Your occupation is one of the risk factors an insurance company looks at when underwriting your disability policy. It is one of the major elements, along with age, sex and health an insurance company uses to determine the premiums you will pay for the policy.
Generally, a specific job (e.g. anesthesiologist) is classified according to the occupational hazard presented by the actual duties performed. A carpenter, for instance, would present a greater risk to the insurance company than would an attorney and would most probably pay more for a similar policy.
In most cases, job title alone is not sufficient to determine the proper occupational class. To that end, a disability application will always ask for specific duties and percentage of time spent on those particular duties. The more specific you are on your application about your duties should make it easier for a claims adjuster to review and pay a claim.
Occupation classes are assigned numbers by each insurance company. These numbers are not standard industry-wide, so one company might assign a 4M while another company will consider the occupation a 5S. This can be confusing to those receiving disability insurance quotes, so it’s important to work with a broker who works with several companies and understands these occupation classes. Accurate quotes lead to fewer surprises when the policy is issued.