Most people who live and work in California would find it financially challenging to suddenly be without their paychecks for an extended period of time. This may happen if a person is laid off or gets fired from their job but it also may happen if they become sick or injured and are not able to go to work. These situations may arise from a variety of events that have nothing at all to do with their job but nonetheless preclude a person from performing that job.
It is times like these when having a disability insurance policy is something a person becomes very grateful for. As explained by NerdWallet, there are two primary types of these policies: short-term disability insurance policies and long-term disability insurance policies. As the names imply, the biggest difference between these policies is what type of disability they cover based on how long a person remains disabled.
A long-term disability policy generally pays more than a short-term disability policy but neither replaces a person’s wages or salary 100 percent. There are typically waiting periods that a person must experience before they are able to file for benefits. Another important fact employees must know is that every insurance policy might have its own definition of disabled and a person must meet this definition in order to receive benefits.
The Standard notes that for some of its policies, a person is disabled not just if they cannot perform their original job, but any form of job at all. The person must also be under the care of a doctor for their condition.