About Disability Insurance
Disability income coverage emerged from late-19th-century accident insurers that protected wages when industrial injuries disrupted household cash flow, and the federal safety net expanded in 1956 when President Eisenhower signed the Social Security Amendments that created SSDI for workers initially aged 50 to 65.1 Early SSDI benefits launched in July 1957 but covered only a narrow slice of the labor force, so private carriers continued to tailor supplemental income protection for younger earners.
Specialty-specific policies accelerated in the 1970s and 1980s as physicians and other highly trained professionals demanded "own-specialty" definitions that pay benefits even if they can still work in another capacity, locking in contracts that mirrored their unique skill sets.2 Those enhancements also introduced richer riders like automatic increase options and key person protection for closely held practices across Rockland County and the Hudson Valley.
Today's individual disability insurance (IDI) market recorded a 7.8% jump in new annualized premium to $444 million in 2023—the sharpest climb since Milliman's inaugural 2002 dataset—while Gen Re reports inforce premium at $5.5 billion with medical occupations comprising 46% of new sales.3,4 For multi-generational families we serve, that means higher underwriter scrutiny on income documentation, occupational class, and coordinated business-continuity riders.