Despite the term over which your policy states you will be paid a benefit, if your recovery from a disability is sufficient for you to return to work, whether you actually do return to work or not, a life insurer could be entitled to reassess the benefit.
Life insurers must state in their policies whether they have the right to revisit your case at any stage after you have started to claim your benefit.
However, where it is accepted that you have very little hope of recovering, it is unlikely that the life insurer will revisit your case.
Typically, if you have a disability that is difficult to assess, such as back problems or a psychological condition, the life company will follow up your case after a specified period.
It may estimate how long it will take you to recover and set the reassessment for the end of that period.
If you return to work but are still partially disabled, your ability to generate an income may again be assessed and your policy could compensate you only for the income you lost in line with the amount of your income you insured.
Assume, for example, you insure yourself against the loss of income up to 75% of your earnings of R25 000 a month. After an initial recovery period, you return to work on shortened hours and receive R15 000 of your original salary. You could receive R7 500 a month from a policy that covers partial disability.
