Top carriers for Consultants
All five carriers below can be written as true own-occupation for most professions. Guardian and Ameritas build it into the base definition, MassMutual and Principal deliver it through their own-occupation rider or definition, and at The Standard it comes through a rider whose availability depends on your occupation class. Your optimal carrier depends on your specific specialty, income structure, and state. We compare all five side-by-side in every analysis.
| Carrier | Product | AM Best rating | Contract strength |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Provider Choice | A++ (Superior) | Strongest contract of the five, in our view |
 | Platinum Advantage | A (Excellent) | Contract clarity |
 | Income Protector | A+ (Superior) | Most flexible underwriting in our experience; deep rider menu |
 | Radius Choice | A++ (Superior) | Mutual-company dividends; billing-code own-occ |
 | DInamic Cornerstone | A (Excellent) | Competitive pricing; highest BOE limit of the carriers we place |
Provider Choice
- AM Best
- A++ (Superior)
- Strength
- Strongest contract of the five, in our view
Radius Choice
- AM Best
- A++ (Superior)
- Strength
- Mutual-company dividends; billing-code own-occ
Income Protector
- AM Best
- A+ (Superior)
- Strength
- Most flexible underwriting in our experience; deep rider menu
Platinum Advantage
- AM Best
- A (Excellent)
- Strength
- Contract clarity
DInamic Cornerstone
- AM Best
- A (Excellent)
- Strength
- Competitive pricing; highest BOE limit of the carriers we place
Get a comparison of all five carriers tailored to your specialty
Get a Quote ComparisonHow do disability carriers classify consultants?
Consultants generally classify in the top or near-top non-medical tier, but the class comes with conditions attached, and the conditions are where the differences sit. Guardian generally classes consultants at 5.
MassMutual currently classes a non-computer consultant at 5A where income exceeded $100,000 in the last two years, the consultant has five or more years of experience, and the work is neither commission-driven nor home-based. Computer consultants above $100,000 also reach 5A at MassMutual, dropping to 4A at or below that figure.
The Standard generally classes consultants with no manual duties earning $150,000 or more in each of the last two years at 5A and includes them in its Preferred Occupation Discount, worth up to 20% on Platinum Advantage, though discounts combine only on that product and vary by state.
Principal generally allows 5A with income of $75,000 or more, including in California and New York, and Ameritas generally allows 6A after five years as a consultant in the same business, with primarily office duties and income over $100,000 in the last three years.
Under those conditions one consultant may hold a different class at every carrier, and a consultant sitting near an income or tenure threshold can land in a materially different premium band depending on how the file is presented. Occupation-class labels also do not transfer between carriers. A 5A at one company is not the same rung as a 5A at another. Our white-collar carrier comparison puts a price on every step down a carrier's ladder.
What does disability insurance cost a consultant?
The cheapest cell in the consultant table is $130 a month, for a 30-year-old man on a 180-day wait. The most expensive is $760, for a 45-year-old woman with inflation protection and a 90-day wait. Both are for $10,000 of monthly benefit at 2026 list price on a Texas basis, from Seaworthy's 2026 quote study.
Each range spans the five carriers from least to most expensive at the classes above, undiscounted, and each price includes true own-occupation, residual (partial) disability benefits, the carriers' increase riders, and a benefit period to age 65.
| Profile | Monthly benefit | 180-day wait | 180-day wait + inflation protection | 90-day wait + inflation protection |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Male, 30 | $10,000 | $130–$210 | $160–$255 | $190–$295 |
| Female, 30 | $10,000 | $235–$325 | $290–$420 | $340–$490 |
| Male, 35 | $10,000 | $155–$250 | $190–$280 | $225–$325 |
| Female, 35 | $10,000 | $275–$385 | $335–$460 | $395–$540 |
| Male, 45 | $10,000 | $245–$380 | $285–$415 | $335–$490 |
| Female, 45 | $10,000 | $435–$585 | $505–$645 | $595–$760 |
Lowest to highest carrier, monthly, 2026 list price, Texas basis. Figures include residual coverage, the no-cost increase riders, and the own-occupation rider at carriers that sell one separately. They exclude the catastrophic disability rider, and inflation protection appears only where a column says so.
The consultant rows climb steeply with age. A 35-year-old man pays $155 to $250 a month for the 180-day design, and at 45 the same benefit costs $245 to $380. At 35, inflation protection and a 90-day wait together bring the man's range to $225 to $325, and a woman that age pays $275 to $385 for the 180-day version. That age curve is the cost side of the timing question at the end of this page.
Seaworthy's 2026 quote study draws on carrier illustrations from August 2026 at ages 28, 35, and 45 and monthly benefits of $5,000, $10,000, and $15,000, with the age-30 rows filled in by interpolation. Each carrier's measured female-to-male ratio produces the female prices, and the 180-day prices are scaled to 85% of the 90-day illustrations.
These classes assume income of $250,000 or more plus each carrier's conditions on years in practice, office-based work, and income. Several carriers class a consultant lower once income falls under their thresholds, and the price goes up. Unlike the full-rider-package prices on our white-collar carrier comparison, these figures leave out a catastrophic disability rider, so that page runs higher, and our disability insurance cost guide shows how each added rider moves a premium.
The $250,000 assumption sits well above the occupation as a whole. Per its Occupational Outlook Handbook, the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that "The median annual wage for management analysts was $101,860 in May 2025." Your state and medical history will shift the premium, as will any employer or association discount.
How is project-based consulting income underwritten?
Carriers generally underwrite project income as earned income once it has been received and documented, which for an independent consultant generally means net earnings after business expenses rather than gross billings. The figure a carrier will insure can sit well below the totals on the invoices.
An established consultant with several years of consistent filings usually presents cleanly. The harder cases are the first year or two of independent practice, and books with wide year-over-year swings, where the documented average may sit well below a good year. Consultants in that position often do better applying while still employed, or timing an application after a stable stretch. Our page on disability insurance for the self-employed covers the documentation side in more depth.
Does a consultant need own-occupation coverage if the work is not physical?
Yes, because consulting income depends on analysis, judgment in front of clients, and the ability to sustain concentrated work against deadlines. Those capacities are vulnerable to conditions that leave physical function intact. A neurological condition, a serious mental health condition, or the cognitive effects of cancer treatment can each end the ability to practice at a billable standard.
That is the scenario a true own-occupation definition is built for. It pays the full benefit when you cannot perform your own occupation, including while you draw a paycheck doing something else. An any-occupation definition invites the argument that some less demanding role remains available to you, and that argument can be difficult to rebut at claim time. The way each of the five carriers delivers the definition, and where occupation class limits it, is set out in our own-occupation comparison.
Does disability insurance pay a consultant who can still work part time?
It does if the policy includes residual coverage, which pays when a health event cuts a consultant's income without ending the ability to work. For work billed by the hour or by the engagement, that partial case carries much of the value. A consultant who can bill half the previous hours after a health event has a substantial income loss that a total-disability-only policy will not address.
Residual disability coverage pays in proportion to income loss at the five carriers we place and does not require a prior period of total disability. The income-loss threshold to trigger benefits is 15% at Guardian, MassMutual, Principal, and Ameritas, and 20% at The Standard. All five pay a minimum benefit early in a claim and include a recovery benefit.
What covers a consulting practice's overhead during a disability?
Business overhead expense coverage does, because an individual disability policy replaces personal income and does not pay the practice's bills. Consultants carrying office space, staff, software, or professional liability coverage have a second exposure, which is that those costs continue while the billing stops.
Business overhead expense coverage reimburses those fixed costs during a disability, so a health event does not force the practice to be wound down during recovery. When a practice carries employees or a lease, we review both policies together.
When is the right time for a consultant to apply?
Earlier is generally cheaper, though a consultant close to a class threshold may do better waiting until it is met. Premiums rise with age, and the medical history that complicates underwriting accumulates over those same years.
Timing also interacts with the class conditions. A consultant who applies in year four of independent practice may miss MassMutual's five-year experience test and be classed a tier lower than the same person applying a year later, and that class generally stays with the policy once it is issued. A future increase option then allows the benefit to grow as the practice does, with no new medical underwriting at each step.