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If you experience a debilitating injury, you may have a longer waiting period before receiving benefits. Long term disability claims normally take up to 90 days to process, sometimes longer. After your claim is settled, you can receive benefits for several years, until you reach age 65, or until you recover. Some policies pay benefits for the rest of your life, although this varies by policy and by insurer.
Policies commonly pay for 2, 5 or 10 years or even to retirement age. The longer the benefit period, the higher the cost will be. A 5-year benefit period would cover the average duration of long-term disabilities across age groups (see the chart below). But depending on your age and health, a policy that covers you to age 65 (i.e., pays for a permanent disability) and gives you extra peace of mind might not cost that much more.