Long-Term Disability Insurance

I'm interested in getting long-term disability insurance in the possible but highly unwanted scenario that I get so injured I can't work. My work (government) only offers plans to those in supervisory roles..

In California, all workers already pay into short-term disability (which most women use for pregnancy, ridiculous!), but I am interested in a long-term plan. The short term can get you up to 6 months of coverage but from my understanding the payouts are fixed and not a percentage of your income, and using this can affect other benefits offered by your employer (sick time/PTO accrual).

Could anyone with long-term disability insurance provide insight into how their plan works? I'm curious also about if folks out there have (private) plans and could recommend some companies to me. Lastly, do you think long-term disability is worth it? I don't have children or a partner, just me; but I don't want to find myself in the situation where I have to be out of work for a year+ with no source of income.

Thanks!

LTD analyst here - There are as many different types of coverage as there are policyholders. The benefit can be fixed or proportional to your income; the maximum benefit period can be as short as 1 year or run to retirement age. It all depends how much coverage you want and how much you are willing to pay for it. Individual policies are generally more expensive than group policies but often offer better coverage.

You'll get a much more useful answer by talking to an agent or broker.