Usually, sickness and accident insurance plans require a waiting period before benefits begin. The typical provision requires an employee to be out of work due to injury or illness that is not work-related for a short period of time, usually one to seven days, before payments begin.

However, waiting periods may be waived, reduced or eliminated entirely for employees who are involved in an accident or are hospitalized. Most sickness and accident insurance plans pay benefits on the first day for accidents involving hospitalization. So, David can probably receive benefits right away if his plan allows it.

Preventing abuse. A waiting period serves to discourage malingering and abuse of the disability benefits by employees. In addition, it reduces cost by eliminating a large number of small payments and reduces administrative expenses.

Large employers have generally designed their disability programs so that employees are not financially disadvantaged by a disability. Employees who have available sick leave use that first, then short-term disability plans pay benefits, and ultimately, long-term disability plans provide benefits. A waiting period would have a financial impact on an employee only if the employee had already used available sick leave.