Disability insurance replaces your income if you’re injured or sick and can’t work. The maximum amount of time you’ll get payments depends both on the type of disability insurance you have and the benefit period you set for your policy.
Short-term coverage usually lasts for between three and six months, while long-term coverage can last for much longer depending on the benefit period — you can even choose a policy that will pay out through retirement age if you’re never able to work again.
Remember that’s just the maximum amount of time you’ll be paid while you’re hurt or sick, but no matter the benefit period, payments generally stop once you can return to work.
How long do disability insurance benefits last?
Your policy’s benefit period determines the maximum amount of time you could receive payments if you’re sick or injured and can’t work.
As you can probably guess from the names, short-term disability insurance and long-term disability insurance have different benefit periods.
Short-term disability insurance: Lasts for between 3 to 6 months, usually no more than 12 months.
Long-term disability insurance: Payments continue for at least a year, but last for up to two, five, or 10 years — or through retirement age (usually 65 or 67).
When do your benefits actually start?
Your disability benefits start after you experience an injury or illness and can’t work. You won’t receive payments immediately after filing a claim — you’ll have to wait for your policy’s waiting period (also called an elimination period) to pass.
The waiting period is the amount of time after a disabling event disability that you have to wait before you’ll start receiving benefits. For short-term disability insurance, waiting periods are often about two weeks. For long-term policies, waiting periods can be between 30 days and 2 years.
Can disability insurance benefits end early?
Yes, your disability insurance benefits won’t always pay out for the full benefit period — that’s just a maximum. If you recover from your injury or illness and return to work, your payments will stop even if the full benefits period hasn’t elapsed.
Disability insurance companies have rules spelling out when you’re no longer eligible for payments. These rules are called definitions of disability, and they can vary from policy to policy:
Own-occupation disability insurance: Payments will last as long as you can’t do the job you had when you got the policy (until the benefits period is up), even if you can return to work in a different role or field.
Any-occupation disability insurance: Payments only last as long as you can’t do any job that’s reasonable for someone with your education and experience, but generally once you go back to work, they end.
Partial disability insurance: Benefits may continue if you can return to work, but you’ll only receive partial benefits until your income goes back to pre-disability levels.
This is usually something you set when you buy disability insurance, but if you get coverage through work, check your policy’s definition of disability to understand when your benefits will end.
What disability insurance benefits period should you choose?
If you can afford it, you should choose a benefit period that allows you to collect disability benefits for the rest of your career, just in case a serious injury or illness leaves you unable to work long term.
In other words, your benefits should last as long as you would need to replace your income if you couldn’t work. The ideal benefit period for you depends on factors like your savings, your age, and when you can retire.
You’re young and just entering the workforce
If you have lots of earning years ahead, you should get a disability insurance policy that pays benefits until retirement age. You could potentially replace decades of lost income — totaling, in some cases, millions of dollars — if you’re injured or get sick early in your career and aren’t able to go back to work.
But a longer benefits period means a more expensive policy, so if choosing a policy that lasts through retirement age makes coverage too expensive, choose the longest benefit period that you can afford.
You’re planning to retire soon
If you’re near retirement, your disability insurance doesn’t need to last for decades. You can choose a policy that would just cover a few years off of work — just long enough for you to reach your savings goals and retire. You may even decide to put your premiums toward retirement savings instead of getting disability insurance if you’re planning on retiring soon.
You’re thinking about getting pregnant
If you’re thinking about getting pregnant and you don’t already get short-term disability insurance through work, you should buy a policy well in advance. Short-term disability insurance pays out for leaves of three months up to a year, and generally covers pregnancy and childbirth.
→ Read more about comparing disability insurance for your coverage needs
Can your disability insurance last after you retire?
No, disability insurance coverage doesn’t continue after you retire. Disability insurance is meant to replace your lost income — if you’re not receiving any income because you left your job, you have no income to replace.
One exception is if you retire early. You won’t be able to collect disability benefits if you don’t have a job, but if you quickly save up enough money to retire, you can keep your disability insurance active in case you want to return to work in the future. This way, you won’t need to re-buy disability insurance and pay higher rates.