Are all LTD claimants considered for alternative professions as part of the “any occupation” investigation?

A visitor to our website recently posted this question:

Are all LTD claimants systematically considered for alternative professions by the various disability insurers as part of the “any occupation” investigation? I especially wonder if older workers might get a bye after a certain age.

The evaluation during an Any Occupation depends on the definition of disability. If there is no income component to the Any Occupation definition than the disability insurer will have to consider alternative occupations based upon the claimant’s education, work experience, and documented restrictions and limitations. The carriers will often evaluate an occupation by determining if an occupation is sedentary, light, heavy duty, and then try to find jobs that match the claimant’s qualifications and experience. In most cases the disability companies generate unreasonable computer printouts of potential jobs that a claimant could either never perform or the job simply does not exist in the local labor market. Older claimants do not get a bye at a certain age as most disability policies without a lifetime rider end at age 65 or 67. It is surprising how many 64 and 65 year old people we see that get denied disability benefits.