Category: Individual Disability Claims

When you file a short or long-term disability claim, your insurance company may send you to an independent medical exam. Even though you have already submitted documentation from your doctor documenting your disability, the insurance company may want their own medical exam. Except sometimes, they don’t and that can be concerning. Are they going to […]

It can be somewhat confusing for most people to determine whether their long-term disability insurance benefits are taxable. Disability benefits may or may not be taxable depending on who made the premium payments and whether those payments are deductible. Social Security disability insurance (SDDI) benefits may be taxable; the IRS provides further explanation of when […]

Did you suffer a disability? Are you unable to work in any capacity, or can you work in some occupations—just not in the same profession as before the onset of your disability? For most insurance companies, whether you qualify as partially or totally disabled is determined by the specific language in the policy. Your level […]

A common thread among individual and group disability insurance policies, particularly for private insurers, is the explicit or implicit requirement of physicality for disability claim approvals. Sometimes, this requirement is made explicit by the policy’s language, which may categorically exclude mental disorders and conditions. Other times, this need to list a physical illness or injury […]

Google and the Internet are making it easier for healthcare consumers to access virtual medical options, which is crucial at a time when shelter in place orders are keeping hundreds of millions of people indoors. Searches and maps have been made available by Google which is also working to help doctors get up to speed […]

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 […]

A settlement was reached in a California insurance lawsuit filed against Anthem Blue Cross, the Los Angeles City Attorney announced, alleging the insurance company illegally canceled coverage for more than 6,000 policyholders, denying them their individual disability claims and individual disability insurance policies. The lawsuit was filed in 2008 and initially sought more than $1 […]