Guardian Disability Insurance Review 2023

For those of you who do not know, the insurance provider Guardian has been around for more than 160 years. The company serves 29 million customers by enabling them to find the best insurance plans for their needs. Guardian is made up of 9,500 employees and 2,700 financial representatives who cater to millions of customers every day.

Guardian’s commitment towards serving people with honesty and integrity can be seen in their consistently high ratings. The insurance provider enjoys a superior A.M Best Company A++ rating, along with a Moody’s Investors Service rating of Aa2, which is excellent. Guardian also enjoys an AA+ rating from both Fitch and Standard & Poor’s, which is very strong.

Guardian Disability Insurance Basics

As of 2020, the insurance provider ended its year with $9.5 billion in capital and up to $85 billion in assets, with an operating income of $1.7 billion, which gives it a solid financial standing as compared to other insurance providers.

The Guardian Life insurance company is known for delivering exceptional service quality, lesser complaints compared to others, great claim processing, excellent rates, great financial stability, and some amazing discounts. If you’re looking to find out more about this insurance provider, then skip the many Guardian disability insurance reviews available and just read this.

Here, we are going to go through all of the information, features, and packages, along with the mailing address for Guardian disability insurance and other crucial information to make sure you make the right choice once you dial the Guardian disability insurance phone number.

How We Reviewed

To review any insurance provider, you need to look at various factors to ensure you get the right information you need. We have analyzed multiple review sites for features and coverage types along with the official Guardian website to find out if it’s user-friendly and responsive. There’s a reason why Guardian has been around for such a long time and enjoys a consistent high Guardian insurance rating.

The company offers an easy-to-navigate website where everything is well explained, even for novice users. Quotes can be generated for different conditions, making it extremely easy for users to find the perfect insurance coverage that’s according to their specific needs.

We have also gone through the many reviews that have been left online on Guardian, which is excellent. The high ratings and financial strength of Guardian insurance are testament to the high-quality standards that the insurance provider offers its customers.

Where is it Available?

The Guardian Life headquarters is located at 10 Hudson Yards, New York, NY, and is considered to be one of the largest mutual life insurance companies in the world. The company offers a wide variety of insurance coverage options, which include but aren’t limited to the following;

•         Dental Insurance
•         Vision insurance
•         Accident Insurance
•         Critical Illness Insurance
•         Cancer Insurance
•         Hospital Indemnity Insurance

Guardian Life also has several satellite offices that are located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania; Appleton, Wisconsin; Spokane, Washington, Norwell, and Massachusetts.

Short Term Disability Insurance from Guardian

Guardian individual disability insurance is available for users along with Guardian short-term disability, provided you meet the recommended qualifications. In case you suffer from a disease preventing you from working for a short period, you can seek protection through short-term disability insurance. The maximum unemployment period eligible for said insurance is six weeks.

In this way, the short-term disability insurance that is offered by Guardian is a group policy that offers just the right amount of coverage you need. This also means that it is available to physicians but only if their employer provides it.

This brings us to the question of, “What is it for?”

The short answer is, the Guardian Life company’s short-term disability insurance is the perfect choice for those who need to do surgical procedures after an injury or accident or have any other medical problem preventing them from working for the allowed period of up to six weeks. 

The elimination period is the time frame between the day of the incident disabling you until the day you start obtaining the benefits as per the policy. The minimum period is around 30 days and can be much higher depending on your policy details.

One reason why Guardian Life is a great option when it comes to insurance providers is because of the choices that they offer. With the Guardian Provider Choice plan, you can choose an elimination between 30 days all the way up to 720 days even. The plan offers a certain level of flexibility that many policyholders love.

How Long does Guardian Long Term Disability last?

Guardian’s long-term policies are a great choice for many reasons, one of which is that it can replace up to 60% of an individual’s income, with benefits that can last for up to five years, 10 years, 20 years, or until the individual reaches retirement. Additionally, some of their insurance policies can allow users to renew coverage beyond the ages of 65. But, that is only possible if the individual has not been disabled and if they are still employed.

The Better Business Bureau (BBB) ranks Guardian Insurance with an A+, and the company has earned BBB Accreditation and comes with high ratings, but from reviewers and by users who have used the insurance provider.

So, what is Guardian disability insurance? Disability insurance that is offered by Guardian offers partial income to an individual so that they are able to pay for their bills if they get either sick or injured while on the job. Additionally, there is also a guaranteed option that is offered by Guardian. For those who are unfamiliar with the policy, Guaranteed Issue Disability Insurance has been designed to provide low-cost disability insurance options to those who cannot afford higher-cost insurance policies.

Fundamental Benefits

The following are a few of the many benefits that are built into the insurance policies that are offered by Guardian:

•         Social Insurance Substitute– Provided you can obtain external benefits such as worker’s compensation, social security disability funds, or other government funding, you can ask for reduced coverage from Guardian. As per the Social Insurance Substitute benefit, you can get a discount on your insurance premium amounting to the additional assistance you get from other sources.
•         Automatic Benefit Enhancement (ABE) – As per the ABE feature, you automatically can get an increase in benefits every year for six years from the day you get the policy. You do not need to provide proof of increase in income or provide any other documentation for the increase. You will automatically get the increased benefit as per average increases in yearly income.
•         Premium Waiver In Case of Unemployment – In case you lose your job while you are a policyholder, you do not have to worry about premium payments on your disability insurance. Guardian waives off your monthly premium payments as a form of protection for policyholders with jobs that leave them susceptible to temporary lay-offs such as physicians.

Optional Riders

The following are some of the optional life insurance riders that are offered by Guardian insurance provider:

•         Catastrophic Disability – In case you get disabled in a natural disaster, and the disability prevents you from performing everyday tasks such as bathing, feeding, walking, or clothing yourself, you can claim the rider. The rider provides you the additional benefit besides the existing coverage to help you cover the expense of hiring additional help.
•         COLA – COLA stands for Cost-of-living adjustment. The COLA rider takes into account inflation and adjusts the policy coverage and premium accordingly, increasing the cost-of-living benefit the policyholder receives as required.
•         Protection from Student Debt–Young physicians who are currently paying back their student debt will benefit greatly from the student loan protection rider. The rider is optional, but it gets you $2000 extra besides the standard benefits you are liable to receive. However, the sum is only to help you pay off your medical school loan and must be used for that only.
•         Future Increase Option–Every physician should add the Further Increase Rider to their policy. It can ensure that your coverage will increase as you progress in your career and start earning more. 
•         Protection for Retirement Contributions–The Retirement Protection Plus Rider provides additional coverage to help you save for retirement even if you do get disabled. The rider provides retirement benefits equating to yours and your employer’s contributions and maybe even more.

Pricing Review

The longer you have to live, the better the insurance rates you will get. The higher your age will be, the higher your insurance rates will be. The disparity is based on the assumption that older people have poorer health and fewer years to live than young adults. Men generally have lower life expectancy rates than women. Thus, they end up paying a higher premium than women even if all other factors affecting insurance pricing, including age, health, medical history, lifestyle, etc., are the same at the time of application.

Other factors that can have an impact on your Guardian insurance cost include driving record, occupation, hobbies, and of course, your medical condition at the time of taking out the insurance policy. If you were wondering about the prices that Guardian insurance has to offer, then you will be pleased to know that there are multiple affordable options that are also available. Guardian Life Insurance Company also offers insurance and benefits, such as 401(k) plans, for businesses.

Monthly payments range between $10 to $19, depending on the individual’s age, along with other factors.

Customer Service

Guardian insurance is known for delivering an exceptional level of customer service through the years, which is one of the reasons for its high customer ratings. Customers can contact Guardian insurance by calling (212) 598-8000 or customer support at 1-888-Guardian. There is also an online customer support option that is available for customers.

Waiting Period

A waiting period is a set amount of time you must wait before some of your coverage is effective.  Waiting periods vary by insurer, policy, and type of insurance. After you buy a traditional insurance policy, you could have a waiting period of six months to a year for some procedures, depending on the insurance policy. If your claim is approved, you’ll start receiving the benefits determined by your plan as soon as the waiting period has passed.          

Claims Handling And Ease Of Buying 

Guardian is known for providing an easy-to-use process for customers to make claims and buy insurance policies. The following is a breakdown of the process;

•         Go to Guardian’s home page and Click on Disability Insurance Income which you will find under the Insurance and Investments tab.
•         Take the cursor to the green bar and click on Get a Quote.
•         You will have to fill in details such as your gender, state, age, income, etc. You will also have to provide your occupation and classify which category it falls under.
•         Once you fill in the information, you will get a tentative quote with details of monthly costs, etc. You can make minor adjustments to get a more accurate quote. Fill in the coverage amount, period, as well as the elimination period. You can also add in whatever riders you want.
•         If you do run into any trouble or glitches when getting a quote, you can contact a representative to help you out. You will have to add in your ZIP code to get in touch with a representative near you.

Complaints

One of the advantages of using Guardian insurance is that there are no complaints from customers from what we’ve read online. The company enjoys stellar customer reviews, which are mainly due to its fast processing and easy-to-use insurance policies.

Guardian’s Financial Strength

An insurer’s financial stability is incredibly important. If you choose Guardian insurance, then your future is in good hands. One of the advantages of this insurance policy is Guardian scores top ratings from all the major agencies and currently manages $73.9 billion in assets. This means it’s likely to have the resources to pay out claims into the foreseeable future. With an AM Best rating of A++ (Superior), and a Moody’s rating of Aa2 (Excellent), you simply can’t go wrong with Guardian insurance. Other ratings include Standard & Poor’sAA+ (Very Strong), FitchAA+ (Very Strong), and J.D. Power3 out of 5 circles