Frequently Asked Questions

What’s the Difference Between Individual and Group Disability?

Frank Darras, America’s Top Disability Lawyer, discusses the differing rights and remedies you have with a private disability policy versus a group policy.

Frank Darras:

“The difference between an individual policy and a policy that you got from your employer is the individual policy, you went to an agent or a broker, you have individual rights and remedies. You get a real jury trial. In some states, you get punishment damages. You get emotional distress for the worry, the frustration when your carrier wrongfully delays or denies. You can, in most cases, bring your doctor, friends and family, before and after your employer, everybody to talk about how hard you tried to get better. That’s an individual policy.”

“On the group side, your rights and remedies are really limited. There is no trial on the merits. There’s no punishment. There’s no discovery, so your doctor’s never going to get deposed. You’re never coming to court, and you’re going to be in federal court, trying to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the insurance company was wrong. And you get to do that by an appeal.”

“If you miss the appeal by one day, or you don’t put all the information into the appeal, you lose, because the judge is never going to meet you, nor will anybody come to trial to testify. It’s all on the paper, which is why it’s so important to have a lawyer if you get your group policy denied.”