Disability Insurance

Disability insurance plans help you when you cannot work for weeks or months due to an injury, pregnancy or illness. Your medical coverage helps to pay your doctor and hospital bills. Your disability coverage protects your income for housing, food and other needs.

There are several types of disability insurance.

Most disability insurance plans are similar. You file a claim that describes your injury or illness. We will also need additional information like records from your doctors. We use all of this information to determine under the specific terms of your plan:

• If you are unable to work*
• If you are eligible for disability payments

Start date
You need to miss a certain number of work days before your disability pay starts. This is called an elimination period. During this time, you will normally use your company paid sick time or vacation. Read your plan summary for more information. Your human resources person can also help you learn more.

Benefit amount
Depending upon your disability plan*, the disability payment you receive is usually based on a percentage of:

• Your annual salary
• Commissions
• Other forms of income from your employer

Your plan summary explains the details of your plan. You may receive other income during your disability. If so, your plan summary will explain how that may reduce your disability payments.  Check with your employer if you need a copy of the plan summary.

Returning to work
Your goal is to get back to work. That's our goal, too. A disability case manager and a rehabilitation consultant may work with you to meet your career goals. Some people may need special devices or training to help them return to work.

How a disability plan works
The amount you receive is usually based on your annual salary, commissions, or other forms of income from your employer, depending upon your disability plan.* You can find out if you qualify and how much you will be paid by reading your plan summary. This explains the details of your plan, including any limitations or offsets that may apply, based on other income you are receiving during your disability (such as offsets for certain Social Security Disability Income payments). Please read your plan carefully.

If you have Aetna disability insurance and want to file a claim
Visit our WorkAbility site if you have our disability coverage and are now on short- or long-term disability leave. Learn more about our website  (PDF, 1.15 MB) features.

We also have more information on managing your disability benefit and planning your return to work.

Find out more about returning to work.

*It is important to understand the specific definition of disability in your plan and that it may change depending on how long you are disabled.  For example, some plans may pay long term disability benefits for 24 months based on if the employee is unable to perform his or her “own occupation”.  After 24 months the definition of disability changes and the plan pays long term disability benefits based on if that employee is unable to perform “any occupation.”  Please read your plan summary carefully.