How Disability Insurance Works in Real Life
Travis’s Disability Insurance benefit funded the family budget for he, his wife, and 6 children, and kept his restaurant running, after his car accident.
Travis and his wife, Wendy, moved back to where he had grown up to buy his grandparents’ farmhouse. They felt it was an ideal place to raise their six kids. They also decided to put their prior experience to work and open up a local pizzeria in town.
One busy day Travis was juggling driving, business and arranging a meet-up for his son. He initially pulled over on the side of the road to read a text, but then, in a hurry, chose to answer it while driving back home.
That’s when, distracted by his phone, he hit a concrete footing on a narrow bridge—a route he had taken hundreds of times before.
The accident sent him to the hospital with a shattered pelvis and other injuries so severe that it has taken him almost two years and countless surgeries just to be able to walk with the help of a leg brace.
During this time, he hasn’t been able to work, and admits the family would have lost the pizzeria if it hadn’t been for the disability insurance he had put in place.
The monthly benefit payment from his Disability Insurance has allowed the Guthman family to pay their ongoing bills and expenses and keep food on the table. In short, the DI coverage has funded their family budget.
“I didn’t have to pull money out of the restaurant to live on; instead I could continue paying the employees and keep things running,” Travis says. “Without disability insurance we would have been in a world of hurt. You think it will never happen to you, until it does. Disability insurance has been a huge blessing for our family.”
