Group Long-Term Disability: Definition, Benefit Period & Cost Explained

Group Long-Term Disability is structured around a any-occupation after 24 months definition, pays for up to To 65 (while employed) and starts after a 90–180 days elimination period. Typical premium: Employer-paid a month. Employer plans usually shift from own-occupation to any-occupation after two years, which is when most claims get denied.

Contract terms

The definition of disability is the clause that decides everything else. Two policies with identical premiums and benefit periods can behave completely differently when a claim arrives, because one protects your profession and the other protects only your ability to work at all.

Where this structure fits

• Choose it if: you are a employees with benefits and your income depends on a specialised skill.
• Budget note: Employer-paid a month buys roughly 60% of income — fund the elimination period of 90–180 days in savings.
• Watch: mental and nervous claims are commonly capped at 24 months regardless of the headline benefit period.

Pair the policy with your existing group cover rather than replacing it: group plans are cheap but taxable and end with employment, so the individual layer should be sized to the tax-adjusted gap, not to the group benefit percentage.

Cost over the policy life

Employer-paid premiums mean the cost sits with the plan sponsor, not the employee.against a single year of lost income that would otherwise be unfunded. That ratio is why disability cover is priced by definition and age, not by marketing.

Group Long-Term Disability: any-occupation after 24 months definition, To 65 (while employed) benefit period, 90–180 days elimination. Buy it for the definition, not the premium.