Diabetes Disability Insurance Benefits Claim
View Disability Cases Involving Diabetes Disability Insurance Benefits Claim
How Can Disability Insurance Attorneys Dell & Schaefer Assist You?
As disability attorneys, Dell & Schaefer have represented long term disability claimants that have been unable to work as a result of diabetes. Disability Attorneys Dell & Schaefer have an expansive understanding of the significant restrictions and limitations that a person suffering with diabetes must live with on a daily basis. We have worked closely with top physicians in order to sufficiently satisfy a disability carrier’s threshold of evidence necessary to prove that a client is disabled by diabetes.
Not everyone suffering from diabetes qualifies for long-term disability benefits; therefore the medical records of each client must be reviewed to determine the level of restrictions.
We welcome the opportunity to discuss your long-term disability claim.
You can contact us for a free initial consultation.
What is diabetes?
An estimated 23.6 million children and adults in the United States, and 240 million people worldwide, have diabetes. Diabetes means that your blood glucose (sugar) is too high. Your blood always has some glucose in it because the body uses glucose for energy; it’s the fuel that keeps you going. But too much glucose in the blood is not good for your health.
Your body changes most of the food you eat into glucose. Your blood takes the glucose to the cells throughout your body. The glucose needs insulin to get into the body’s cells.
Insulin is a hormone made in the pancreas, an organ near the stomach. The pancreas releases insulin into the blood. Insulin helps the glucose from food get into body cells. If your body does not make enough insulin or the insulin does not work right, the glucose can’t get into the cells, so it stays in the blood. This makes your blood glucose level high, causing you to have diabetes.
The three major types of diabetes are:
- Type 1 diabetes is usually diagnosed in childhood. Many patients are diagnosed when they are older than age 20. In this type of the disease, the body makes little or no insulin. Daily injections of insulin are needed. While the exact cause is unknown, genetics, viruses, and autoimmune problems may play a role.
- Type 2 diabetes is far more widespread than type 1 and it makes up most of diabetes cases. It usually occurs in adulthood, but young people are increasingly being diagnosed with this disease due to increased levels of obesity and lack of exercise. In this type of diabetes the pancreas does not make enough insulin to keep blood glucose levels normal, often because the body does not respond well to insulin.
There are many risk factors for type 2 diabetes, including being aged over 45, a close relative having diabetes, previously having gestational diabetes or delivering a baby weighing more than 9 pounds, heart disease, high cholesterol, obesity, lack of exercise, polycystic ovary disease and impaired glucose tolerance. African Americans, Native Americans, Asians, Pacific Islanders and Hispanic Americans are more likely than other ethnic groups to develop type 2 diabetes.
- Gestational diabetes is high blood glucose that develops at any time during pregnancy in a woman who does not have diabetes. Women who have gestational diabetes are at high risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease later in life.
How the symptoms of diabetes can affect you
Symptoms of type 1 diabetes includes fatigue, increased thirst, increased urination, nausea, vomiting and weight loss in spite of increased appetite. Patients with type 1 diabetes usually develop symptoms over a short period of time.
Type 2 diabetes usually develops slowly and can include blurred vision, fatigue, increased appetite, increased thirst and increased urination.
Short-term complications of type 1 and type 2 diabetes may require immediate medical care and can include high blood sugar (hyperglycemia), diabetic ketoacidosis (increased ketones in your urine) and low blood sugar (hypoglycemia).
Long-term complications of diabetes develop gradually. The earlier you develop diabetes, the higher the risk of complications. Eventually, diabetes complications may become disabling or even life-threatening.
Diabetes dramatically increases the risk of various cardiovascular problems, including coronary artery disease with chest pain (angina), heart attack, stroke and narrowing of arteries (atherosclerosis). If you have diabetes, you are twice as likely to have heart disease or stroke.
Nerve damage (neuropathy) can develop when excess sugar injures the walls of the tiny blood vessels (capillaries) that nourish your nerves, especially in the legs. This can cause tingling, numbness, burning or pain that usually begins at the tips of the toes or fingers and over a period of months or years gradually spreads upward. Left untreated, you could lose all sense of feeling in the affected limbs. Damage to the nerves related to digestion can cause problems with nausea, vomiting, diarrhea or constipation. For men, it may lead to problems with erectile dysfunction.
Diabetes can cause kidney damage (nephropathy). Severe damage to the kidneys can lead to kidney failure or irreversible end-stage kidney disease, requiring dialysis or a kidney transplant.
Diabetes can damage the blood vessels of the retina (diabetic retinopathy), potentially leading to blindness.
Nerve damage in the feet or poor blood flow to the feet increases the risk of various foot damage. Left untreated, cuts and blisters can become serious infections. Severe damage can lead to toe, foot or even leg amputation.
Diabetes may leave you more susceptible to skin problems, including bacterial infections, fungal infections and itching. Gum infections also may be a concern, especially if you have a history of poor dental hygiene.
Diabetes may put you at risk of bone and joint problems such as osteoporosis.
Complications of gestational diabetes
Most women who have gestational diabetes deliver healthy babies. However, untreated or uncontrolled blood sugar levels can cause problems for mother and baby.
Complications in your baby can occur as a result of gestational diabetes and may include excess growth in the womb, low blood sugar, respiratory distress syndrome, jaundice, and they may be at risk for developing type 2 diabetes later in life. Rarely, untreated gestational diabetes results in a baby’s death either before or shortly after birth.
Complications in the mother can also occur as a result of gestational diabetes such as preeclampsia and subsequent gestational diabetes.
Depending on what type of diabetes you have, blood sugar monitoring, insulin and oral medications may play a role in your treatment. A pancreas transplant may be an option for select people. Regardless of what type of diabetes you have, maintaining a healthy diet, exercising and keeping a healthy weight are all keys to managing your diabetes.
Resources
There are many valuable sources of diabetes information available.
You can also access resources over the internet such as:
The American Diabetes Association
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive And Kidney Diseases
Medline Plus (a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine and National Institutes of Health)
There are numerous charities dedicated to diabetes research, detection and treatment including:
Defeat Diabetes Foundation Inc.
Diabetes Research Institute
Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation
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Disability benefits cases involving Diabetes:
Disability Insurance Info
I’m a 37 year old man with Type 1 Diabetes and wanted info on long term disability insurance. I’m in a very labor-intensive job now and it’s hard on my body.
Neil,
Since you already have diabetes, it would be difficult for you to qualify for a private disability insurance policy. You could get long term disability coverage from an employer, but you would need to be working past the elimination period in order to qualify for benefits. Most group disability insurance policies have a 12 month elimination period. After 12 months of continuous employment, then you could be covered if your diabetes ever became disabling.
My husband has been unable to work for nearly 6 months due to complications of his diabetes. Deteriorating muscle tissue. Severe back pain, muscle pain, leg pain. He is unable to stand for more than 5 or 10 minutes. He has been to physical therapy and chiropractor both twice a week for 8 weeks. There has been no improvement. He has a long term disability policy with his employer. He has been collecting short term disability but it is expected to discontinue at 6 months. How does he go about getting his long-term disability benefits from the insurance company? How does he get evaluated for full disability? If you can answer these questions it would be helpful.
Janice,
The first step is to request a copy of the LTD policy from your husband’s employer. The LTD carrier could be different than the STD. If they are different then the steps are different to apply. The application process can be confusing and must be handled strategically. We have several videos on our website about the application process which you may find helpful. If you complete our Free Consultation form, then we will contact you to discuss your husband’s options.