I am also interested in the answer to this question. I am curious about something that isn't 'life insurance', but more 'something bizarre happened to my brain so I can't function at a high-level anymore'-insurance?
I am a freelancer, so I need to protect myself much more than a regular European employee would.
On top of regular public healthcare and pension, I have three policies:
1) sickness daily allowance (the dictionary says this is what it's called in English). This will kick in after 20 (half sum) and 40 (full sum) days of continued (but temporary) inability to work, and should be enough to keep the lights on. IIRC it stops paying if I turn out to be permanently unable to work.
2) occupational disablement insurance (again, according to dictionary). This will pay out a monthly allowance for the rest of my life if it is determined that I am permanently unable to perform my profession for health reasons (including mental health).
3) "dread disease" insurance, which pays a six-figure lump sum if I contract one of a finite list of common dangerous diseases (cancer, heart attack, stroke, ...) Keep in mind that I won't need this money for healthcare as I would be protected by health insurance. This is really to protect my family's and my lifestyle and future.
BTW both 2) and 3) have a contractual clause to pay me out first, and then go to court if they disagree with the assessment. That way their lawyers can't just starve me while I enjoy my chemo or something.
Talk to your insurance broker. They will have options for you.
It's not that simple unfortunately.
Some disabilities are "invisible" (as in "we don't know how to measure it with medical equipment"), which brings the challenges to a whole new level as the patient cannot prove that s/he suffers from that disability: the patient may simply be "making it up" to get disability pay.
I wish I didn't know this all too well.
Generic own-occupation LTD certainly would. The own-occupation part is important, because without it most LTD policies only cover you if you can't work at all. Even then, quite a few generic LTD policies only covers own-occupation for a few years. Own-occupation to social security normal retirement age coverage is surprisingly expensive.
I would expect there to be quite a bit of moral hazard involved, therefore it would have to be expensive otherwise insurance companies would be taking a loss.
