Disability policies differ most in how they define disability, and that definition decides when benefits are paid. It affects price more than the benefit amount does.
The definition sets the trigger
An own occupation definition pays when the insured cannot perform the material duties of their own specific occupation.
An any occupation definition pays only when they cannot work in any role for which they are reasonably suited by education, training and experience.
The gap between those two tests is wide for anyone with specialised skills.
A surgeon unable to operate but able to teach is disabled under one definition and not under the other.
The benefit amount is identical in both cases, so the wording rather than the figure determines whether anything is paid.
Specialisation widens the difference
The narrower an occupation, the more likely an impairment removes it entirely while leaving other kinds of work available.
True own occupation cover continues paying even where the insured takes different work and earns an income from it.
That combination is the most expensive form of the benefit precisely because it can pay alongside a full salary.
Modified versions exist that reduce or stop the benefit once the insured earns above a threshold, and they sit between the two extremes on price.
Many policies switch definitions partway through
A common structure applies own occupation for an initial period, often the first years of a claim, and then shifts to any occupation.
Claims that would have continued indefinitely under the first definition can end at that transition point.
The transition date sits in the contract and is among the first things to check on an existing policy.
Group cover uses this structure far more often than individual cover does.
Occupation classes drive the price
Insurers group occupations into classes reflecting both injury exposure and how readily an impairment prevents the work being done.
Manual occupations price higher because physical limitations directly prevent the duties involved rather than merely inconveniencing them.
Class assignment is also why the same definition costs very different amounts for two applicants of the same age.
Some classes are not offered own occupation cover at all, which turns the question of definition into a question of eligibility.
The definition matters most at the margin
Severe total disability is paid under almost any definition, so the wording rarely decides those claims either way.
Partial impairments and gradual deterioration are where the definitions genuinely separate from one another.
Those are also among the more common causes of long claims, which is why the wording deserves more attention than it usually receives.