When you become ill or injured, you may be harming more than your health. The illness or injury could affect your ability to work.

If you cannot work for a temporary period, there is a likely chance that you would be unable to meet your family’s living expenses.

Group disability income insurance helps you pay for your living expenses when you are unable to work as a result of a disability.

The purpose of group disability income is to provide you with monetary benefits, designed to replace a portion of your income during your recovery period.

The money is paid directly to you for spending on mortgage payments or rent and other living expenses, including groceries, utility bills, and car payments.

Depending on the type of group disability income insurance program you chose, payment can also include training or other assistance that you may need in order to return to work.

What You Need to Do

Before you purchase a group disability income insurance policy, there are a few things you need to consider. Foremost among them is your available resources.

You may already be eligible for group disability income insurance benefits from your employer, the government, or other programs.

Family Temporary Disability Insurance (FTDI) is an insurance program also known as California Paid Family Leave.

This law was ratified in the year 2002 and expands unemployment disability recompense to cover persons who take time off work to care for a gravely ill family member or bond with a new minor child.

The Family Temporary Disability Insurance benefits come to about fifty-five percent of earnings and have a limit per week.

The benefits of the Family Temporary Disability Insurance program began on July 1, 2004. This program is administered by the State Disability Insurance program of the Employment Development Department.

The program is funded by employee contributions participating in the Voluntary Disability Insurance Plan (VDI) or the State Disability Insurance Plan (SDI).

The decree states that the Family Temporary Disability Insurance or Paid Family Leave must be taken at the same time as the leave under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the California Family Rights Act, both of which give twelve weeks of unpaid leave in a year.

This new law does not form any new leave rights, or create new job protection, or does not necessitate an employer to grant time off or return-to-job rights.

Disability pension is a type of pension that is given to people who are temporarily or permanently not capable to work due to disability; a great percentage more or less comes from veterans who have served their country in one way or another.

In Canada, the Veterans Affairs Disability Pension Program is one such form of disability pension program that caters to medical disability related to veteran service.

Those who are qualified for this disability pension includes veterans with medical disability that is associated to their service as Canadian Forces Veteran or Merchant Navy Veteran of the First and Second World War or the Korean War; an existing or former member of the Regular or Reserve Force; or a civilian who served in close support of the Armed Forces during wartime.

If you are a disability pensioner who has a spouse or common-law partner or other qualified dependents, additional benefits may be awarded. The Pension Act presents coverage under two standards:

the Insurance Principle which gives disability pension coverage twenty-four hours a day for war time or SDA; or the Compensation Principle which give pension coverage for disability or death which is directly associated to, or permanently worsened by peacetime, service factors, non-SDA, or events.

One of the most important parts of financial planning is making sure that you have some type of disability insurance plan. The reason is simple:

You never know when an injury or an illness will make you so sick that you can’t come to work for a period of time.

And after all you’re sick leaves and vacation leaves are exhausted, do you still have money incoming to pay for your daily living expenses?

Enough savings to last you a month? Six months? A year? Even if your answer is yes, just one year of not being able to work could mean 10 years’ worth of savings for you.

The solution to this problem is disability insurance. A disability insurance plan could help protect you against a loss of income due to a disabling injury or illness.

Basically, a plan works by providing you with monetary benefits representing a portion of your salary.

For someone forced to depend on his savings due to his being unable to work because of his disability, a disability insurance plan is a good way to help ensure that all monthly bills, mortgage payments, car payments, and living expenses are covered.

Most people would depend on their paychecks to pay for their monthly expenses. If you are like most people, then chances are you do, too. But what do you do if you get into a disabling accident or you develop an illness that would prevent you from working?

How would you handle expenses such as:

• Monthly rent
• Mortgage loan payments
• Groceries
• Car payments
• Day to day living expenses
• Children’s education
• Savings for retirement

According to the 2004 Field Guide by the National Underwriter, at the age of 40, your chances of becoming disabled for 90 days or more prior to age 65 is 43%. Most people do not realize this risk of becoming disabled so many do not even consider disability income insurance.

Some put up reasons such as that their employer provides coverage for such or that they have been saving for similar situations. However, consider also that your employer has a business to run.

How long do you think would the business continue to pay you? How long before they would have to hire someone else to replace your work? And concerning your savings, even if you save about 10% of your earnings every month, one year of disability could wipe out 10 years worth of savings. Can you afford that?

Did you know that about 60 percent of Americans may develop an illness or get into an accident that could prevent them from working before they are 65? What will happen to them during the time when they are unable to earn an income because of their condition?

The good news is that the government is not sitting on this very likely possibility. Disability insurance is only one of the many federal benefits that the government gives to persons who are considered disabled under the law.

Moreover, many private companies are also offering disability insurance programs and packages, thus increasing your options.

What is Disability Insurance?

Disability insurance is an insurance product designed to replace anywhere from 45-60% of your gross income should a sickness or illness prevent you from earning an income in your occupation. Most disability insurance programs are tax-free.

Disability insurance programs vary from company to company. This is not a product to simply shop for the most competitive. Thus, if you buy the cheapest disability insurance available in the market, you would be throwing your money away.

According to research, one in five people that are of working age are considered as “disabled” by the Government and the Disability Rights Commission (DRC).

But what exactly does a disability mean? What kind of disability does the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) contemplate when it classifies certain individuals as “disabled?”

In order for someone to be considered “disabled” under the law, he, the individual, must have a disability, that is, a long-term health condition that has an impact on his day to day life.

Who are People with Disability?

Based on the definition given above, persons who are disabled include the following:

• People with cancer
• Diabetics
• People with multiple sclerosis
• People with heart conditions
• People who have a hearing or sight impairment
• People who have a significant mobility difficulty caused by conditions such as arthritis
• People with mental health conditions
• People with learning difficulties

The Purpose of the Disability Law

The law that sets certain standards for the treatment of disabled persons as well as prohibits discriminatory acts is called the Disability Discrimination Act.

Under this law, persons with disabilities and some others, such as those with facial disfigurement, are entitled to certain rights.

When you see someone who is disabled, what comes to your mind and how would you feel? Do you think differently with people who have disabilities? What do you think those with disabilities are thinking?

These questions always play on our minds when we see disabled people. It’s hard to judge people when you know they can’t do the things most people do.

For example, you see a blind man, can you say right there and there that he has no future because of his vision impairment? Of course not! For all you know, that blind man has more skills, knowledge, and talents than you do.

Is it natural for people to be judgmental to individuals with disabilities? People may tend to be judgmental, but if they knew what it must be like to have impairments, I bet they will have new perspectives in life. And this is what disability awareness programs are all about.

Disability awareness programs are designed and delivered with the purpose of reducing the barriers and increase the understanding, acceptance, and inclusion for those with physical disabilities within our community. Disability awareness programs aim to:

The Developmental Disability Consultants is a private mental health group that offers a wide assortment of direct and advice-giving services to children and adults with disabilities, their families, service providers, and teachers.

Recommendations are accepted for individuals with learning disabilities, autism, developmental disabilities, acquired brain injury, cerebral palsy, and epilepsy.

Services offered by the Developmental Disability Consultants include evaluation and diagnosis, forensic assessment, early intervention, psychotherapy, behavioral support, social and independent living skills training, training and technical assistance, and consultation with schools and other service providers.

The Developmental Disability Consultants is dedicated to the standards of inclusion, opportunity, and choice for all individuals with disabilities.

Child and Family Services

The Developmental Disability Consultants can help family members in making physical, emotional, social, and mental adjustments needed to enable them to strengthen the family unit. Involvement highlights collaboration between family members and the professionals to establish the most helpful approach.

Services for Adolescents and Adults with Developmental Disabilities

The Developmental Disability Consultants offer services such as:

Diagnosis and evaluation provides evaluation on areas such as cognitive functioning, developmental level, adaptive functioning, psycho-educational abilities, emotional status, and parenting abilities.

The California State Disability Insurance or SDI is a partial wage replacement insurance plan for California workers. This SDI program is mandated by the state and is funded through employee payroll deductions.

SDI program provides affordable and short-term benefits to eligible workers who are suffering from a loss of wages due to unfortunate circumstances of non-work related illness or injury, or a medical disability from pregnancy or childbirth resulting to inability to work.

The majority of employees in California, which is about 12 million workers, are covered by State Disability Insurance program. However, some employees are exempt from SDI such as railroad employees, some employees of non-profit agencies, employees who claim religious exemptions, and most of government employees.

There are also four more other states that offer the same State Disability Insurance program, with each state operates its program independently, namely Rhode Island, New Jersey, New York, and Hawaii. If you are living within those states, you can contact your local Employment Development Department Office.

The benefits of California State Disability Insurance coverage include:

• SDI coverage travels with worker. In other words, the coverage of this program is not dependent on staying with a specific employer.