But your premiums may be three times higher than those of low-risk individuals, and the benefits may be limited. Surprisingly, it's easier to get disability insurance if you're a recreational scuba diver or skydiver than an actor or screenwriter, who is just about uninsurable except by Lloyds of London. Insurers aren't concerned about career-ending paper cuts, vengeful understudies or head injuries from rotten eggs.
Health is secondary.
That's why it's so difficult for self-employed people to get disability insurance, especially if they've been in business for less than a year and don't have regular contracts. It's even tougher if their business is based in their home. Philip Bregstone was surprised that his job as a professional window washer didn't knock him out of the running for a disability policy. It wasn't his climbing 20-foot ladders that concerned insurance companies but the fact that Bregstone runs his own business and his income fluctuates seasonally. Doctors, who submitted claims in record numbers during the early 1990s, have also become much higher risks.