Reports of the death of availability of individual disability insurance for baby boomers may be somewhat exaggerated.
“The majority of boomers who are in decent health can still get disability policies,” says Gregory Olsen, a partner at Lenox Advisors Inc., New York.
The oldest boomers are about to turn 62, and even the youngest will be 44 by the end of 2008.
Many insurance agents and brokers believe the only applicants of interest to individual disability insurers are doctor-marathon runners ages 25 to 35.
In the real world, the average age of individual disability insurance clients is just 34, notes Gregory Large, a colleague of Olsen’s at Lenox.
“We do not sell a lot of coverage to clients over age 45,” says Large, who is a managing partner at Lenox.
Clients who apply for disability insurance for the first time after age 45 are much more likely than other clients to end up with a coverage exclusion or an impairment rating, Large says.
But Olsen says healthy boomers still have access to disability insurance.
In many cases, “they could still be getting regular disability insurance,” Olsen says. “At 43, it’s still very practical. Even at 53, it’s doable.”
Many carriers are selling coverage to applicants as old as 63, and the coverage can last up till age 67, Olsen says.
But experts interviewed agreed that insuring boomers’ ability to earn an income takes hard work and a thorough knowledge of the disability market.
Demand for disability insurance among older, high-income executives and professionals is growing because high-income boomers are redefining middle age. They are marrying later, having children later and buying homes later.