Data from the Council for Disability Awareness, a nonprofit funded by the majority of disability insurance providers, suggests fewer employers are providing long-term disability as a core benefit.

CDA's 2014 Long Term Disability Claims Review shows that in 2009, a little more than 220,000 employers offered employer-paid disability protection; by 2013, that number had dropped to 214,000.

The study did not break down data by employer size, but for context, the Small Business Administration says there were about 18,500 businesses with 500 or more employees in 2010, and of the 27.9 million small businesses, 5.5 million have an employee.

Nor did the study track what portion of the disability policies were employer-paid, but other results from CDA's research suggests that more employers are offering disability protection on a voluntary basis. In 2012 and 2013, there was a slight increase in the number of employers offering disability policies, after several years of decline. But in 2013, the number of covered employees dropped by 1.5 percent, to about 32 million.

CDA's researchers do not make a definitive correlation between the drop in covered lives and the migration of disability plans to a voluntary offering, but they do say the trend in lower coverage could be the result of more plans being offered on a voluntary basis, and eligible participants not electing to buy the policies.

Number of DI claims down, but carriers shelling out more bucks

In 2013, the most recent data available from CDA, 19 disability carriers reported that about 653,000 people were receiving long-term disability benefits — a 3 percent decrease from the previous year and the lowest level since 2008.

While individual claims were down, total payments by insurance carriers hit $9.8 billion, an increase from 2012 and a more than 7 percent increase over 2009.

About 150,000 new claims were approved in 2013, down almost 6 percent from the previous year, which insurers attribute to lower claim applications and an improved economy, according to CDA's research. Nearly 60 percent of those claims were filed by workers over age 50. Musculoskeletal issues are the greatest source of claims, accounting for 29 percent of existing disabilities, followed by nervous system, cardiovascular and cancer-related claims. According to 2012 research from insurer Gen Re, the average length of a claim for participants in a group disability plan was 34.6 months.

A tool for brokers

So why do tens of millions of workers go without disability protection? The simple answer is, they don't think they need it.

According to the Social Security Administration, two-thirds of wage earners say they have a 2 percent chance or less of being disabled for three months or more during their working career, far less than the 25 percent chance the SSA says workers actually have.

Others may be under the impression that Social Security's Disability Insurance program provides the necessary coverage. But in 2012, 65 percent of the claims to SSDI, a program on the brink of insolvency, were denied. When the government does accept claims, the average monthly benefit was about $1,200 for a male and less than $1,000 for a female.

The Council for Disability Awareness created a Personal Disability Quotient brokers can use to help individual participants estimate their chances of becoming disabled. Age, weight and general information on work environment and lifestyle are used to estimate the chances an individual has of becoming disabled in their working career.

For example, a typical 35-year-old, non-smoking female of average size and weight who works an office job has a 24 percent chance of being disabled for three months or longer in her career, and there is an almost 40 percent chance that her disability will last five years or longer.

A male of the same age and circumstance who leads a healthy lifestyle has a 21 percent chance of being disabled for three months or longer. Those chances increase substantially when tobacco use and obesity are factored.

To see the Personal Disability Quotient tool, brokers can go to whatsmypdq.org.