Disability Insurance Benefit Tips

If you are currently receiving Long Term Disability benefits through Cigna Group Insurance, you may be contacted and asked to participate in their Vocational Rehabilitation Assistance Program. Cigna will explain that they may be able to assist you with their Re-Employment Solutions, but will note, however, that your policy contains a Mandatory Rehabilitation Provision which may "require" your participation....

The overwhelming majority of employer provided ERISA group disability policies provide disability benefits for a certain period of time if you are unable to perform the material and substantial (or similar language) duties of your "own" or "regular" occupation. Although the semantics may differ from policy to policy, under the own/regular occupation period is intended to provide benefits if you cannot do the j...

A recent visitor to our site posted this helpful question:If my pre-disability job was sedentary and required primarily sitting, will the disability insurance company suggest an alternative sedentary job that I should be able to perform? Can you share your thoughts on how insurance companies approach this?When it comes to sedentary occupations I agree that it does not make sense to locate another seden...

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...

A visitor to our website recently posted this great question about the handling of long term disability insurance claims once the definition of disability changes from Own Occupation to Any Occupation.The change of definition from Own Occupation to Any Occupation is probably the single highest cause for claim denials. An "any occupation" definition of disability is not always the same with every long term ...

No disability insurance company will admit that they pay bonuses or commissions for claim denials. There are claims managers with many disability insurance companies that are paid a bonus based upon the overall performance of the company. We know this to be true from the numerous depositions and discovery request we have sent to every major disability insurance company.Obviously, if the disability company ...

Disability insurance companies require disability claimants to prove that they are disabled. All disability companies require claimants to have their treating physician(s) to complete an Attending Physician Statement Form (APS). Some disability companies require the APS to complete monthly while others require the form every two, three, six, or twelve months. The frequency requirement varies based upon the med...

Every year thousands of long term disability insurance claimants have their disability insurance claim limited to a specific payment period due to a Mental Illness limitation provision in their disability policy. On a daily basis our disability attorneys handle cases in which we try to get claimants paid beyond the limitation period. We recently received a great comment on our blog discussing the Mental Health...

Just a question from someone who has dealt with the Hartford Insurance Company. I was approved for SSDI, and I got approval for the Hartford LTD. They paid just long enough to where I got my premiums back, so I quit dealing with them - not worth the tooth and claw fighting.My question is that one can tell that these claims people have been TRAINED to lie. So why is this business not shut down for fraud, RICCO,...

Self reported symptoms limitationIt is common practice for disability insurance companies to find ways to limit the amout of money they have to pay to claimaints. One of the ways they attempt to limit their exposure is to add limitations into their policies that require the claimant to provide "objective evidence" to prove they have certain conditions such as fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue syndrome. The g...

The universal answer for this question is No. In almost every short term or long term disability insurance policy the only money a carrier can use to offset the claimant's disability insurance benefits is money paid to the claimant or the claimant's children as a result of the claimant's disability. An example of a classic offset is SSDI payments to the claimant or SSDI payments to claimants children as a resu...

Unfortunately most disability insurance companies think that if you are an attorney, then your job only requires you to sit at a desk all day. Most disability insurance claim consultants are trained to look at a job as the physical capacity to either sit for a certain period of time or the ability to lift a certain amount of weight. They are trained to often ignore the cognitive skills such as focus and concen...

Disability insurance companies will always say that "diagnosis does not equal disability". This is a true statement in many cases, as there are people every day that are diagnosed with a medical condition yet they are still able to work. The difficulty develops when a person is claiming disability and the disability company is challenging the claimant's diagnosis and medical condition.A medical condition w...

Disability insurance attorney Gregory Dell discusses the differences between qualifying for a long term disability insurance policy and the criteria necessary to get approved for social security disability benefits. An SSDI denial does not mean that your long term disability claim will be denied. Likewise, an SSDI approval is not a guarantee that your LTD benefi...

Since we represent disability insurance claimants at different stages of a disability insurance claim we offer a variety of different fee options. We understand that claimants living on disability insurance benefits have a limited source of income; therefore we always try to work with the claimant to make our attorney fees as affordable as possible. The following is a general summary of the attorney fee option...

Hartford and many other disability insurance companies employ nurses to do preliminary reviews of medical records. The cost of a nurse on staff versus a physician is much less for a disability insurance company. Also, the claim rep assigned to your disability insurance claim is not a medical profession and they have no idea how to interpret your medical records.It is OK for an insurance company to use a nu...

This is an issue that our disability lawyers face on an almost daily basis. Disability insurance companies, such as Prudential Insurance Company, will often argue that a claimant is disabled by a mental condition and not a physical condition. This is done so that they can limit the payment of disability benefits to a limited pay period of either 12 or 24 months....

Is Unum insurance company denying more disability claims than usual? Is Unum having difficulty processing claims in a timely manner? Disability attorneys Gregory Dell and Stephen Jessup discuss Unum disability claim denials and provide helpful tips that should be considered when dealing with a Unum claim denial.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEpBZ4oFqTs...

As of August 2014 there are 20 states that have either passed laws or department of insurance regulations which abolish discretionary clauses. Our attorneys continue to fight on a daily basis to abolish discretionary clauses in all 50 states. We have provided below a listing of the laws in each of the states that have abolished discretionary clauses.CALIFORNIA - Cal. Ins. Code § 10110.6;CONNECTICUT - Bull...

In a recent United States Tax Court case an ex-wife had received a portion of her ex-husband's disability retirement benefits as part of a divorce agreement. Prior to divorce, the disability benefits were paid to the disabled husband by the Los Angeles County Employee Retirement Association. The disability benefits paid to the husband were not taxable.Following the divorce, the ex-wife received 50% of the ...