FAQs

• What is DI?
  • Disability Insurance, a type of insurance designed to compensate an insured person for a portion of the income lost because of a disabling injury or illness. Benefit payments are made monthly for a specified period during the continuance of an insured’s disability.
    
• Why do I need it?
  • You probably take plenty of precautions in your daily life. Still, no matter how prepared you are, accidents and illness do happen - at home, on the road, at work and at play. And disability can be the outcome. A sports injury, a car accident, an illness, a problem pregnancy, a heart attack, a serious back injury - any of these situations can result in your not being able to work at your usual job, even if you have a relatively sedentary job. That in turn means of loss of income. Bottom Line: Could you afford to live without your income?
• Which product is right for me?
  • Contact your nearest Guardian Agency. (See contact list)
• Isn't it more likely that I will die before I ever become disabled?
  • Consider the following startling statistics*:
    • If you're under the age 35, chances are one in three that you will be disabled for at least six months during the course of your career.
    • Men have a 43% chance of becoming seriously disabled during their working years; women have a 54% chance.
    • At age 42, it is four times more likely that you will become seriously disabled than that you will die during your working years.
    Because the odds are so great that you could become disabled at some point, it's important to have a backup plan in place - a layer of protection for your lifestyle.
• What do you mean by totally disabled?
  • Totally disabled means that solely due to injury or sickness you are not able to perform the material and substantial duties of your occupation.
    
    In California, totally disabled means that as a result of sickness or injury, you are unable to perform with reasonable continuity the substantial and material acts necessary to pursue your usual occupation in the usual and customary way. While unique to policies issued in California, this is an "own-occupation" definition of total disability.
• What does non-cancellable mean?
  • When the term "non-cancellable" is added to guaranteed renewable, the insurance company cannot change the provisions of the policy, and it cannot increase the premiums. As long as premiums are paid on a timely basis - and assuming that all underwriting information is truthful and accurate - the insurer cannot cancel the contract.

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• What does guaranteed renewable mean?
  • If a policy is guaranteed renewable only, the insurance company agrees to keep renewing the contract for as long as premiums continue to be paid on a timely basis. While the insurer cannot change the provisions of the policy, it can increase premiums by state, occupation class, policy or for other categories with prior notification.
• What does own-occupation mean?
  • An individual disability insurance policy with an own occupation definition of total disability covers you if you cannot perform the occupation or occupations you are performing at the onset of a total disability. Please refer to what do you mean by totally disabled above for additional details.
• Why do I need more disability insurance? I have group Long Term Disability at work.
  • Your group LTD may be terminated for one of two reasons: Your employment terminates or your employer ends the group LTD plan and doesn't replace it. Individual DI belongs to you because you pay the premiums. So your individual DI policy is completely portable - it goes with you no matter how often you change jobs.
• I have a business and someone told me I need disability buy-out insurance. What does that mean?
  • A Disability Buy-Out policy provides cash to assist in the purchase of a disabled partner's or shareholder's business interest by the remaining owners. The policyowner may be an insured's partner/co-owner or the business itself, depending on the buy-out agreement.
• I have a business and someone told me I need disability over head expense insurance. What does that mean?
  • An Overhead Expense policy forms provide benefits to reimburse the monthly business expenses of a professional or a business owner while he or she is disabled.
• What's a rider?
  • It's an additional optional policy benefit you can add to your policy for additional premium.