Most companies require that you satisfy the elimination period before you become eligible for benefits. This is a stated amount of time in the policy that you must be disabled before benefits become payable. The following example is based on an elimination period of 90 days. Frequently, it is required that you have 90 consecutive days of disability. The ProVider Plus policy only requires that you have 90 days within a 210 day period otherwise referred to as an accumulation period. Most companies in the industry allow an elimination period of 90 days to be doubled so if you are disabled for 90 days out of 180, you would be eligible for claims. Provider Plus allows double your elimination period plus an additional 30 days so that any 90 days of disability within a 210 day span would make you eligible to collect benefits.

Of course, if you were disabled for 90 consecutive days you'd be out on claim much faster than the 210 day maximum that is allowed. So let's say that an individual is disabled for two months (meaning he's still within his elimination period so benefit is not yet payable) if the individual then recovered for months 3,4,5 and 6, there's a recovery so a benefit is not yet payable. In month 7 if he or she became disabled again for a month, you would add those 30 days to the first two months which would then satisfy the 90 day elimination period. With most other companies the 30 days of disability in month 7 would start a new 90 day elimination period. In month 8, an individual with a ProVider Plus policy could be eligible for benefits. Most other companies would not pay in month 8 and would require two more months of an elimination period to be satisfied before an individual would be eligible for benefits. Assuming a $5000 monthly benefit, this could mean $10,000 more from ProVider Plus than other companies' products.

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Waiver of Premium

The ProVider Plus Waiver of Premium benefit is important because it waives premiums that fall due during a disability and refunds premiums that were due and paid during the elimination period. If you select the Residual Disability Rider, you may be either totally or residually disabled to qualify for Waiver of Premium. To become eligible, you must be disabled for 3 months or the elimination period, if that's shorter.

Your premium will continue to be waived for 3 months after you recover. If you are disabled and eligible for premium waiver on a policy anniversary, the company will waive an annual premium even if you paid your premiums more frequently. The waiver continues until the next policy anniversary, even if you recover sooner.

The waiver of premium benefit will also apply if monthly benefits are payable because you have met the requirements of the provisions Waiver of Elimination Period, Recurrent Periods of Disability or Presumptive Total Disability Benefit.

Waiver of Elimination Period

Another built-in waiver is the waiver of elimination period. What that means is that if an individual has a disability that lasts at least six months for which they receive a benefit, ProVider Plus will not require a second elimination period if they become disabled within five years. This is a significant advantage because most companies call this recurrent disability and most of the language regarding recurrent disability typically states that if you have a second disability from the same or related cause within 12 months they will pay as if it is a continual claim and not require a new elimination period. ProVider Plus expands two of those parameters to make it more favorable for the policyholder. Those parameters are 5 years versus 12 months and the second disability does not need to be related to the first disability.