The Washington Post recently published an article addressing one of the common challenges we face in presenting long term disability claims. Although the article focuses on Social Security disability, the concepts are equally relevant to group long term disability claims under the federal law known as ERISA. Most ERISA-governed long term disability policies contain an [...]
On December 31, 2020, New York Life completed its acquisition of all of Cigna’s group disability, accident, and life insurance business. As a result, your Cigna benefit claims are now administered by “New York Life Group Benefit Solutions.” This change applies even if your Cigna claim was approved, and you have been receiving benefits since [...]
The attorneys at Robinson Warncke have been handling an increasing number of claims and disputes relating to Long Term Care Insurance. Very few attorneys handle these claims, and the work is very specialized. Long Term Care Insurance first became available in the 1960’s and 1970’s in an attempt make the cost of long term care [...]
Robinson Warncke Sues MetLife under new ERISA regulations This case confirmed the efficacy of the Department of Labor’s (DOL) 2018 revisions to ERISA’s “full and fair review” claim regulations. At ERISA’s inception in 1974, Congress charged the DOL with enacting regulations defining how insurance companies must behave to fulfill ERISA’s guarantee of a “full and [...]
Robinson Warncke achieves confidential settlement against Guardian for disabled attorney. Some long-term disability denials are the result of sloppy or biased claim investigations by the insurance company. Others involve poor decisions by a claimant, poor documentation by treating doctors, and/or difficulties in proof inherent to the disabling diagnosis. This case presented a little of all [...]
Did you know COVID-19 brought as many as 1.2 million additional disability claims in 2021? If you suffer from long-haul COVID, you may have been struggling with your insurance company or considering filing for disability benefits. Insurance companies are working to develop policies they expect will be effective through at least the end of 2022, [...]
Dentists tend to have a much higher incidence of neck and back problems than the general population. Dentists are required to be on their feet for hours, often in non-ergonomic positions, while performing procedures on their patients. This takes a toll on the body over time. Many dentists have the foresight to buy disability insurance [...]
Nearly all long-term disability insurance policies exclude coverage for disabilities caused or contributed to by “pre-existing” conditions. Although the 2014 Affordable Care Act known widely as “Obamacare” now prohibits pre-existing condition exclusions in health insurance policies, it is important to understand that this law does not apply to disability insurance. The legitimate purpose for these [...]
Most of our clients are extraordinarily driven, highly successful professionals and executives. Our clients typically have a great deal of themselves invested in their careers, in terms of education, time and energy. Their very identities are very much tied to their careers. People like this deserve the benefit of the doubt when they say they [...]
ERISA Long Term Disability This case resulted in a favorable reported decision from the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. The Court rejected a reading of disability policies which would unfairly deny a broad class of claims, and adopted a more practical, realistic analysis of competitive employment for analyzing disability claims.
