
You are considerably more likely to be unable to work for a period than to die during your working life, and the financial consequence is similar — the income stops — with the additional problem that you are still there and still spending. Most households insure the less likely event and not the more likely one.
New York does require employers to provide statutory short-term disability benefits, which is more than most states, and the benefit is genuinely small: half your average weekly wage up to $170 a week, for up to twenty-six weeks. On a Queens income that is not a plan. It is a gesture from 1989.
The definition of disability is the whole product
Own-occupation cover pays if you cannot perform the material duties of your own occupation, even if you could do some other job. Any-occupation cover pays only if you cannot perform any occupation you are reasonably suited to — a far harder test and a much cheaper policy.
For anybody with a specific skill this difference is the entire value of the policy. A dentist with a hand injury can answer telephones; under an any-occupation definition that may be enough to deny the claim. Many policies use own-occupation for an initial period and switch to any-occupation afterwards, and where that switch happens is one of the most important terms in the contract.
Also check whether the policy is non-cancellable and guaranteed renewable. Non-cancellable means the carrier cannot change your premium or terms; guaranteed renewable alone means it cannot cancel you but can raise rates for a whole class. The first is meaningfully better and costs more.
Elimination period, benefit period, and cost
The elimination period is your waiting time before benefits start — ninety days is the common choice and it is effectively a deductible measured in time. Lengthening it from ninety to one hundred and eighty days reduces the premium substantially, and is sensible if you have savings to bridge it.
The benefit period is how long payments continue: two years, five years, or to age sixty-five or sixty-seven. For income replacement the longer periods are what actually protect you, because the disabilities that ruin households financially are the long ones. Cover typically costs one to three per cent of the income being insured, moving with occupation class, the definition and both periods.
Benefits are usually capped at around sixty per cent of pre-disability income, deliberately, so that returning to work is always better than not. And the tax position follows who paid: benefits from a policy you paid for with after-tax money are generally received tax-free, while employer-paid group benefits are generally taxable — which means a group policy replacing sixty per cent of your income replaces rather less than that after tax.
Group cover, and why it is usually not enough
Employer group long-term disability is a real benefit and it has three consistent weaknesses. It usually uses an any-occupation definition after an initial period. It is usually taxable if the employer paid the premium. And it ends when the employment does, which is a problem precisely when a health event has ended the employment.
The usual answer for somebody with meaningful earnings is an individual policy sitting under the group cover — portable, own-occupation, and tax-free because you paid for it. Carriers will consider group cover in place when setting the individual limit, which is normal and expected.
The self-employed case, which is the worst one
If you work for yourself there is no group cover, no employer-provided statutory benefit, and no sick pay. There is only what you bought. A self-employed tradesperson or consultant in this neighbourhood who cannot work has no income at all from the first day, and the elimination period you choose is the length of time you must fund from savings.
Business overhead expense cover is the companion product for anybody with premises or staff: it pays the rent, the utilities and the payroll while you cannot work, so the business survives long enough for you to come back to it. It is separate from personal disability cover and is frequently the more urgent of the two.
Ask about limits, not about “full coverage”. Full coverage is a phrase, not a product, and no policy on earth is sold under that name. It usually means liability plus comprehensive plus collision, which is three of the seven things a New York motor policy can carry, and it says nothing whatever about your limits. A minimum-limits policy with comprehensive and collision on it satisfies that phrase completely and will not survive a serious injury claim. We quote limits and deductibles by their numbers, and we would rather have the conversation about what 25/50/10 actually pays for than let a slogan stand in for it.
Included as standard
How we handle this line
The definition read before the price
Own-occupation against any-occupation, and where the policy switches between them, because that clause is the product.
Non-cancellable identified
Where available. A carrier that cannot change your premium or terms is worth paying for and is not the same as guaranteed renewable.
The tax position explained
Benefits from a policy you paid for are generally tax-free; employer-paid group benefits generally are not. It changes what sixty per cent means.
Group cover coordinated
An individual policy sized to sit under what you already have, portable when the employment is not.
Elimination period matched to savings
Ninety days against one hundred and eighty, priced both ways, against what you could actually fund yourself.
Overhead expense for the self-employed
Rent, utilities and payroll while you cannot work. A separate policy and frequently the more urgent one.
When to ring us
Signs this is worth a conversation
- You are self-employed and have no disability cover at all.
- Your only cover is employer group long-term disability.
- Your policy uses an any-occupation definition and you have a specific skill.
- You have premises or staff and no overhead expense cover.
- You assumed New York statutory disability would carry you.
- Your income has grown substantially since the policy was written.
Disability income — what it typically costs
- Annual premium as a share of the income insured, moving with occupation class, waiting period and whether the definition is own-occupation.1% – 3% of income
This is a typical premium range for this area. It is not a quote, and it is not our price. We do not set premiums: a carrier files its rates with the Department of Financial Services and our commission is already inside the filed rate, so the same policy from the same carrier costs the same through any producer in New York. What genuinely moves your own number is which carrier writes it, the limits and deductibles you choose, and the facts on your record — which is what we would go through with you before anything is quoted.
Questions we are actually asked
Disability income — frequently asked
What does New York statutory disability pay?
Fifty per cent of your average weekly wage capped at $170 a week, for up to twenty-six weeks. That cap has been unchanged since 1989. It is compulsory for employers to provide and it is not a plan for replacing a Queens household income.
What is own-occupation coverage?
It pays if you cannot perform the material duties of your own occupation, even if you could work at something else. Any-occupation cover pays only if you cannot work at anything you are reasonably suited to — a much harder test. For anybody with a specific skill, this definition is the whole value of the policy.
Is my employer's disability cover enough?
Usually not on its own. Group long-term disability typically switches to an any-occupation definition, is taxable when the employer paid for it, and ends when the job does. An individual policy underneath it is portable, own-occupation and generally tax-free.
How much does disability insurance cost?
Typically one to three per cent of the income being insured a year, moving with your occupation class, the definition of disability, the elimination period and the benefit period. Lengthening the elimination period from ninety to one hundred and eighty days is the most effective way to reduce it if you have savings to bridge the gap.
Related cover
Usually considered alongside this
Life insurance
How much, for how long, and the arithmetic that answers both — done before anybody shows you a product.
$220 – $900
Group benefits
Small-group health, dental and the New York statutory disability and paid family leave cover that is not optional.
$650 – $1,400
Workers comp
Compulsory in New York from the first employee, with almost no exceptions and a penalty regime that does not care whether you knew.
$0.30 – $18
Business insurance
The businessowners policy that covers most small Queens businesses properly, and the four risks it is famous for leaving out.
$800 – $2,800Bring the declarations page and we will read it with you
Ask us what it would cost
Send or bring the summary pages of what you already have — those two sheets are where most of the useful conversation is. We will tell you what we would place it with and what that would cost, what we are paid for doing it, and whether you should move at all. Quite often the answer is that your current policy is priced fairly and you should keep it, and that is an answer we give in writing like any other.