One of the most important things to consider when purchasing a private (individual) disability policy is how your private (individual) disability policy defines “disabled.” If you are a business owner or are a professional in your own practice, your policy should pay you if you cannot perform your occupation/profession as you had always performed it. If you purchase a private (individual) disability policy that pays benefits only if you are completely disabled and cannot perform any occupation at all, that could be problematic.
For example, if you are a dentist and experience a disability that prohibits you from working on patients (perhaps a severe arm or hand injury or condition), but does not prohibit you from going to the office and managing the day-to-day operations, you may want to continue working. If your disability policy states that in order to obtain benefits you must not be able to perform any occupation, you will not be able to collect benefits and attend to your practice.
If, however, you purchase a private (individual) disability policy that defines “disabled” as not being able to perform your occupation or profession as you had always performed it, you still could in some capacity and collect your (private) individual disability benefits.
Before you purchase a private (individual) disability policy, read all the fine print. As is usually the case, what you don’t know may hurt you later on.