Disability Insurance Claims – What Should You Know?

When filing long term disability claims since you cannot work anymore, you should know all that you can about disability insurance. This is because this topic is a lot more complicated than with regular insurance. Rules are strict and any mistake can lead to making the process much longer than what it should be. Because of this, here is some valuable advice from summitdisabilitylawgroup.com:

Deadlines And Limitations

You need to be aware of these since it is normally written how long you can wait before the claim has to be filed. Most of the insurance policies have a 2 months filing window. Always prepare paperwork as ahead as possible ahead of the deadline. Be sure that documents reach their destination before deadlines and see what other limitations may exist.

Keep Claims Private

Disability information has to be kept private at all times. Never post comments, complaints or details on social network or forums and chat rooms. That is because when you post such information and you make it public you make it so much easier for the insurance companies not to offer the payments you could receive. Losing benefits because of this reason is definitely not something you want to be faced with.

The insurance companies will monitor the claimant’s social media accounts. There are many cases in which a claimant posted vacation photos on the accounts while filing for the disability. Obviously, such photos are used as evidence against the claim.

Dealing With All Forms

After the claim will be received by the insurance company the claimant will send forms needed to process everything. This includes physician statement, claimant statement, authorization forms and much more. All the forms need to be handled and filled properly. This is actually one of the most important parts of the process.

Financial Records

The financial records are important as they evaluate assets, income and individual earnings. It is something that feels intrusive for most people but the truth is that this is crucial information. The idea is that it is important to understand what the disability causes in terms of financial problems. When asked to offer something not included in policies, talk with the insurance company in order to fully explain the request. Document absolutely all the questions in order to minimize issues with non-compliance.

Independent Medical Exams

In many disability polices a person has to go through an independent medical exam (IME). Remember that doctors performing examinations in most cases are paid by insurance firms. That is why you have to be careful. You want to be sure that you do not disclose too much information. Medical proof is the most important part of the process. So many court decisions have been bad because the medical investigations handled by doctors paid by insurance companies were not really honest. A conflict of interest should never appear and courts are really careful with that. However, you need to point it out if this is something you suspect. Dishonest insurance companies and doctors can be found in all cities of the world.