Accountabilities- Real And Presumed
So much is written and said about what accountability insurance companies have to the disability Plan or IDI contract. However, claimants and insureds also have obligations to enter into the contract in good faith and fair dealing. Since most...
Little Known Labor Market Surveys And Why Insurers Don’t Use Them
Most ERISA readers are now well aware that “any occupation” investigations will take place between 9-18 months of paid LTD benefits for Plan change of definitions of 24 months. Although 24 months is the most common time period for any occ change in...
Summer Surveillance Is Alive And Well
Reports of summer surveillance are already coming in to DCS with the potential to deny claims. Although I try to remind readers of increased surveillance, I’m pretty sure most insureds exceed medical restrictions sometime during the summer. The problem is...
So What’s Up With Guardian?
Guardian’s reputation with the public is slowly dwindling, and for good reason. The newest fiasco, is not having a process in place that provides IDI insureds with forms needed to file disability claims. I had to personally get involved with giving “Notice...
Living With A Disability Claim -Worrying And Disability Claim Syndrome
For many years now, I have been writing articles regarding the various degrees of worry and fear that seems to emotionally affect nearly all insureds receiving disability claims. This phenomenon begins when access to productive income ends, escalates to the point of...
Who Are The Claims Handlers And What Do They Do?
In today’s terms, insurance claims handlers are really not “specialists”, but are considered bottom rung glorified Administrative Assistants, hired for the sole purpose of chasing paperwork and routing files back and forth among resources. Claims...
Is Your Doctor Becoming Troublesome?
The new normal, “after COVID”, seems to be driving disability physicians to tighten-up their support, and the manner in which they choose to support claims, and not in a good way either. Physicians are more cautious, skeptical, and selfish about the...
Hungry Vulture 2d Qtr. Profitability Results End of June
I just wanted to send out a reminder that the end of June is the end of the 2nd Qtr. profitability results for insurance companies. This means there are organized efforts to locate vulnerable claims, and conduct investigations to create the illusion that claims should...
New Fee Structure Reflecting The Times
I wanted to remind my readers, and in particular those who are looking or needing help with their disability claims, that I offer new insureds the option of paying my annual fee on a monthly basis. It has always been my practice to offer insureds the option of paying...
Summer Surveillance
Surveillance in one of those insurance investigative actions that does not require insureds to do anything wrong. It is an interpretative risk management activity insurers use to identify “inconsistency of report” between R&Ls reported, and observable...
A Unum Issue – Regular And Appropriate Care
Prior to 2000, Unum’s Group Plans and policies were issued from a category referred to as “XL” or “XLL”. These Plans lacked clarity and resulted in Unum’s infamous “blue memos” directing claims handlers to deny claims...
So Where Do Disability Insureds And Claimants Go From Here?
Disability insureds have seen tremendous changes concerning the manner in which insurers review and pay claims. While the majority of change was due to COVID and the necessity of handling increased claims without mounting losses, the truth is that disability...
A Unum Blast From The Past – 1994-1996 History
From 1994-1996 Human Resource functions were split between two separate departments—UNUM America HR (payroll, and all HR functions for non-executive personnel), and Enterprise HR (HR functions relevant to the CEO, Jim Orr III and the top 26 Senior Vice Presidents.) I...
Can Anyone Help Me? by Linda Nee
Can Anyone Help Me? Martha kissed her two small children goodbye and watched them closely as they ran toward the school bus, lunch boxes flailing, backpacks slipping off their small shoulders. It was a beautiful day in rural Maine. The sun glistened through the...
When Insurance Companies Cross The Line
All insurance companies have a legal, contractual accountability to perform all duties under the terms of the policy and to pay those claims that should be paid and deny those claims that should not be paid. In the performance of these duties all insurers are required...
Disability Management Services – Can We Call “A Thing, A Thing”, Please?
Disability Management Services, or DMS may be playing a “word game” that could cost an insured $1M in lump sum disability payment. As third-party adjudicators of Lloyd’s of London insurance the company has a strategy hook I think insureds need to...
Guardian Has Gone Rogue – Unfair And Untimely
Those who are waiting for Guardian to make swift liability decisions, may still be waiting a year from now. Since the Berkshire/Guardian merger some time ago, the company evolved into a paranoid, confused, over-investigative resource that is causing havoc with...
Felony Conviction For Stealing Business ID
I just wanted to send out a message to the person who hijacked my business contact information and has been sending it out to franchise list servers. In addition, you’ve been contracting businesses in my name in the Portland area by actually inputting requests...
Prudential – A Real Piece Of Work
If someone were to ask me today which insurance company was the worst for disability insurance I would have to say Prudential. While most insurers at least attempted to accommodate and act humanely during COVID, Prudential did not. Staffed with former Unum employees...
Farewell To The Unum Facility in Portland, ME
Although I have been posting that Unum no longer has a centralized facility, I didn’t know until today that Unum’s main campus in Portland, ME is now the Berry Dunn buildiing. Those of you who have been to Portland, ME on outer Congress Street may have...
