40% of American Workers Lack Long Term Disability Coverage, Survey Shows

Forty percent of American workers lack long term disability coverage, and 41% of those with coverage consider what they have to be "inadequate," according to a new survey released by the Consumer Federation of America and the American Council of Life Insurers. The AP/Bergen Record reports that of the 500 workers surveyed, 73% said "they would be adversely affected financially if they were unable to work for a year or longer." The survey also found that workers have a lesser understanding of disability benefits -- which are "designed to help workers and their families pay living expenses while a wage earner is unable to work" -- than other work-related benefits, such as health insurance. Of the 300 respondents with disability coverage, 43% said they "did not know" the details of their basic long term coverage. Carroll Campbell Jr., president and CEO of the insurers' trade association, said, "The survey results illustrate how widespread misunderstanding about disability is. Disabilities can strike anyone regardless of age, gender or income level" (AP/Bergen Record, 4/23).