income protection plan

mille100piedi

I am receiving an income protection plan and the insurance company is doing a review of my claim. The agent told me that since it is very unlikely I will ever return to work the insurance company might offer me lump sum if I decided to leave my company or if my employer will offer me redundancy. I didn't know that I could have this option and I would like to know if somebody else has been trough my same situation. I should receive the income protection plan for another 20 years. How do they calculate the lump sum they will pay me?

Henry Ford III

Never heard of this.

Income protection is also often referred to as PHI or Permanent Health Insurance. The benefit is payable to replace lost income through disabilty up to the selected ceasing age. Regular payments are made and not a lump sum.

How would an agent know how likely or otherwise you are to return to work?

mille100piedi

Henry Ford III wrote: »

Never heard of this.

Income protection is also often referred to as PHI or Permanent Health Insurance. The benefit is payable to replace lost income through disabilty up to the selected ceasing age. Regular payments are made and not a lump sum.

How would an agent know how likely or otherwise you are to return to work?

I was surprise as well when he told me about this offer
People with illness like mine do not get better and you don't need really to be a doctor to understand this.

He also told me that in generally they don't pay the income if the person decide to live abroad, but he told me that if I decide to do so they will offer me a sum lump. I guess it is more convenient for them paying me a sum lump once instead to pay me regularly for the next 20 years. But I am not sure how convenient is for me

Henry Ford III

Who is the insurer?

It shouldn't matter where in the world you decide to live whilst claiming. There's certainly no obligation to live in Ireland to continue any PHI claim.

mille100piedi

Henry Ford III wrote: »

Who is the insurer?

It shouldn't matter where in the world you decide to live whilst claiming. There's certainly no obligation to live in Ireland to continue any PHI claim.

with Irish Life you can't live abroad for more then six month (the only country permitted is UK), it is written in the contract and I knew already this.
What is not written anywhere is the lump sum

PaulM1977

Depends on the details of the Income Protection/PHI plan, is the benefit to be paid done so with inflation included i.e. it goes up by 3% each year?
Will they factor this in when they calculate the lump sum?
Are you entitled to the state disability benefit, due to you not being able to work long-term?

mille100piedi

PaulM1977 wrote: »

Depends on the details of the Income Protection/PHI plan, is the benefit to be paid done so with inflation included i.e. it goes up by 3% each year?
Will they factor this in when they calculate the lump sum?
Are you entitled to the state disability benefit, due to you not being able to work long-term?

no idea about the inflation and I don't know what they will do about this in the lump sum.
I am already receiving invalidity pension

PaulM1977

Your employer should have the details of the Income Protection plan structure, including whether there is inflation included in the benefit.
If you leave employment you may be giving up other benefits that you are entitled to as an employee of the company, such as death in service benefit(which is life cover) as well as health insurance.
Do they pay in to a pension scheme for you at present and will they continue to do so if you are unable to work?
Have pension payments been included in the benefit that is payable to you if you stay with the company while out sick?

mille100piedi

is death in service only for employee that are working or also for employee that are sick at home? My company pay a life cover, I am in a group scheme for health insurance and pension. I was thinking that if I am going to resign they would offer me a huge amount otherwise I don't see the point. After more than three years at home my company still pay for my pension. The agent also talked to me about the chance that my company offers me redundancy. I was wondering can my employer terminate my employment agreement?I don't see the point for them to do this because they are paying an income protection plan for all their employees in the event of long term illness. I just thinking the insurance company are realizing that I will not go back to work so they are trying to save money and they are hoping my employer offers me redundancy or I resign.

PaulM1977

You will need to ask your employer the questions about the benefits and see what happens to them if you do decide to stay with them. It sounds like they want to give you the redundancy so they don't have to pay you any of these benefits anymore as you are no longer an employee of the company.
It depends what they offer you as a lump sum, but would think it would be better to stay with them than accept the redundancy.

donutheadhomer

mille100piedi wrote: »

is death in service only for employee that are working or also for employee that are sick at home? My company pay a life cover, I am in a group scheme for health insurance and pension. I was thinking that if I am going to resign they would offer me a huge amount otherwise I don't see the point. After more than three years at home my company still pay for my pension. The agent also talked to me about the chance that my company offers me redundancy. I was wondering can my employer terminate my employment agreement?I don't see the point for them to do this because they are paying an income protection plan for all their employees in the event of long term illness. I just thinking the insurance company are realizing that I will not go back to work so they are trying to save money and they are hoping my employer offers me redundancy or I resign.

Personally I would not take a redundancy offer if you are are being paid Income Protection and state benefits, health insurance and life cover. You'll quickly dwindle away the redundancy money and be left with little regular income - stick it out with what you have as long as you are sick and they keep paying you.
A relative of mine was in this position - cancer in his mid 50s - was off sick for a year or so and Irish Life offered him a lump sum and company offered redundancy - he took the offer but now 5 years later has only state benefits and struggles whereas he was ok financially with the previous arrangement.

mille100piedi

thank you for your advise! I will talk with my employer I am very confused at the moment.

donutheadhomer

mille100piedi wrote: »

thank you for your advise! I will talk with my employer I am very confused at the moment.

don't make any rash decisions - its natural to think your health won't improve but who knows.

donutheadhomer

Henry Ford III wrote: »

Who is the insurer?

It shouldn't matter where in the world you decide to live whilst claiming. There's certainly no obligation to live in Ireland to continue any PHI claim.

the employer may have it in the contract that he resides in Ireland if off sick - I know my contract says that

donutheadhomer

PaulM1977 wrote: »

Depends on the details of the Income Protection/PHI plan, is the benefit to be paid done so with inflation included i.e. it goes up by 3% each year?
Will they factor this in when they calculate the lump sum?
Are you entitled to the state disability benefit, due to you not being able to work long-term?

If the income protection payments are index linked and one returns to work after a number of years, will the salary have increased too in line with this?

mille100piedi

donutheadhomer wrote: »

don't make any rash decisions - its natural to think your health won't improve but who knows.

Unfortunately I have a form of muscular distrophy and I know I will not get better, I just hope I will not get worse.

donutheadhomer

mille100piedi wrote: »

Unfortunately I have a form of muscular distrophy and I know I will not get better, I just hope I will not get worse.

perhaps my remarks were a bit misplaced in your case and sorry if I offended you.

mille100piedi

donutheadhomer wrote: »

perhaps my remarks were a bit misplaced in your case and sorry if I offended you.

no problem, fortunately not so many people have to deal with an incurable illness and don't usually think about them!

skippy2

As someone in receipt of PHI payments and like you will be till I retire (Incurable Illness) and as other have stated you need to get your policy docs in relation to the Income Protection Policy and read them very carefully. Especially details of the PHI in Payment. Check what boxes you ticked on the setup of the policy.

I had to fight to get them to pay the Premium Protection Paid correctly
I had to fight to get them to stop deducting the Premium Protection Payment
I had to fight to get the correct payments
I had to fight to get the correct yearly % increase.....check if you have a specific % increase or linked to CPI, they tried to pay CPI
I had to fight to get this paid on the correct date

All this was detailed in the Policy Docs but they simply proved incapable or unwilling to just read their own docs, until everything was pointed out to them.

Trust their calculations on nothing. My attitude is if they are pushing to pay you out then it is to their advantage and not yours. I would not accept any lump sum payment without getting very good financial advice from an accountant who is experience in this and can do the calculations necessary. But if they are pushing it, it is in their interests they are doing so I imagine

My policy also dictates what country you are covered for payment in. You can only be out of the country and living in certain countries for longer than 6 months in some instances unless you get permission. I had to do this for longer than 6 months in one country and just contacted them and asked for permission, permission was granted. Better safe than sorry. There is a list of countries on the policy..... and a long list of countries you can live in

Why would you resign you are protected for the rest of your working life under the policy, you are still an employee and have employee rights, i presume this is linked to a pension fund and is a policy you took out with your employer. Your employer cannot make you redundant. I presume also your employer is the trustee if you have a pension fund linked to this. They are responsible for the management of this.

You really need to get all our policy docs and read them carefully to make sure you are getting what you are entitled to. Do not believe that your employer is looking out for your interests either. If you are in receipt of PHI payments and will be till you retire they really do not care about the finer details of your policy as long as it is not costing them anything............

Do you get your Annual Benefit Statement from your Pension Fund etc

mille100piedi

skippy2 wrote: »

As someone in receipt of PHI payments and like you will be till I retire (Incurable Illness) and as other have stated you need to get your policy docs in relation to the Income Protection Policy and read them very carefully. Especially details of the PHI in Payment. Check what boxes you ticked on the setup of the policy.

I had to fight to get them to pay the Premium Protection Paid correctly
I had to fight to get them to stop deducting the Premium Protection Payment
I had to fight to get the correct payments
I had to fight to get the correct yearly % increase.....check if you have a specific % increase or linked to CPI, they tried to pay CPI
I had to fight to get this paid on the correct date

All this was detailed in the Policy Docs but they simply proved incapable or unwilling to just read their own docs, until everything was pointed out to them.

Trust their calculations on nothing. My attitude is if they are pushing to pay you out then it is to their advantage and not yours. I would not accept any lump sum payment without getting very good financial advice from an accountant who is experience in this and can do the calculations necessary. But if they are pushing it, it is in their interests they are doing so I imagine

My policy also dictates what country you are covered for payment in. You can only be out of the country and living in certain countries for longer than 6 months in some instances unless you get permission. I had to do this for longer than 6 months in one country and just contacted them and asked for permission, permission was granted. Better safe than sorry. There is a list of countries on the policy..... and a long list of countries you can live in

Why would you resign you are protected for the rest of your working life under the policy, you are still an employee and have employee rights, i presume this is linked to a pension fund and is a policy you took out with your employer. Your employer cannot make you redundant. I presume also your employer is the trustee if you have a pension fund linked to this. They are responsible for the management of this.

You really need to get all our policy docs and read them carefully to make sure you are getting what you are entitled to. Do not believe that your employer is looking out for your interests either. If you are in receipt of PHI payments and will be till you retire they really do not care about the finer details of your policy as long as it is not costing them anything............

Do you get your Annual Benefit Statement from your Pension Fund etc

Thank you for your advise, I have heard nothing from the Insurance company if they will propose a lump sum I will ask help from a professional.
I will ask my employer the documents in relation to my income protection plan.
I receive the annual benefit statement from my pension fund, but I don't receive any document from the income protection plan, should they send me a document once in a month or once in a year regarding this? I am apply for the medical card, but I don't have any payslip to provide and my employer said they don't issue any payslip and the insurance company also told me that they don't issue any document

PaulM1977

You should have been given papers when you joined up to the Group Risk scheme(Income Protection) with your employer. Do you get a P60 from your employer if they don't issue payslips, which is very strange in itself.
Who is your point of contact with the insurance company? They should be in the process or registering your claim for income protection if you are unable to work at present.

PaulM1977

You should have been given papers when you joined up to the Group Risk scheme(Income Protection) with your employer. Do you get a P60 from your employer if they don't issue payslips, which is very strange in itself.
Who is your point of contact with the insurance company? They should be in the process or registering your claim for income protection if you are unable to work at present.

thomasm

What insurer is it with

skippy2

If you are actually receiving your Payment (Claim) from the Insurance Company via your employer company and they (your employer) are deducting tax then they must give you a pay slip...........if they are not required to deduct tax they probably will not issue a payslip.

In "most" situations you must pay tax on both your Income Protection Payment and any Invalidity Pension etc. Your employer should be deducting both of these

Your Annual benefit statement should include details of your income Protection Payment etc if it is linked to your Pension Fund. You will not get a separate document.

mille100piedi

thomasm wrote: »

What insurer is it with

it is Irish Life

mille100piedi

skippy2 wrote: »

If you are actually receiving your Payment (Claim) from the Insurance Company via your employer company and they (your employer) are deducting tax then they must give you a pay slip...........if they are not required to deduct tax they probably will not issue a payslip.

In "most" situations you must pay tax on both your Income Protection Payment and any Invalidity Pension etc. Your employer should be deducting both of these

Your Annual benefit statement should include details of your income Protection Payment etc if it is linked to your Pension Fund. You will not get a separate document.

I am receiving the income protection plan from my employer and the invalidity pension from the welfare. My employer didn't know I was receiving welfare benefit also because the benefit goes straight to my bank.
At the end of last year the tax office asked me to pay taxes because they realize I was receiving an income protection plan along the invalidity pension. They told me that I have to pay taxes at the end of each year because they don't know how much I will be paid by Irish Life during the year.

I don't think my employer is deducting any taxes, but he is deducting the private pension and vhi from my payslip because I belong the a group scheme. He told me that he is going to send me a document where he says that I am not being paid by the company.
I receive an annual pension benefit statement, but it includes only my contributions and my employer's contribution for the private pension and there is nothing regarding the income protection so I don't think is linked to the pension fund
I really don't know what to send for my application for the medical card