What You Need To Know About Disability Insurance PregnancyPregnancy is a short term disability when female employees have to abstain themselves from work for a period of three months or more. The Disability Insurance Pregnancy offers benefits of payment to those employees who cannot work for that certain period related to maternity. Pregnancy insurance policies fall under short term disability programs. When a person is on maternity leave or parental leave, the insurance claim provides financial support to the person. Maternity leave is taken by a mother or father for the birth and adoption of the baby born. The pregnancy disability leave was ambiguous in the US for many circumstances till 1993. In that year Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), was passed. This FMLA now entitles workers or employees a job protected medical leave for child birth and adoption. But, this doesn't cover many employees of small organizations where they get unpaid leave. The benefits of pregnancy related disability also depends on the state you live in. If you are in California, then you are entitled to be paid family leave. Other states, like New Jersey and Massachusetts, too, are considering family paid leave schemes for child birth and post partum recovery. Employment Development Department (EDD) in California has Disability Insurance (DI) Programs which provide assistance to those people who cannot work due to disability caused by sickness, pregnancy, and injury. The California State Disability Insurance (SDI) is state mandated and collects the funds as premiums from payroll deductions of employees. Under this program, every employees get protection due to non-work related illness like pregnancy or accident. If your state doesn't have programs for pregnancy, your employer may have some policies for such under which you can take paid leave for pregnancy. Explore your options as early as you can before you become pregnant. Ensure that you collect and finished all the required paperwork before the time when you take such leave. You can also buy pregnancy disability insurances from companies like Berkshire provider that offer short term disability insurances. They usually pay 50 to 100% of your salary for your maternity leave (usually 6 weeks) depending on your policy and the number of years you have worked for the organization. The time of coverage may also extend based on the severity of your case, for example if complications arise effecting your post partum recovery as a result of a cesarean section. Mostly, the maximum amount you receive is capped. If you have short term disability insurance from both the employer and the state, you won't receive any extra benefits. You will get the same amount that one is generally entitled to, but the payment may come from two sources, namely, the company and the state. You can consult law experts to know more on state or employer disability insurance pregnancy. There are many other schemes for pregnancy benefits. Some employers even pay employees from paid sick leave quota for pregnancy leave. As always, preplanning and exploring all of your options is definitely to your advantage. |