Category: Long Term Disability

You establish an income backup plan when you buy individual long-term disability insurance or receive group disability coverage at work. If you become disabled, you anticipate that your insurer will timely pay your claim. Unfortunately, it’s never that simple. You must provide timely notice of your claim and produce comprehensive proof of your disability. You […]

Helping Those Suffering from Lyme Disease Get the Disability Benefits They Deserve With the arrival of summer, most of the nation knows it’s time to break out the bug spray. Lyme disease has become a serious medical concern around the country with devastating long term problems. It’s even reported that disease-carrying ticks are appearing in […]

Individual or group long-term disability (LTD) insurance is designed to protect a portion of your income, as defined in your policy, if you suffer an injury or illness that leaves you unable to work. If you are self-employed or an independent contractor, you may have an individual long-term disability policy that you purchased from an […]

So, you filed a valid claim for individual or group long-term disability insurance benefits. During the disability claim process, you provided documentation from multiple doctors, hospitals, and pharmacies describing the nature of your injury or illness, all of your restrictions and limitations, plus pharmacy records, physical therapist or mental health counselor evaluations, and more. Unfortunately, […]

Private, for-profit corporations generally deliver individual and group long-term disability insurance benefits. Thus, every disability insurance policy contract is ultimately designed to protect the issuing disability insurance company’s bottom line. Essential disability benefits are the same under most individual or group long-term disability insurance plans—that is, you should receive income-replacement payments if you are sick […]

Individual and Group Disability Insurance Definitions: The Layperson v. The Legal Terms Helping Beneficiaries Understand Their Confusing Individual and Group Disability Insurance Policies What comes to mind when you think of the term disability? Do you see someone in a wheelchair, with a guide dog, or walking with an aid? Webster’s defines “disability” as “a […]

Offsets Can Affect Your Group Short- and Long-Term Disability Benefits People who are eligible to receive short- and long-term disability insurance should know that any benefits they receive from other income sources could seriously reduce their monthly disability benefits. Offsets are policy provisions that permit your insurer to deduct other sources of income you receive […]

In October 2017, a U.S. District Court judge in New Jersey issued a blistering opinion, finding that a disability insurer had been arbitrary and capricious in the termination of disability benefits. At the time of denial, the insurance company had already paid benefits for seven years under an own-occupation disability insurance policy. The unpublished opinion […]

Long-term disability (LTD) insurance provides beneficiaries with a portion of their income if they become ill or injured and cannot work for extended periods (usually more than 90 days). To receive disability benefits, policyholders must file a timely proof of loss and disability claim that insurers approve. Often, disability claims are wrongfully delayed or denied, […]

We recently explored five common causes of disability claims in honor of Disability Insurance Awareness Month. As we discussed in part one of this series, many Americans have misconceptions about what legally qualifies as a disabling sickness or illness. The Council for Disability Awareness reports that one in three women and one in four men […]