I went to my physician for my annual check-up recently and, as part of the physical, he wanted to review a full blood test I had done as a prerequisite to my exam.  As I was late for a business appointment, I told him I would take the results home and review them myself.  He told me it would be best if he reviewed them with me, as I might not understand the significance of all the results and he would probably want to give me some advice based on the results.  My other appointment was waiting, so I left with the print-out from the lab.

When I got home that night, I sat down to digest the lab results.  While I did understand cholesterol and white blood cell count, most of the tests might as well have been written in Greek, as I had no idea what I was looking at.  After several hours attempting to decipher the information, I broke down and decided to call my doctor the next day to review the results with him.

While this never really happened to me, I’m sure, in this fast-moving world, there are a few of you to whom this story sounds familiar.  I experience a  similar scenario daily with people (professionals, mostly) who take disability insurance quotes I provide for them home to digest, without taking advantage of my knowledge and expertise.  While not quite as technical as a lab report, there are terms and provisions in every disability insurance policy that sound similar, but actually perform quite differently at the time of claim.

If you are working with an advisor who is well-versed in disability insurance, take advantage of his/her expertise.  Learn the terms and provisions so you can choose the right policy for your situation.  It might not be life and death as in my story about the blood test, but it can make a difference in whether you are adequately insured in the event of a disability.