Short-Term vs. Long-Term Disability:

Short-term disability, long-term disability, social security disability, what are the differences? And how do they all work together to help you with your financial security in the future since you can’t work anymore?

Social security disability are benefits provided by our government, and they are calculated based on your years of working and your income level. Often you would be entitled to receive social security disability benefits for your children as well if you can’t work because these children are dependent on you for income. That’s disability provided by the government. You would seek those benefits after being disabled for about six months because you don’t get benefits for the first six months on social security.

Short-term disability, there’s state short-term disability. We’re here in New Jersey, this is one of the few states in the nation which the state requires employers to either have a short-term disability policy -- and they call it temporary disability benefits that go for six months -- or your employer has to buy, through the payment of a premium to the state, short-term disability benefits from the State of New Jersey. So if you become disabled the first place to go is either your own carrier for short-term disability benefits provided by your employer or the State of New Jersey. That lasts typically six months, sometimes three months but typically six. During that process you will be determining, with your doctor’s assistance, whether you will be out of working for more than six months.

And if that happens, you need to plan ahead and have all your ducks, in line, as they say, to be sure that your doctor is certifying to your disability, that your employer understands that you will not be back to work, and that you receive any forms that you need to fill out for long-term disability benefits. And those can start, depending on the policy, anywhere from three months to six months, typically, after you become disabled. And those benefits can be provided based on your policy, either for lifetime or to age 65.