Disability Insurance for Diabetics

Disability for diabetics is extremely important. While the general population is underinsured in this critical area, those with diabetes have even a higher risk of a disabling illness or injury.

Reviewing some statistics from the American Diabetes Association (ADA) individuals with diabetes:

• Heart disease deaths are two to four times more prevalent in adults with diabetes compared to adults without the disease. The incidence of heart disease is dramatically higher as well.
• Individuals with diabetes have a two-to-four times higher risk for stroke and 2.8 times higher risk of death from stroke than those without the disease. A stroke can destroy your career and make it impossible to work.
• High blood pressure is present in about 73 percent of adults with diabetes. Controlled hypertension reduces risks dramatically. However, uncontrolled hypertension can lead to a multitude of disabling conditions.
• Diabetes is the leading cause of new cases of blindness in adults between the ages of 20 and 74 – every year, diabetic retinopathy causes 12,000 to 24,000 new cases of blindness in adults with diabetes.
• Diabetes is the leading cause of kidney failure – the disease accounted for 44 percent of new cases in 2005.
• In 2002, more than 178,000 people with end-stage renal disease due to diabetes relied on chronic dialysis or underwent a kidney transplant.
• Mild to severe forms of damage to the nervous system is seen in about 60 percent to 70 percent of people with diabetes.
• Most non-traumatic lower-limb amputations – 60 percent – occur in people with diabetes.
• The prevalence of amputation is 10 times higher among those with diabetes compared to individuals without the disease.

This list can be extended further but I believe the point has been made. If you are a diabetic, you need to obtain some type of disability insurance.

What about social security disability coverage?

At first, you would imagine that if you suffered from a disabling illness you could just contact the Social Security Administration and start collecting checks. But, it does not exactly work that way.

First of all, you need to be disabled to the point where you cannot do any type of work at all. They are not concerned if a job is at lower pay and certainly do not want to hear that you do not think the job suits your education, skills, training or experience.

Most people are initially rejected for benefits. Many of them are so truly disabled that you are wondering what the government is thinking.

At this stage you usually hire an attorney who specialized in social security benefits to help you. All of this can take some time. What are you living on in the meantime? How long will your savings last?

Who will write disability insurance for a diabetic?

This is a question that does not have a direct answer. It depends on your lab tests, how well you are controlled, how long you have been diabetic and other factors. I do not want to mislead you. This type of insurance when is medically underwritten, just like health insurance.

Here are some ways you can obtain disability insurance.

If you are employed, your employer might have a group disability plan available to you. These are often voluntary plans and you must pay for them out of your paycheck. But group plans tend to be cost effective and there are no medical questions.

If your employer does not offer this type of benefit you should talk to them about it. It does not cost them anything at all to offer a voluntary benefit. Any good insurance agent will set everything up for them and do the enrollments.

If you are self employed, you might be able to obtain a private plan. As discussed earlier, it depends on how well controlled you are.

You can obtain a group disability plan with as few as two employees. I have spoken with many individuals who have “hired” their spouses to create the minimum size group.

Finally, there are a few association plans available. These plans do not offer very high coverage but do not have any medical questions.