Navigating Disability Paperwork

As part of its compensation package, many employers offer insurance benefits. These benefits sometimes include Short Term and Long Term Disability (“STD and LTD”) insurance. This insurance is intended to provide partial income replacement if you become unable to continue working and earning a wage.

Unfortunately, most insurance companies that administer these benefits don’t make it easy to apply for them. If you pursue a claim, you will be inundated with lots of paperwork. In addition to completing claim applications, authorizations, and other documents, the insurance company will also require a form completed by one or more of your physicians which describes your condition and explains what functional limitations your condition causes. Further, even if you are initially approved, you will have to fill out additional paperwork at regular intervals to prove that your conditions still prevent you from working.

The paperwork maze can be daunting, confusing, and exhausting. Some clients have told us that “being out of work is a full time job” when it comes to satisfying all of the conditions the insurance company requires. We have seen people successfully navigate the claims process without legal help, and retaining an attorney is not necessary in every case. However, much of the time, the process becomes too daunting and frustrating. Insurance companies count on that and have designed the application to be complicated in hopes that you will just throw up your hands and quit.

If you are having a hard time with your STD and LTD paperwork, we’re happy to take a look and see if we can help. Whatever you do, don’t give up.