One in four of today’s 20-year-olds will become disabled before they reach retirement age, according to the Social Security Administration. Inside a benefits department, that number usually registers as a long-term disability question. The part almost no one plans for is what comes next, when the employee on LTD is told to go apply for Social Security Disability Insurance.
Most group LTD policies require it. The clause sits quietly in the contract, and once SSDI is awarded, the carrier offsets the LTD payment by that amount. The requirement is routine. The application behind it is anything but.
