Disability and the unexpected

The step-son of our very close friends was in a terrible motorcycle accident recently: he was pulling out of his driveway when he was hit by a car, smashing his leg and spleen, crushing his spine and resulting in what appears to be major head and brain trauma.

Obviously, he hadn't planned to be hit by a car, but this is why they're called "accidents:" no one plans them, life happens.

Which brings us to the question of how he'll feed his family, pay his bills, and (hopefully) continue saving for retirement (assuming he's even/ever able to return to work). I have no idea whether or not he has disability income ("paycheck") insurance, but I sure hope he does.

What brings this to mind is an email I recently received from MassMutual (one of the premier DI carriers), which included some interesting (and thought-provoking) information. In the past 10 years, for example, for its disability insurance policyholders aged 35 or younger, MM had over 1,000 policyholders go on claim for at least 90 days.

Some of these were surprising to me:

■ A 35 year old male with chrinic fatigue syndrome whose claim is now over 10 years old

A 29 year old woman, also 10+ years on claim, with a lung disorder

One guy with hypertensive heart disease was only 28 when he went on claim over 5 years ago

Is your disability income insurance up-to-date? Are you sure? Life happens.

[h/t: Howard Klebanow]

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