The Standard
Is This Your Business?The Standard offers excellent disability insurance options for individuals, employers, and business owners. The Standard stands out because it offers disability protection specially designed to meet the needs of business owners through its Business Overhead ProtectorSM and Business Equity ProtectorSM.
Top Ranked Companies
The Good
- High Financial Strength Ratings
- Disability Insurance Products for Individuals
- Group Disability Insurance
- Workplace Possibilities Program
- Additional Offerings for Employers
- Business Owner Protection Products
High Financial Strength Ratings
The Standard has received high financial strength ratings from A.M. Best. These ratings are common among top insurers because they indicate the company's financial stability.
Choosing a financially stable insurance company matters because you want your disability insurer to be in a position to pay your disability insurance benefit if you file a claim.
Disability Insurance Products for Individuals
The Standard offers the Platinum Advantage plan nationwide, except Wyoming.
While The Standard does not offer many specifics regarding benefit amounts and elimination periods, it does provide information about plan features and some available riders.
The Platinum Advantage insurance policy is guaranteed renewable, which prevents changes to your policy as long as you make premium payments.
Platinum Advantage stands out as a disability insurance policy because it includes a family care benefit. This benefit allows you to make a claim if you reduce your hours by at least 20 percent to care for a family member.
Policyholders also benefit from coverage for approved rehabilitation cost assistance and a survivor benefit.
Customers can add a student loan rider or a residual disability rider for additional protection.
The student loan rider reimburses part of your student loan payments when you've filed a disability claim.
The residual disability rider allows you to receive partial benefits if your disability keeps you from working normal hours.
Group Disability Insurance Options
The Standard offers group long-term and short-term disability plans that employers can offer their employees. It also provides voluntary disability plans.
The Standard's group long-term disability plans are customizable. They provide a monthly benefit as high as $25,000 and replace as much as 70 percent of the employee's salary.
The elimination period can be no days or up to two years. The benefit period can be one, two, five years, or until age 65.
Doctors, attorneys, and dentists can have a specialized definition of disability.
The Standard also works with employees to help them have a successful and brief recovery.
Its policies provide refunds for approved rehabilitation services and allow employees who have returned to work to continue receiving the disability benefit for a specified period time.
The Standard also offers additional services that can be added for an additional cost:
- Employee Assistance Program (support for financial, emotional, and medical difficulties)
- Health Advocacy
- Assisted Living Benefit
- Lifetime Security Benefit (not available in California)
The Standard's short-term disability plans provide weekly benefits as high as $5,000 and as much as 70 percent of the employee's salary.
There is no elimination period for disabilities resulting from an accident. There is a seven day waiting period for illnesses or pregnancy.
The company provides monetary assistance to pay for worksite accommodations with a cap of $25,000.
The group short-term disability coverage includes Health Advocacy Select, which provides employees with a health care advocate. For an additional cost, this program can be upgraded to Health Advocacy Enhanced.
Employers can add the following additional services to their group short term disability policy:
- Hospital benefits
- FICA Payment
- W-2 Tax Reporting Services
Workplace Possibilities Program
The Standard's Workplace Possibilities Program is part of its group disability insurance programs. With this program, employers can take steps to prevent disabilities and help employees recover faster. The Standard's professionals can help your human resources team with ADA accommodations, engaging with employees, and coordinating benefits.
The Standard reports high success with its Workplace Possibilities Program, with most of the program participants being able to maintain their employment.
Additional Offerings for Employers
The disability insurance company offers absence management services to employers.
Through The Standard's AgilitySM offering, employers can also offer life insurance, voluntary disability insurance, dental insurance, and vision insurance.
The AgilitySM program allows your employees to choose the insurance benefits that matter most to them while balancing cost.
The Standard's multiple options for employers from providing disability insurance coverage or being a service provider for absence management, give employers more choices when working with the company.
Business Owner Protection Options
The Standard offers two policies specifically designed for business owners: Business Overhead Protector® and Business Equity ProtectorSM.
The Business Overhead Protector® provides coverage for essential overhead costs, like wages, rent, utilities, and insurance. Interested customers should contact The Standard for more information.
Policyholders can add the following riders to their policies:
- Salary replacement rider
- Residual disability rider
- Future purchase option rider
The Business Equity ProtectorSM policies help business partners by you out in the event of a serious disability.
Policyholders can add an extended benefit option rider or future buy-out expense option rider for additional flexibility or coverage.
The Bad
- Limited Customer Insight
- Policy Availability and Coverage Varies by State
Limited Customer Insight
The Standard disability insurance reviews are limited because Best Company has not received many. With so few reviews, conclusions about the customer experience — from the initial purchase to making a disability insurance claim — are unavailable.
Policy Availability and Coverage Varies by State
Due to differences in state laws, some of The Standard's policies may not be available in every state and the coverage terms may also vary.
Interested consumers should reach out to The Standard directly to gain a better sense of what the policy options are in their state.
The Bottom Line
Specific information regarding cost and insurance coverage levels is not available for all of The Standard's policies. However, it is clear that its disability insurance products are high quality from the information offered online.
The Standard stands out for its special offerings for business owners: Business Equity ProtectorSM and Business Overhead ProtectorSM.
Whether you are an employer seeking benefits for your employees, a business owner looking to protect your business, or buying your own disability insurance policy, The Standard has excellent disability coverage options for you.
