Four tips for taking out disability insurance

What is insured and what is not?

When you purchase disability insurance from Alpina, it's nice to know what you are and are not covered for. Below we outline both situations:

It is insured:

• Your profession, even if you can still do other work;
• If you have other income, it will not affect your benefit;
• You can adjust your insured income once a year by up to 10% without a new health declaration;
• Incapacity for work due to an accident at work or outside work, e.g. sports;
• Incapacity for work due to illness or psychological complaints;
• Maternity benefit, from 1 year after taking out the disability insurance;
• Costs caused by reintegration;
• A prevention package, so that you can prevent incapacity for work.

Not insured:

• Incapacity for work caused by intent or gross negligence;
• Incapacity for work due to the use of alcohol or drugs;
• If you have not been complete or honest when applying for disability insurance.

Four tips to help you take out disability insurance?

You have decided to take out disability insurance. But how do you choose the insurance that suits you best among the wide range on offer? Alpina's four handy tips will help you find the disability insurance that best suits your personal situation.

1. Determine the income to be insured

The premium you pay periodically is determined, among other things, by the part of the income you want to insure. When you take out disability insurance, you can cover up to 80% of your income. Of course, a lower percentage is also possible. The higher the coverage, the more premium you will pay periodically. A useful tool to determine which percentage you should choose is to ask the question which costs are recurrent within the company, also when you are unable to work. This way you know how much money you should have available each month from your disability insurance. It is also advisable to look at the financial situation of your partner. Is your partner in paid employment? What is your partner's income? Is your partner also insured against incapacity for work? These are various questions that are important to ask. If your partner has a lot of certainty about his income, you can take a little more risk as a self-employed person.

2. Choose the right type of insurance

When you want to take out disability insurance, it is good to know that there are three different insurances, namely:

• Occupational disability insurance: This is about how incapacitated you are. This is determined on the basis of what you can still do within your profession.
• Suitable employment: with this insurance, the question is different. Are you still able to perform the work that fits your work experience and education? With this form of work disability, the chance that you will receive insurance is smaller.
• Suitable employment: this is the last variant and occurs rarely. When taking out this form of insurance, it is examined whether you are still able to work in any case, and which work activities are suitable. If the person is able to work, this insurance does not pay any premium.

The first type of insurance offers the fullest coverage. But here too, we recommend looking at your personal situation. Consider different scenarios and choose the insurance that best suits your situation.

3. Examine the own-risk period

It is important to think about the deductible period. For example, you can make a decision to have your disability insurance pay out only after several months or years. During this period, you will not receive any funds if you become disabled. If you decide to opt for an excess period, Alpina's advice is to set aside money to cover this period.

When you take out disability insurance, it is also advisable to think about age. For some heavy professions you can insure yourself until the age of 55 or 60. With other professions you get more freedom in this. If you insure yourself until retirement, you will pay more premiums. Do you decide to insure yourself until a lower age? Then this can possibly be more advantageous for you.

4. Make an inventory of alternative insurance possibilities

There are also alternative ways to insure yourself. For instance, there are various associations of self-employed persons who jointly secure each other's work disability. In addition, it is wise to put money aside. It is advisable to do this from the start of the enterprise. Finally, there is the possibility to insure yourself at the UWV. This is not quite comparable to private insurers. There are, for example, different conditions. These have to do with your employment and insurance history.