Unum has been chasing SSDI award information for many years, and by as many different ways and means of dishonesty or misinformation.
Many third-party “paper chasers” have been employed to assist the company in obtaining usable information from SSDI files. SSDI, and the potential to offset, and recalculate on multiple occasions, is a multi-million dollar a year endeavor.
I received a phone call from a Unum claimant reporting she received a letter from Unum stating she had an obligation to inform Unum whenever she received a COLA, or an increase in benefit due to calculations and changes in earnings.
Of course, this isn’t true since there is no obligation to report COLA in any Unum Plan. Unum’s Employer Group Plans DO NOT offset COLA, and there is no Plan provision or language requiring claimants to report it. To say that there is is a deliberate misrepresentation of the truth.
Increases in actual benefit amounts should be reported allowing Unum to increase the offset amount. This prevents claimants from being in a position of “overpayment” time and time again giving Unum the opportunity to reduce benefits. It appears to me that Unum gets into an absolute panic when offset increases are missed, or not reported. Of course, increases in benefits, again, are worth millions.
I am always leery when Unum tells claimants something that is an absolute lie. Remember, there are no provisions in Unum’s policies requiring claimants “to report” COLA increases. They are NOT offsets and there is no reason or Plan requirement to report them. On the other hand, the “increase in earnings” reported by SSA has to do with prior earnings formerly used in the 15-year averaging to arrive at benefit amounts, and should be reported.
I get nervous when insurance companies “exaggerate or inaccurately report” what’s written in a Plan or policy. My recommendation is for claimants to respond, “I have reviewed the provision in my Plan and do not find any requirement on my part to report receipt of SSA COLA increases. If I am mistaken, please provide me with a copy of the page from my Plan requiring me to do so. This way, the Administrative Record can be updated with Unum’s misrepresentations.
SSA always sends out a separate letter for increases in benefits due to “earnings”, and if received, should be provided to the claims handler right away. Don’t give Unum the opportunity to “recalculate an alleged overpayment”, you’ll never get away from it.
Finally, Unum may ask for your SSA 1099’s and I don’t have a problem with that. If you have them, send them. I do not, however, recommend signing any other SSA Authorization to give Unum access to your SSDI files. That’s a problem for another article, which are many already on this blog.
There is no need for any insurance company to “stretch the truth” about anything, since they already hold most of the cards to stack the deck. Please use common sense. If your disability Plan does NOT require you specifically to report a COLA, you don’t have to do it.
