[Taikonerd]

If you read this article and feel worried about your financial situation if you become disabled, you might look into long-term disability insurance (LTD).

It's a policy where, if you become disabled to the point where you can't work, it pays out $X per month, every year until you're 65. And if you're partly disabled and have to cut back your hours, some policies compensate you for those lost wages.

These LTD policies are expensive, but they DO give you peace of mind about this possibility.

[bestouff]

Wouldn't it be marvelous if these were mandatory and paid by state with huge scale benefits ?

[gyulai]

I've looked into these kinds of policies a couple of times now, and the premia are just astronomical. (At least from the quotes I've been given).

It's kind of understandable, given that the risk is not all that low. But my guess would be that it's amplified by fraudulent claims in relation to psychological illness, burnout, etc. I asked my insurance guy to exclude those, but, apparently, it's something he can't do.

You can kind of see, how this works for a roofer: If you hurt your leg and can no longer climb a roof, the policy pays. What does it take for me to no longer be able to sit in front of a screen? Well, it would almost have to be something in the psychological realm. Sure, there's the possibility of an illness with chronic pain or cognitive impairment, but those are orders of magnitude less likely, so the psychological stuff is what completely dominates the high premia.

[Taikonerd]

Worker's compensation is similar, and that actually is mandatory for employers to offer in most US states. But IIUC, that's only for injuries that are caused by your job in some way?

[freeone3000]

It’s for injuries that take place while you’re on the job. Chronic issues are difficult to prove.

[gblargg]

There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.

[RhysU]

In the US they are. The public programs are SSI and SSDI with both administered by Social Security.

For anything more, this private insurance market works just fine for those who opt into it.

[bigmattystyles]

Except mental health conditions in these plans seem limited to 2 years. For all the talk of mental health is health, this seems to run directly counter to that.

[raffael_de]

don't forget the legal costs insurance to pay the lawyer making the LTD insurance actually pay and a second legal costs insurance to pay the lawyer suing the primary LCI as they will likely claim that case isn't covered by their policy.