Breeze

Need disability insurance? Read our review of Breeze Disability Insurance, including customer reviews, pros and cons, and coverage options.

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Breeze Online Disability Insurance – 2020 Review

Quick quotes, flexible policies, and comprehensive long term coverage make Breeze a top choice for individuals looking for disability insurance.

Disability insurance is one of those things that everyone needs, but many people forget about purchasing. And when they realize they need the insurance, it’s too late.

With Breeze, finding and purchasing long term disability insurance can be, well, a breeze.

This online-first disability insurance agency, whose policies are underwritten by Assurity Life Insurance, offers great customer service, comprehensive long term coverage, and a quick application process. It is the first disability insurance agency to offer a fully online insurance experience.

Many employers offer disability insurance to their employees. But self-employed individuals - or those whose employers don’t offer disability insurance or don’t offer enough coverage - often choose to purchase a separate individual policy. This insurance coverage can replace lost income if you become so ill or injured that you cannot work for an extended period of time.

Breeze offers disability insurance for one, two, five, or 10 years, or up to age 67. They also offer various riders you can add to your policy to enhance the basic coverage.

If you’re looking for long term disability insurance with a seamless customer experience, Breeze may be the way to go.

Breeze Disability Insurance: What You Need to Know

Founded in 2019, Breeze is new to the insurtech scene. However, all their disability insurance policies are underwritten by Assurity Life. This company has been in business since 1890 and has an Excellent rating from A.M. Best.

They offer disability insurance policies from $500 to $20,000 in monthly benefit amounts and policies are renewable until you turn 67.

Built into all of Breeze’s disability policies are certain features, including:

  • Partial disability coverage, in case you can still work but your disability prevents you from working your same job or earning the same amount of money
  • Presumptive disability coverage for serious conditions where the person is assumed to be disabled, such as blindness or deafness
  • Home modification to cover costs related to modifying your home to accommodate your disability
  • Survivor benefits to help your family if you pass away
  • Vocational rehab to get you the help you need to find another career following your disability
  • Organ donor benefits to cover your living costs following an organ transplant

Do I Need Disability Insurance?

While you may not anticipate that you will ever need disability insurance, statistics show that about 25% of American workers will experience some sort of disabling event during their working lives. That’s a lot of people who could potentially be without income as the result of an illness or injury.

You should consider purchasing long term disability insurance if:

  • You have a family that is dependent on your income
  • You work in a potentially dangerous career
  • You don’t have other sources of income you could draw on (such as real estate investments) if you were ill or injured and couldn’t work
  • Your employer doesn’t offer disability insurance
  • Your employer doesn’t offer enough disability insurance for you to feel comfortable should you lose income

Much like car insurance and home insurance, disability insurance is one of those things that you are grateful to have in case you ever need to use it. You just hope you never do.

How Does Breeze Disability Insurance Work?

Although Breeze’s user experience is dramatic improvement from the past, the actual coverage Breeze offers works in a similar manner to traditional disability insurance companies. It’s the best of both worlds.

When you are ill or injured to the point where you cannot work, Breeze pays you a monthly benefit in accordance with your policy limits. If you select a $2,000 monthly policy, Breeze pays you $2,000 per month for the duration of your disability or until the end of your policy limits, whichever comes first.

Disability insurance typically doesn’t replace the entirety of your monthly income. Instead, it replaces between 60% and 80% of what you earned before you became disabled. Since individual disability insurance premiums are paid with after-tax dollars, any benefits you receive will be tax-free.

Your individual premiums and coverage options are dependent on how much coverage you choose, your current occupation, your gender, your current health status, and your current age. Some jobs are more likely to see disabling accidents, so insuring someone who works in those professions can cost more. Additionally, older workers, women, and those who are at risk of becoming ill or injured are statistically more likely to make disability insurance claims, so their policies can cost more.

Breeze rarely requires medical exams before purchasing coverage, but you may need to complete a medical exam if:

  • You are between the ages of 18 and 50 and apply for coverage greater than $4,000
  • You are between the ages of 51 and 55 and apply for coverage greater than $2,000
  • You are between the ages of 56 and 60 and apply for coverage greater than $1,500

You can get a quick, personalized quote for disability insurance in just a few clicks, and be covered in as little as 15 minutes with Breeze. There are no insurance brokers to talk with, so you don’t feel pressured to buy more coverage than you think you need. However, Breeze does have a dedicated customer support team that is available to answer questions about its product and process over the phone if necessary.

Where Is Breeze Disability Insurance Available?

Breeze disability insurance is available to individuals in 49 states. (License in New York is still pending.)

How Much Does Breeze Cost?

The amount that you will pay for long term disability insurance depends on a variety of factors. These factors include:

  • How much disability coverage you want
  • How much money you currently make
  • Whether you want to add optional rider coverage
  • Your gender
  • Your current occupation
  • Your age
  • Your current health status
  • Where you live

Coverage is more expensive for women, older workers, and those in more dangerous jobs, such as construction or manufacturing. Your health history also can impact how much you pay for disability insurance through Breeze.

Some of the health-related factors that Breeze considers in quoting your insurance premiums include:

  • Past or current tobacco use
  • Chronic conditions
  • Family medical history
  • Your current height and weight
  • Results from blood and urine tests

Because Breeze is so new to the insurtech scene, it’s difficult to really tell how their policy pricing compares to other disability insurance providers. However, a good rule of thumb is to plan to pay between 1% and 3% of your annual income for your annual disability insurance premiums.

What Does Breeze Disability Insurance Cover?

Breeze’s disability insurance policies cover six basic things for all policyholders. They also offer seven optional riders to help you customize your coverage.

Partial Disability Coverage

Sometimes, your illness or injury isn’t enough to keep you from being able to work entirely, but you’re unable to work at your old job and earn the same amount of money. An example of this situation would be a roofer being injured and unable to be out on a job site, but fully capable of doing office work at a desk.

Partial disability coverage can help make up some of the income difference between your current work capacity and what you were earning at your old job.

Presumptive Disability Coverage

There are some conditions that automatically mean the person is “presumed” to be disabled and unable to work. Some examples of these types of conditions include:

  • Blindness
  • Deafness
  • Symptomatic HIV infections or AIDS
  • Amputation of two limbs, or of one limb at the hip
  • Stroke with difficulty walking or using a hand or arm
  • Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), aka Lou Gehrig’s Disease
  • End-stage renal disease (ESRD) requiring dialysis

Home Modification Coverage

A disabling illness or injury can require that you modify your home in order to remain living there. Home modification coverage can help pay for these changes.

Some home modifications that might be covered include:

  • Wheelchair ramp installation
  • Widening hallways and doorways
  • Stair lift installation
  • Walk-in or wheelchair-accessible bathtub or shower installation

Survivor Benefits

Your surviving family members can receive a portion of your disability insurance benefits after your death if your situation meets certain conditions.

While Breeze doesn’t make these conditions readily available, some other disability insurance providers pay out survivor benefits if the insured’s disability continued for more than 180 consecutive days and if they were receiving or entitled to receive payments under the plan.

Vocational Rehabilitation Coverage

You may require assistance with the necessary activities to get back to work, such as lifting, typing, or other tasks. Vocational rehabilitation can help you with this, whether you’re returning to your old career or switching jobs.

Organ Donor Benefits

If your illness or injury requires that you receive an organ transplant, you can receive disability benefits for a period of time following the transplant.

Again, Breeze doesn’t list the exact specifics of their organ donor benefits on their website.

Additional Riders

Breeze offers extra riders that you can tack onto your policy for additional fees that provide your extra coverage.

The available riders are:

Non-Cancelable Feature

With this rider, your policy cannot be changed by Breeze, including your premium amount, and your policy cannot be canceled by Breeze for any reason.

Own-Occupation Provision

This rider pays benefits if you’re unable to work in your chosen profession, even if you can find a job in another profession. Many physicians choose to add this rider to their disability insurance policies.

Automatic Benefit Increase

This rider automatically increases the amount of benefits paid after a given period of time.

Catastrophic Disability Benefit

This rider can help pay for care due to a catastrophic illness or injury. This benefit can apply if you suffer a complete loss of:

  • Speech
  • Hearing in both ears
  • Sight in both eyes
  • Use of both hands
  • Use of both feet
  • Use of one hand and one foot

Critical Illness Benefit

This rider covers care related to a life-threatening or terminal illness.

Guaranteed Insurability

This rider allows you to purchase additional coverage without having to go through the underwriting process again.

Supplemental Disability Income Rider

This rider adjusts the amount of benefits you receive from Breeze if you qualify for other income-replacement coverage such as Social Security or workers’ compensation.

Breeze Disability Insurance Features:

  • Founded in 2019
  • Headquartered in Omaha, NE
  • Policies underwritten by Assurity Life
  • Quick, convenient online application
  • Flexible, customizable coverage
  • No insurance brokers
  • Benefits such as home modification coverage, survivor benefits, and vocational rehabilitation coverage come standard
  • Affordable premiums
  • Great customer service

Pros and Cons of Breeze Disability Insurance

How does Breeze disability insurance stack up? Read the pros and cons of choosing Breeze for your disability insurance:

Pros:

  • Underwritten by Assurity Life, which has been in business since 1890
  • Comprehensive coverage with flexible add-on options
  • Fully online, so no pesky insurance brokers
  • Available in 49 states (NY license pending)
  • Affordable premiums
  • Easy-to-use website
  • Extra resources to help you learn about disability insurance

Cons:

  • Relatively new company, so reviews are limited
  • No brokers means there may be less of a personal touch
  • Some riders can be expensive

Discounts on Breeze Disability Insurance?

Breeze doesn’t advertise that they offer any discounts on their disability insurance.

Breeze Disability Insurance Customer Reviews

Because it’s a new company, there are very few Breeze disability insurance reviews. At the time of writing, Breeze had four customer reviews on Trustpilot with a five-star rating.

“Quick and easy! It took me about 15 minutes to complete the application and I did it at work on my phone. The fun facts were a nice touch.” - Summer

“Breeze made this whole process easy, quick turnaround! Highly recommend this service to anyone. Thanks, Breeze!!” - Anna

How to Apply for Breeze Disability Insurance

Applying for coverage with Breeze is easy on the company’s website.

  1. Visit www.meetbreeze.com.
  2. Select “Check My Price” or “Get a Quote.”
  3. You will be asked to provide some personal information about yourself, including your birthday, gender, annual income, and job category.
  4. Breeze will populate a personalized quote with several options. You can customize your coverage by changing the benefit amount, policy time limits, when you want your policy to start, and any riders you may want to add.
  5. You will then be asked to provide more in-depth information about yourself and, if applicable, complete a medical exam.

How to File an Insurance Claim with Breeze

All claims are processed through Breeze’s underwriter, Assurity Life.

There is a link on the bottom of Breeze’s website that says “File a Claim.” You are then taken to the Assurity website, where you log into your account to submit a claim.

How to Contact Breeze

Address: 808 Conagra Drive

	Suite 401

	Omaha, NE 68102

**Customer Service: **(402) 256-5230

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.meetbreeze.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/meetbreeze/

Instagram: @breezeinsurance

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/breeze-insurance/

Twitter: @breezeinsurance

Does Breeze Offer Other Kinds of Insurance?

No. Breeze only offers long term disability insurance for individuals.

Breeze Online Disability Insurance Review – Summary

Although it is very new to the disability insurance industry, Breeze is quickly making its mark with its online-first model. Being backed by Assurity Life, a well-respected company with exceptional financial stability, has helped to improve Breeze’s status quickly.

Disability insurance is one of those types of coverage that most people don’t know they need until there’s an emergency, and then they wish they had it. Even receiving 60% to 80% of your income each month you are disabled can help you get through a rough time.

While a variety of factors can greatly impact how much you pay for coverage, including where you live, what you do for work, and how much of your income you want replaced, Breeze’s comprehensive coverage makes it a great choice for many individuals.

Their easy online application and quick turnaround time makes them an attractive choice for many looking for peace of mind with disability insurance.

Frequently Asked Questions

When should I purchase disability insurance?

Premiums for disability insurance are more likely to be less expensive when you’re younger. Purchasing insurance early in your career and locking in rates with a non-cancelable rider can grant you affordable coverage as you age.

However, if you don’t have disability insurance and you know that being out of work would cause you financial hardship, consider purchasing disability insurance as soon as possible, no matter your age.

How much coverage should I have?

You want to be able to cover as many of your household expenses as possible, as well as your medical costs related to your disability, with your disability insurance payments. Consider purchasing coverage that will replace between 60% and 80% of your monthly take-home pay.

Will I need to take a medical exam?

Breeze doesn’t usually require medical exams to receive coverage, but your age, any health risk factors, and the amount of coverage you want to purchase may mean you’re required to complete a medical exam prior to your policy becoming effective.

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