Everything about ERISA Disability claims is confusing for the claimant. In fact, many judges find this practice of law confusing as well. Your attorney’s responsibility is to help you understand how the claim process works because many of the ins-and-outs of ERISA disability seem counterintuitive. When a client has been denied Short-Term Disability, they assume [...]
Working can jeopardize your disability claim. Insurance companies will use any work-related activity (including volunteer work) as grounds to deny or terminate your long-term disability benefits, often before you are fully healed and ready to return to work full-time. If you are receiving disability benefits and are considering returning to work, you MUST do two [...]
To appeal a long-term disability policy denial, you are going to use a 3-stage approach. You will gather your appeal documents and create a plan, research your policy, and finally assemble your appeal and send the documents to the insurance company. In this article, you will find all the steps you need to complete. However, [...]
If you have received a denial letter from your employer's long-term disability company or plan, here is what you need to know: 1) You typically have 180 days to appeal the denial. We say "typically," because some policies may limit your period for denial. You could have more, or less than, 180 days to appeal [...]
This trick (or error) is showing up with increasing frequency. When you purchased your insurance disability policy (or when your employer did), they were essentially paying for a specific definition of disability. The term “disability,” or “disabled,” is specifically, and carefully, defined in your contract. As such, that definition is of the utmost importance: it [...]
If you have a long-term disability claim involving fibromyalgia (or any other pain syndrome), then you need to read on. Fibromyalgia, and pain claims are often the subject of extra scrutiny from disability insurers. Here is why, and what you can do about it. Pain syndromes are relatively new medical diagnoses. Not much is known [...]
Before you were injured or became too ill to work, you probably didn’t have a lot of concern about what would happen in this type of event. You knew you had disability insurance through your employer, so you felt confident that you and your family would be protected. If you have already been denied long-term [...]
Years ago, the United States Supreme Court made the decision to allow insurance companies to “reserve discretion” for benefits available under disability insurance plans sponsored by employers. If you see the phrase, “we have discretion to determine benefits,” in your policy, you need to recognize that these are dangerous words. This discretionary clause often causes [...]
You would think that if you suffered an injury or illness and you could not perform the actual duties that your own boss required you to do that you would be able to recover under your employer’s long-term disability policy. Most employer-sponsored long-term disability policies aren't worth the paper they're printed on. Many will define [...]
I'm surprised by how many people let the insurance company get their medical records before they look at the records themselves. You need to know what your doctors have actually said BEFORE you file for long-term disability benefits. There are many reasons it is better for you to review your medical records before you submit [...]
