Guaranteed Standard Issue Disability Insurance
Your employees depend on their paychecks, but, on their own, they may be unable to secure the individual disability insurance they need to protect their paychecks. Employers can help by offering guaranteed standard issue (GSI) disability insurance to groups of employees.
What Is Guaranteed Issue Disability Insurance?
Guaranteed issue disability insurance is a long-term multi-life disability insurance option designed to cover groups of employees. If you have five or more employees, you can cover everyone in the group at once with this convenient and affordable multi-life disability insurance option.
Is Guaranteed Issue the Same as Group Long-Term Disability Insurance?
Guaranteed standard issue disability insurance is different from group long-term disability insurance.
Although both of these income replacement options insure groups of employees, there are some key distinctions. For one thing, individual employees own their guaranteed standard issue disability insurance. Plus, as the coverage is portable, employees can keep it if they switch jobs. This is not normally the case with group long-term disability insurance, which employees typically lose when switching jobs. Guaranteed issue disability insurance can also offer better coverage than group long-term disability insurance.
Group long-term disability insurance can be an affordable option when you have a large number of workers. However, workers who need more robust coverage may be more interested in guaranteed issue disability income insurance.
Guaranteed Issue Disability Insurance vs. Individual Disability Insurance
Guaranteed standard issue disability insurance is not quite the same as an individual disability insurance policy.
Both guaranteed standard issue disability insurance and individual disability insurance offer long-term disability insurance coverage. However, the guaranteed standard issue benefit period may be shorter than what some individual disability insurance policies offer.
Guaranteed standard issue disability insurance also has less flexibility. Since everyone receives coverage from the same insurance company and the benefit levels are predetermined, individual policyholders are unable to adjust their coverage levels to meet their needs and budgets. Plus, GSI disability insurance policyholders may be unable to select all the riders they want (as they would with individual disability insurance), although some attractive riders are available.
At this point, you might be wondering why anyone would choose guaranteed standard issue disability insurance over individual disability insurance. There’s actually a good reason: GSI disability insurance is available with virtually no underwriting. Applicants don’t have to submit to medical exams or blood tests to secure coverage – this is why it’s called guaranteed.
This removes a common barrier to disability income coverage. Many people realize they should take out coverage, but, as they don’t want to deal with the hassle of medical underwriting, they never submit an application. With a GSI program, you don’t need to worry about this.
Another advantage to guaranteed standard issue disability income insurance is it often comes with significant discounts. Although paycheck protection offers good value, many people underestimate the risk of disability or mistakenly believe they will never experience a disability themselves. In addition, they sometimes balk at the cost of coverage. Multi-life discounts make coverage more affordable, which can boost enrollment rates.
