As employers attempt to cope with rising health insurance costs, disability benefits are becoming more expensive for employees, according to Reuters.
One expert told the source employers are limiting short-term benefits and instituting longer waiting periods to qualify for long-term coverage. The Census Department estimates under 7 percent of the working age population are prevented from working by disability at a given time.
Increasingly, disability claims can be due to psychological, emotional and musculoskeletal problems, which can afflict many office and desk workers who expect to be able to work through problems that might prevent manual labor.
While this cuts costs for the healthy, it typically means the unfortunate few are caught unprepared when they become disabled, and lack coverage when the need strikes. At the same time, recent data from insurance industry research group LIMRA shows a 12 percent increase in the number of employers requiring their workers to cover the full cost of disability insurance from 2002 to 2009.
"We are seeing some gradual slide to more employee financial responsibility for long-term coverage," said one benefits consultant partner, "The employers who used to provide the entire cost now may provide a core benefit and allow workers to buy up their coverage."
This may make the choice between public, private or no coverage more difficult as employers' roles decrease and costs grow.
