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Catherine Theroux
Director, Public Relations
Work Phone: (860) 285-7787
Mobile Phone: (703) 447-3257
Brooke Lacey
Senior Public Relations Specialist
Work Phone: (860) 298-3920
Mobile Phone: (413) 530-6184
Lack of Knowledge Hinders Disability Insurance Ownership
5/1/2014
Sixty-three percent of Americans agree that most people need disability insurance, according to the LIMRA/Life Happens 2014 Insurance Barometer study. By contrast, only 29 percent said they owned disability insurance, which is consistent with results from prior years. The Barometer study found that people find disability insurance difficult to understand and don't know the amount of coverage they need.
Life Happens (www.lifehappens.org) designates the month of May as "Disability Insurance Awareness Month" to educate consumers and emphasize that coverage should be viewed as "paycheck insurance." According to the U.S. Social Security Administration 25 percent of Americans entering the workforce today will face a disability event of 3 months or longer.
In a LIMRA survey in which consumers were quizzed on how much they knew about disability insurance, only 4 percent of U.S. consumers demonstrated a high level of knowledge. Consumers admit their lack of knowledge puts them and their families at risk if they were to become disabled. Disability Insurance Awareness Month presents an opportunity for advisors to educate more people about the importance of having adequate disability coverage.
For its part, LIMRA has prepared a fact sheet on the "Top Five Myths About Disability Insurance" which is available here.