Short-Term Disability: Definition, Benefit Period & Cost Explained

Short-Term Disability is structured around a own-occupation definition, pays for up to 3–6 months and starts after a 0–14 days elimination period. Typical premium: $15–$40 a month. Bridges the first months of a temporary disability while long-term coverage waits out its elimination period.

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 surgery and recovery and your income depends on a specialised skill.
• Budget note: $15–$40 a month buys roughly 60% of income — fund the elimination period of 0–14 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

At $15–$40 a month, a decade of cover costs roughly 1,800 dollars in premiums — 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.

Short-Term Disability: own-occupation definition, 3–6 months benefit period, 0–14 days elimination. Buy it for the definition, not the premium.