Disability Insurance Benefit Tips

Hartford is requesting long term disability claimants to provide additional documentation from their attending physicians and additional claimant statements more often than usual. Additional documentation is typically requested as a claimant nears 24 months of payments and there is a change in the definition from the own occupation to the any occupation.In t...

Every day our law firm is contacted by at least 10 people that were initially approved for long term disability insurance benefits and now the insurance company has notified them that after several years of paying benefits the claimant is no longer disabled. Despite reviewing thousands of these disability insurance claim denial letters throughout my career I sti...

Through my review of thousands of long term disability benefit denials, I can tell you that 98 out of 100 hundred times the disability insurance claims examiner will only believe and listen to what their own hired doctor states. This means that if three of your doctors say you are disabled and the insurance company has the medical records reviewed by their own doctor, then the insurance company will ignore you...

The answer to this question has a lot variables and it an issue that we help individuals determine on a daily basis. First, it is important to realize that each disability insurance company offers multiple long term disability policies containing different language. A close evaluation of the definition of “Disability” in relation to the activities a person is doing both in and out of work must take place. ...

The amount of time that an insurance company is allotted to provide a decision for an ERISA disability appeal is often confusing to claimants and can be for attorneys as well. Insurance companies frequently drag out the ERISA appeals process beyond the allotted 90 days by requesting additional documentation, providing unwanted extensions and sending the claimant for independent medical testing. The question st...

The main issue in Stevens v. Sun Life and Health Insurance Company is whether a claimant’s refusal to attend an IME means the administrative remedies have not been exhausted so that a subsequent ERISA lawsuit must be dismissed. The controversy began when Sun Life terminated Stevens short-term disability about the same time that she filed a claim for long-term disability benefits. This claim was denied and sh...

The answer to this question is very fact specific in each case. Not every disability policy has a limited pay period for a mental condition. Most employer provided long term disability policies will limit mental health disabilities to either 12 or 24 months. In the situation where a claimant has both physical and mental disabilities, then it still may be possibl...

The single most litigated issue in a long term disability claim is whether a claimant is residually or totally disabled. Disability companies will save a lot of money if they can prove that a claimant is residual rather than totally disabled. In this video, disability insurance attorneys Cesar Gavidia and Gregory Dell discuss some examples of cases involving a t...

In this video with disability insurance attorney Gregory Dell, he discusses some of the common issues that a dentist must be aware of when considering a claim for long term disability insurance benefits. Mr. Dell and his disability legal team have helped hundreds of dentists nationwide to obtain disability insurance benefits. Disability claims for dentist are hi...

It is a common occurrence for a disabled employee to be offered a severance agreement when they can no longer work due to a disabling medical condition. An employee must take great caution as the severance agreement may eliminate all future rights to any short or long term disability benefits. Here is an example of a potential client that recently contacted us. Employee began working in the finance department ...

Every week we speak to individuals nationwide seeking assistance with Liberty Life Insurance short and long term disability claims. In this video, disability insurance lawyers Gregory Dell and Stephen Jessup discuss their experience in handling Liberty Mutual claims at all stages....

MetLife is one of the top five largest group and private disability insurance companies nationwide. As of January 2016 it appears that Met Life is now interested in considering the buyout of a claimant's group long term disability policy. MetLife has always done buyouts of individual disability insurance policies.For the past ten years Met Life was not interested in buying out the disability policy of a cl...

Principal Financial is one of the more interesting disability insurance companies to deal with. They sell both individual disability and ERISA group disability policies. Our disability insurance lawyers have helped hundreds of Principal Financial policy holders at all stages of their short or long term disability claims.In this video, nationwide disability i...

In this video we discuss the recent trends they have observed with regard to Unum Insurance Company's denial of long term disability benefits. We offer some tips that can either help you to avoid a claim denial or possibly improve your chances to stay on claim. Contact any of our disability insurance lawyers for a free consultation to discuss your disability cla...

Disability insurance companies are notorious for ignoring the cognitive side effects that most disability claimants experience from their medications. Disability companies are aware of the side effects of narcotics; yet they often fail to consider how working under the influence of these prescribed drugs limits a person's ability to work. Disability benefit comp...

Unum reached a new low today which displays absolute disregard for the rights of a UNUM insured. Our law firm advised Unum in a January 16, 2016 letter that we would be sending a videographer to record the Orthopedic Compulsory (Independent!) Medical Examination requested by UNUM. On January 18, 2016 Unum sent us a letter stating that they scheduled a videographer and that UNUM would pay for the videographer. ...

LTD Application is an important process and should not be completed without legal advice.When filing for long term disability benefits through an employer sponsored plan or a private policy, the initial application is extremely important. The application must be completed thoroughly and properly as not to delay or jeopardize future benefit payments. Medical documentation must be accurate and properly docum...

In this video nationwide disability insurance lawyers Gregory Dell and Cesar Gavidia discuss the latest trends they are seeing in Metlife's handling of both ERISA and private disability insurance claims....

Watch Gregory Dell and Stephen Jessup discuss Cigna's latest strategy for handling disability benefit claims. This video has some tips which may help you to secure disability benefits. Any of our lawyers are available for a free initial phone consultation to discuss your claim....

According to several Federal district courts throughout the country the answer to this question has historically been that the American with Disability Act (ADA) laws does not apply to an ERISA long term disability policy provided by an Employer. The reason the ADA has been found not to apply is because of a concept called ERISA Preemption. ERISA Preemption means that since ERISA is a Federal law it overrules ...