Short term disability insurance help?

Question

I'm scheduled to have a hip replacement in May. My question is this: is there any type of insurance (i.e.- AFLAC) that can help with some of the medical expenses that I will incur or even help with the lost income? I've heard of short term disability insurance but am not familiar with the particulars. Please note: I have a husband who has a decent job and am not looking for government assistance. Any help is appreciated.

I have very good medical insurance that will cover the majority of the surgery, etc. I would just like to minimize the out of pocket expenses. My best friend did something similar when she was pregnant to cover her maternity leave so I know it's possible and definitely not insurance fraud.

It's not available through my employer (I work for the state). I have a flexible spending account which will help and about a month of sick leave. I just want to make sure that I haven't missed anything that might help.

Look, I'm not trying to take advantage of anything or screw any policy holders out of money. I certainly didn't mean to incite such anger. I'm just wondering if there might be a help meet out there. It's a perfectly logical, legitimate question. I asked for help, not to be attacked. Geez.

Answer 1

The short answer is no.

After all, think about what you are asking.

You are basically saying....I know that I have a very big expense coming up....I want to pay just a little bit of money and I want to join this big pool of people (the insurer's policyholders) and I want the pool (all the rest of us) to pay me a LOT more than I paid in even though I knew about this in advance.

If you let us (the other policyholders) vote on this...what do you think out vote would be???....knowing that it is situations like that that drives our premiums up.

Who do you think is paying for stuff like that...the insurer? Out of the kindness of their heart? No, we the other policyholders pay for that.

If you can find an insurer who would go for that....good luck...but would you want to be a policyholder of that insurer that paid claims like that?

Answer 2

1

Answer 3

There are policies that pay you a certain amount per day while you are hospitalized. But you'd probably have to already have the policy in force and you probably won't spend more than 4 days in the hospital so you wouldn't get much of a benefit from that. A lot of policies have waiting periods or limitations on pre-existing conditions so if you don't already have the coverage it's probably too late to obtain coverage that you could actually use for this illness.

I'd like to add, that you may find yourself back at work sooner than you think, depending of course on the nature of your job. I had both of my hips replaced and, although I no longer work, I believe that I could have gone back to my old job at about the 5th or 6th week after my second THR. I was still using a single crutch and had trouble sitting for long periods but my job required both sitting, standing, and walking around which was ideal for me. So, if you already have sick leave coverage for the first month, you may not lose as much income as you think before you can return to work.

Good luck with the new hip. Mine changed my life.

Answer 4

Well some of it depends on what state you live in. In California we
pay a small amount to a state fund, that in the event like yours, you need surgery and it is hard to go without 2 incomes. We can file for state disability. It pays your 3/4 of what you make, but is better than nothing. Aflac, and others now probably would not cover you since you have a pre-existing condition. They many just have a waiting period tho, so I would check into them. Good Luck with your surgery, and finding short term disability.

Answer 5

Do you have medical insurance? There is no short-term or any other type of insurance is going to cover you for something that you know is going to happen.

Insurance is designed to protect you from unforeseen events, not ones you have scheduled already.

Even if you could find short-term disability insurance you may technically be committing fraud by taking it out if you knew in advance that you would be using the insurance.

Answer 6

When I had to miss two months of work I qualified for short term disability benefits through my emplyer. My HR associate helped me through the process. It took about 3 weeks to process and it was only a portion of my income. I was lucky enough to have accumulated a lot of sick days and also used some of those. Also, if you or your husband has a flexible spending account you could access those funds to help with medical costs.

Answer 7

check with your employer if this is a benefit, there's usually a waiting period once your enrolled before you can report a claim. It's not fraud to enroll with the intent of eventually using this bene. Alot of my employees enroll in this knowing eventually (due to age) they would need surgery. This is not fraud, after all you pay for this out of your pocket through payroll deductions. Think of it as a savings acct. for medical, sort of like a flex spending acct mentioned in another answer given. Trust me its not insurance fraud.