Question
Why is Prudential requesting weekly updates?
I am currently out on STD in New Jersey, after hurting my knee. My company offers supplemental STD payments through Prudential. The day following my injury, I went to my primary care Dr, who wrote me out of work and sent me to the specialist. The specialist confirmed I require knee surgery. The soonest surgery date available is 6 weeks from the date I was written out of work from my primary care Dr. After jumping through a bunch of hoops with Prudential claim filing requirements, they confirmed the STD supplement is approved and told me check is in the mail. I’ve been looking on their website, and it shows my claim is approved, how many hours of time are approved, that nothing is needed from me, but the section that is supposed to show payments they mailed, is still blank. I get a call from my primary care Dr today who tells me Prudential called them, said they audited them, and they want to know why my primary care Dr has not sent them weekly updates to confirm I am still temporaily disabled. Prudential told my primary care that they will not pay me until I go see my primary care Dr once a week for them to send a factual update of my condition to Prudential, until I return to work. What kind of craziness is that? I see a lot of people on this site are saying Prudential wants monthly updates, and although that seems dumb too, especially when the anticipated return to work date is given to them at the start of a STD, wanting weekly updates seems more like a way to deter me further from pursuing thier pittance of a supplemental payment. It would cost me more in gas and co-pays than what they are saying they will pay as a supplement per week. And that’s another thing, I max out on what the State will give me. One would think ‘supplemental’ would mean it will make up the difference between what the State will pay me and what I make while I’m working, but according to Pruduential the amount of ‘supplement’ I [have to fight to] receive will equal about $9.00/wk! I thought ‘that cannot be right’ but no, they insisted it’s only $9.00.
Answer
C. Murphy, The reason why Prudential is requesting weekly updates (as opposed to monthly) is most likely due to the fact you are paid the benefit (no matter how small) on a weekly basis. As such, they review entitlement to continued benefits each week and can therefore request weekly updates (with long term, it’s usually a monthly evaluation, thus requesting once a month). The amount of your benefit is most likely due to an offset created for your receipt of NJ state disability benefits.
