This trick (or error) is showing up with increasing frequency. When you purchased your insurance disability policy (or when your employer did), they were essentially paying for a specific definition of disability. The term “disability,” or “disabled,” is specifically, and carefully, defined in your contract. As such, that definition is of the utmost importance: it [...]
If you have a long-term disability claim involving fibromyalgia (or any other pain syndrome), then you need to read on. Fibromyalgia, and pain claims are often the subject of extra scrutiny from disability insurers. Here is why, and what you can do about it. Pain syndromes are relatively new medical diagnoses. Not much is known [...]
Before you were injured or became too ill to work, you probably didn’t have a lot of concern about what would happen in this type of event. You knew you had disability insurance through your employer, so you felt confident that you and your family would be protected. If you have already been denied long-term [...]
Years ago, the United States Supreme Court made the decision to allow insurance companies to “reserve discretion” for benefits available under disability insurance plans sponsored by employers. If you see the phrase, “we have discretion to determine benefits,” in your policy, you need to recognize that these are dangerous words. This discretionary clause often causes [...]
You would think that if you suffered an injury or illness and you could not perform the actual duties that your own boss required you to do that you would be able to recover under your employer’s long-term disability policy. Most employer-sponsored long-term disability policies aren't worth the paper they're printed on. Many will define [...]
I'm surprised by how many people let the insurance company get their medical records before they look at the records themselves. You need to know what your doctors have actually said BEFORE you file for long-term disability benefits. There are many reasons it is better for you to review your medical records before you submit [...]
Long-term disability policies are confusing, even for some attorneys. It can be difficult to read between the lines, in fact, the language is meant to be hard to understand. Your employer's long-term disability plan documents may say this: “ERISA requires that you go through the Company's administrative review process before pursuing any legal action challenging [...]
Employers purchase group long-term disability policies to provide a benefit to their employees. This benefit is designed to pay a portion of the employee's lost wages should the employee not be able to work in the future due to injury or illness. What very frequently happens when an employee applies for benefits, however, is that [...]
A new client opens a file with an experienced ERISA law firm. The first thing they see? A lengthy investigative report that starts with screen shots of his celebrating his physical prowess while vacationing! The investigators didn't have to work very hard to find it. They just clicked, and there it was, in all its [...]
There is so much that we don't understand about certain diseases. Doctors and scientists are working around the clock, trying to understand Lyme disease, fibromyalgia, and even chronic migraines. Traditional testing provides little insight into these conditions, and few tests exist to "prove" individuals have illnesses like these. Even if a doctor diagnoses your disease, [...]
