“As a young professional, your ability to work and earn a paycheck is your greatest asset, and you need to protect it,” says Lindsey Pollak, a Gen Y career expert and spokeswoman for The Hartford. She notes that pregnancy is the No. 1 cause for a disability claim from women, and mental health issues, including stress, anxiety and depression, are among the fastest-growing categories of disabilities. But because signing up for disability insurance is often optional, many people don’t bother to do it.

“In an ideal world, everyone would have disability insurance protection,” says Stephen Brobeck, executive director of the Consumer Federation of America. Only about one-third of employees currently have access to disability insurance at work, he says, and taking out insurance on the private market can be expensive. “Group disability insurance is relatively low cost, given that employers negotiate the price with the insurance company,” Brobeck says.

Pollak says another option, particularly for those who work part-time or for themselves, is to go through a professional association, like the Freelancers Union, where she gets her disability insurance, since she is self-employed. Pollak says as long as the insurance comes through your employer or professional association, it costs an average of $250 a year and typically replaces 50 to 60 percent of your income – although the exact amount varies by policy and employer. “Probably the biggest misconception is that this is expensive. … People tend to wildly overestimate how much it costs,” she says.

The SSA offers disability benefits, too, but they are for long-term disabilities that prevent people from working for at least one year or disabilities that end in death. For disabled workers, SSA benefits pay out an average of $1,129 per month – not a lot.

Twentysomethings without disability insurance risk financial hardship if they find themselves suddenly unable to work. “Many are living paycheck to paycheck and a large portion of their income is going to car payments, rent and student loan debt. It’s more likely they would have to alter their lifestyle to cover their expenses if they lost their paycheck or move back in with their parents,” Pollak says.

A 2012 Hartford survey found that one in three millennials say they would have to rely on savings if they weren’t able to work for more than six weeks, and two in 10 said they would either take money out of a 401(k) or use credit. Just over two in 10 said they would ask friends and family members for financial help or move back home with their parents.

A report released in September from the Consumer Federation of America and Unum, an insurance company, found that among 400 disability insurance recipients surveyed, 77 percent said their benefits helped them avoid tension with their spouse or partner and 68 percent said their health would have suffered without the benefits.

• Even with the benefits, the recipients reported some financial stress:

• Around 85 percent said they had to stop saving money for retirement or cut back in other ways, and almost six in 10 said they had to skip or delay some kind of medical, dental or vision care for themselves or family members.

• Almost one in four missed a mortgage or rent payment, and about half said they would have missed a payment if they hadn’t received their disability insurance benefits.

• One in three reported seeking community or government assistance to pay for food, with an additional 33 percent of respondents saying they would have had to do the same if it weren’t for their benefits.

As for Oliver, she’s back at work full-time, and now makes sure she signs up for as much disability insurance coverage as she can get. She asks: “If you think about the pressure of fighting for your life and then you add financial distress on top of that, how would you even have the energy to put into your healing?”

Kimberly Palmer is a senior editor for U.S. News Money. She is the author of the new book, “The Economy of You.” You can follow her on Twitter @KimberlyPalmer, connect with her on Facebook or email her at kpalmer@usnews.com.