If you’re a bartender, then you may have found that it can be very difficult to purchase disability insurance. Like other professions, disability insurance for bartenders is important coverage and something that you probably shouldn’t go without. If you’re a bartender looking for disability insurance, read on. We can help.
What to Expect-Disability Insurance for Bartenders
Bartenders, like many professions, require disability insurance. Long-term disability insurance will replace some of your income if an injury, accident, or illness prevents you from working and earning money.
The average bartender is 34 years old and makes a little over 23k annually. 58% of bartenders are female.
Disability insurance for bartenders is priced according to your age, gender, and health. Since the average age for bartenders is on the younger side, this helps with the overall cost of their disability policies.
Unfortunately, disability insurance for bartenders is very difficult to find. A high incidence of claims coupled with a profession that involves a substantial amount of movement makes it challenging to find a company that will write the policy.
Therefore, the best option for a bartender who wants to protect their income with disability insurance is to find an option that offers adequate coverage for an affordable premium.
What to Look For
As mentioned earlier, because a bartender can be difficult to insure, we often have to look to non-traditional strategies in order to protect their income. Disability insurance for bartenders is available, but it comes with some trade-offs.
Non-Occupation Disability Insurance
If you’ve read any of our Disability 101 Articles, you may have seen the terms “own occ” and “any occ”.
An “own occ” policy is one that covers your profession and doesn’t require you to seek employment outside of your actual job.
An “any occ” policy is one that allows claims only if you’re unable to do ANY job by which you’re reasonably suited to based on education, training, and experience.
So what is non-occ?
A non-occupation policy is a disability insurance policy that doesn’t take your occupation into account.
While that may sound like great news for bartenders and other hard-to-insure occupations, the caveat is that you won’t be able to make a claim for any disability that is caused at work or by work.
That means that a coal miner who develops black lung wouldn’t be able to make a claim and neither would a bartender who develops lower back pain from being on his or her feet all day.
While this is certainly a downside, these policies do cover a host of other health conditions and potential accidents that may knock you out of work for an extended period of time. In addition, you may be covered by workers’ comp (which ONLY covers you for on the job-related injuries/illnesses) which would be a great supplement to a bartender disability insurance policy that covers non-work related issues.
Accidental Disability Policies
A large percentage of disability claims are caused by illness or sickness. However, almost 10% of disabilities are due to accidents.
If you’re young and healthy, an accident might seem like the most likely way for you to become disabled. In fact, a lot of the younger (<40) people who approach us for disability insurance are very concerned about missing work due to an accident.
While they would probably be better off in a policy that covers both illness and injury, accident disability policies are very inexpensive and normally have minimal underwriting, making them easy to purchase.
Like a “non-occ” disability insurance policy, an accidental disability policy does not take your occupation into account. Because of that feature, this type of policy is another way to get disability insurance for bartenders.
Life Insurance with Disability
There are a few life insurance policies that offer disability riders.
Most of the time, a disability rider on a life insurance policy only waives your insurance premiums if you became disabled.
There are a few policies, however, that will provide a small monthly benefit for your personal use should you be unable to work due to sickness or injury. While not ideal, difficult-to-insure occupations need to consider all options when it comes to protecting their income.
If this type of policy is available to you (and you need life insurance), then it needs to be evaluated.
Group Disability Insurance
If you’re employed by a large corporation, you may have some type of group disability insurance available through your employer. In most cases, bartenders struggle to find this type of coverage. However, if offered, it is extremely valuable.
Group coverage will typically cover you for both on-the-job and off-the-job injuries and accidents. In addition, it is typically less expensive than individual disability insurance for bartenders.
Social Security Disability
As a last-ditch effort, bartenders might have to rely on social security disability.
Although it can be very difficult to make a claim and the benefits are somewhat small, social security disability may be a safety net in an otherwise unfortunate situation.
If you’re lucky enough to live in one of the five states that offer short-term disability (Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, California, and Hawaii), then you have some additional coverage as well.
While not a great option, some coverage is better than none, and there are a few state/government programs available.
Summary
Disability insurance for bartenders is not the easiest coverage to find.
That being said, there are several options that allow a bartender to purchase some form of income protection insurance.
Even though bartenders frequently have claims caused by their occupation, there are a few carriers that are willing to offer coverage. After discussing your needs and concerns, we can help you find the right policy for your needs.
We are an independent agency that specializes in disability insurance. We provide expert, objective advice in helping you shop for your disability insurance.
Complete the quote form on the left or contact us today for a confidential, complimentary consultation.
We can help.
