Your disability insurance company may be watching you at anytime. In this episode Disability insurance attorneys Gregory Dell, Cesar Gavidia and Stephen Jessup discuss the ways in which long term disability insurance companies rely on video surveillance to deny disability claims.

Part 2

Part 3

If your ERISA governed long-term disability claim has been denied following your initial application for disability benefits, ERISA regulations require the insurance company to establish and maintain a procedure by which a claimant shall have a reasonable opportunity to appeal an adverse benefit determination to an appropriate named fiduciary of the plan, and under which there will be a full and fair review of the claim and the adverse benefit determination.

Insurance companies sell disability insurance polices with the hope that they will never need to pay monthly benefits to an insured. Once an insurance company becomes obligated to pay an insured monthly disability benefits, the insurance company is losing money. In effort to cut their losses, most disability insurance companies are always interested in the opportunity to buy-out an insured’s disability policy for a one-time lump sum amount.

Once approved for disability benefits, most disability insurance policies require a claimant to submit monthly claim forms in order to prove continued eligibility. Additionally, some carriers will require an Attending Physician Statement on a monthly basis from the claimant’s treating doctor.

Attorneys Dell & Schaefer provide on-going legal representation for individuals that have been approved for long-term disability, in which we are the exclusive point of contact between the disability insurance carrier and our client.

The disability benefits application process is complex and most applicants applying for disability benefits do not realize the manner in which disability insurance companies scrutinize and investigate claims for disability insurance benefits. Filing for disability requires a coordinated effort between your treating physicians, employer, accountant and past co-workers. Whether you are a physician, business owner, teacher, engineer, manager, lawyer, financial planner, or a salesperson, you should not assume that you know how to apply for disability benefits.

Disability attorneys Gregory Dell and Stephen Jessup discuss what a disability claimant can expect when they are asked to attend an independent medical examination requested by their disability insurance company.

ERISA is an unfair law, it is a pro-insurance company law and it really puts insured’s backs against the wall the time comes to file a claim.