Disability benefits are benefits that compensate you for your loss of income.  They’re provided either through a private policy that you purchase or a policy that your employer gives you as part of your benefits package.  Typically if you purchased the policy on your own, the level of benefits is fixed, and it’s fixed when you buy the policy, so if you’re a doctor and you bought a policy 15 years ago and your income permitted the company to issue a policy providing $15,000.00 worth or benefits per month, when you become disabled today years later you still would qualify for the $15,000.00 a month of benefits, even if your income has dropped precipitously over the years.

On the other hand, if you have a policy through your employer, the income benefit per month, that’s based on what your earnings are, so if you’re earning $60,000.00 a year, $5,000.00 per month, your benefit would typically be 60 percent of that.  That’s what a disability benefit is.  It’s an income replacement stream for you if you become disabled from working.