With the lingering effects of COVID-19, more consumers are taking the time to protect themselves from the unknown. Some people choose to update their life insurance to the "new" life insurance like hybrid long-term care products. Others are taking their retirement funds affected by the market and placing them into safer annuity products to reduce risk, guarantee lifetime income, and leverage their accumulation as a safe retirement savings option.

Sometimes, consumers don't consider what could happen if a family member was inflicted with a disability, which could cause financial problems due to that missing income. Standalone disability insurance products serve as one of those insurance "lifelines" just in case something out of the norm happens to affect that person's ability to work.

Disability insurance pays a portion of salary when a person needs to miss work due to an illness, injury, or having a baby. For families or single people, this insurance provides an income stream if something happens to make a person leave work for a period of time.

The reality is an illness or injury can happen to anyone. According to the Council for Disability Awareness, more than 51 million working adults in the United States are without disability insurance other than the basic coverage available through Social Security. The Council adds 1 in 4 of today's 20-year-olds could become disabled before they retire, and most consumers only have enough emergency savings to last 34.6 months (the average duration of a long-term disability claim).

A common myth about disability insurance involves having coverage in case of an accident at work or some freak accident in their home. Most disability claims are not work-related and not covered by workers' compensation. Believe it or not, disability insurance typically is utilized for back injuries, cancer, heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, and other illnesses that cause a majority of long-term absences.

For that reason, Disability Insurance Awareness Month was created to educate consumers about the benefits of having disability insurance coverage in case a family member is out of work for months or even years!

AIP Marketing Alliance has standalone disability products available through its contracted insurance carriers. Our team also has created new marketing materials to help our valued insurance wholesalers and agents to promote DIAM with the hashtag #DIAM2022 on social media sites. These FREE resources include graphics and an informational video.

If you are looking to keep your clients and prospects informed on the benefits of disability insurance during Disability Insurance Awareness Month, please contact AIPMA's Business Development team at (800) 783-5206 Press #2 or marketing@aipma.com to request these new marketing materials. You can learn more about disability insurance by visiting AIPMA's Disability Insurance page.