Are you looking for a product to ensure that you have income in the event of an illness or accident?

If so, disability insurance is what you need. Disability insurance coverage compensates insureds for loss of employment income or allows them to continue paying off debts, saving them countless financial worries. The main types of disability coverage found on the market are outlined below.

Group Insurance

Disability insurance under group insurance plans is the most common form of disability coverage.

With group plans, short or long term disability insurance is part of an insurance package that includes life insurance, drug insurance and hospital insurance.

Millions of Canadians are covered by disability insurance at work or through a group they belong to (a professional association or union, for instance). Except for their life insurance
these insureds lose their coverage when they leave the work or group in question.

If you are a member of a caisse, credit union or client of a bank, you can buy disability insurance when you take out a mortgage or a personal loan.

Some credit cards also offer disability coverage. With this kind of coverage, the insurer continues to make your loan or mortgage payments or to pay off a debt if you become disabled.

Individual Insurance

What do you do if you are self-employed, do not belong to a professional association and want disability insurance?

People who fit this profile can purchase individual insurance that is similar to that provided under the group plans offered by businesses. Desjardins Financial Security offers the Solo insurance plan.

This product is accessible and especially attractive to self-employed workers who are looking for good, reasonably priced coverage as well as to those who do not have a group plan at work.

The Solo plan gives them life insurance coverage as well as any of the following coverage they opt for: disability insurance, hospital insurance, drug insurance (the latter is not offered in Quebec). The disability benefit under this plan covers short and long term disabilities. The premium increases over the years, however.

Guaranteed disability insurance

There is also a wide range of other individual disability insurance products. Of these, guaranteed disability insurance offers the most extensive coverage. It is particularly popular with business owners and professionals such as physicians, attorneys and engineers.

Insurers who offer this type of product cannot terminate the coverage or increase the premium. Individuals can also choose a product that gives them disability coverage up until they retire, if they are unable to perform their own occupation (see What is a Disability?) because of an illness or injury. The premium amount reflects these benefits.