Insurance Companies that insure Disability Policies can deny benefits for Long Term and Short Term Disability for a number of reasons. Keep reading to learn the answer to the question “Why was my long term disability benefit denied?”
The Insurance Companies request overwhelming documentation from claimants. Many claimants believe that when they initially provide the information for their claim they no longer are required to communicate with the Insurance Company. These companies have the right to continue to review your claim on an as-needed basis and will request documentation from you to do so. This flood of documents given to prove, or update on your condition of disability can overwhelm any individual when trying to keep your benefits in an approved posture.
What Kind of Information Can My Insurance Company Request?
These companies can request voluminous documentation including medical records, questionnaires, attending physician statements, personal statements, etc. Obtaining these records can put severe stress on a claimant, causing fatal errors, as the language for these requests can be confounding. Insurance Companies such as The Hartford, Aetna, New York Life, MetLife, Lincoln, Northwestern Mutual, and others use this to their advantage when reviewing your claim for benefits. A careful examination of these forms reveals they are not designed to prove the claim.
Why Was My Long Term Disability Benefit Denied?
Another reason your benefit might have been denied is missing the deadline to submit documents for your appeal. Most disability plans a
re governed by the federal statute of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act or “ERISA.” A claimant is given 180 days to send a final appeal with all supporting evidence after the dated initial denial letter. Continue reading this blog post for part two of this series.
If you have any questions about your Short Term Disability or Long Term Disability claim, please give Herbert M. Hill, P.A. a call and we would be glad to answer any questions you may have. If you would like, after discussing your case, we can set a conference. In most circumstances, that conference would be free of charge but in no circumstance would you be under any obligation to hire me nor would you feel any pressure from me to do so.
Herbert M. Hill, P.A. is a law firm located in Orlando, Florida with a practice extending throughout the state of Florida. While the vast majority of cases handled are for disability insurance benefits, areas of practice include employee benefit claims of all sorts. The firm handles any claims arising under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA”) for disability benefits, medical benefits, retirement benefits of any sort, including pension, 401k, termination agreements or the like as well as claims arising under private disability policies.
