Sorry TCTC,

This is an issue that a lot of stay at home moms don't consider until, like your wife, they become disabled and find they don't qualify.

Purchasing private STD and LTD policies are an option for people who chose to take significant time off from the workforce, but even then many married couples focus on "covering" the worker, not the SAHP. When my kids were young, my husband and I thought additional disability was too expensive (and, of course, believed we were not likely to ever need it.....). We did cover ourselves with life insurance, but even then, went for a large amount of coverage for my husband, who became the primary breadwinner, and less for me, as I only worked part time back then. The "common practice" then was to cover so many times your annual salary. If something happened to him, we would have been covered, but if I had died prematurely, he would have been stuck paying for years of daycare so that he could keep working. I think these issues should be covered in a course in highschool.....financial health for life, covering everything from how to balance a checkbook, the importance of matching any company contributions to retirement funds, comparing a company's total benefit package vs just their salaries, that SSDI or SS retirement isn't enough to live WELL off of, carrying adequate insurance, etc.

I hate hearing about situations like this, when you thought there would be a benefit available to you.....and it isn't.

I hope that you have more success in dealing with the insurer of the driver of that 18 wheeler.