"I'm covered through work," I announced. "You proba-bly are too, Tom."
"Be careful about that assumption, Dave," Roy cau-tioned. "Many employer group plans offer insufficient cov-erage. In addition, they are often non-portable. If you left your place of work to go out on your own or to go to an em-ployer who did not provide adequate group disability cov-erage, you would have to hope that you were in good enough health to qualify for an individual disability policy."
"How can I tell whether or not my group plan is ade-quate?"
"It isn't easy. Disability insurance policies are complex. However, you should seek answers to some basic questions. If you receive a 'yes' to all of them, your policy is probably a good one. For example, is the loss of hearing, sight, speech, or the use of two limbs considered to be total disability under your group policy? Is 'disability' defined in broad terms? Is the policy non-cancelable? Is there a waiver-of-premium clause? If so, does it extend beyond the benefit period? Is the only policy exclusion an accident of war? Does the policy provide benefits during rehabilitation? Are the benefits indexed?"
"Slow down, Roy! Where do we find out about all this?" Tom took the words right out of my mouth.
"Talk to your personnel department. They should know the answers to most of those questions and, if they don't, they'll know where to find them. Also, show your group policy to an insurance agent who can help you compare its pros and cons with those of an individual policy."
"What if our group policies are inadequate?" Tom pressed on.
"If your group policy is inadequate, Tom, or if you are