Self Employed Disability Insurance

Self employed disability insurance is a reality.  Don't fall for the myth that only people working at large employers can get adequate coverage.  Consider your needs, and look at three options: 

1. Self employed long term disability is available through many insurers. 
   
2. Self employed short term disability insurance is just a little harder to find. 
   
3. Self employed disability insurance for pregnancy is availabe for 1099 contractors!

Self employed short term disability for pregnancy and maternity leave does not make business sense for insurers.  So they don't sell policies with maternity benefits directly to individuals or the self employed. But there is an easy way for many self employed women to get disability insurance coverage.

Learn how insurance companies define an employer group, read between the lines, and you may find that you qualify for short term disability insurance coverage even though you are self employed.

Certain insurers will issue policies through an employer with as few as three benefit eligible employees.  Contractors and 1099 workers count as benefit eligible employees - and that is your ticket to coverage.

Many self employed people think their company is too small to qualify to be offered short term disability insurance coverage.  Several insurers will offer coverage to groups with as few as three benefit eligible employees. 

Contract employees count towards the total, so if your company sub-contracts work out and you are willing to offer short term disability coverage to your sub-contractors, you can get insurance coverage for yourself.

As the business owner you are in control.  It's your decision on whether to offer payroll deduction support to your contractors.  You may even find that it helps to attract and retain your contractors if you can offer voluntary benefit programs like short term disability and other supplemental coverage options.

Many self employed people are working as contractors or 1099 employees.  They are paid by a larger company, or several companies, that do not exercise direct control.  This is often the case in a variety of industries: therapists, computer programming, healthcare, and many more. 

Many self employed people are eligible for short term disability coverage through one of the companies they contract with - but they just don't realize it.  As long as the company is willing to deduct the premium from your payments and forward your premium to the insurance carrier, you can get coverage.  It's that simple.