Disasters, Pandemics and Disability Insurers
Quite a few people are contacting me with questions concerning the current coronavirus outbreak. As you all know, I am not a public health official, nor am I a doctor and cannot give anyone specific advice regarding “what do do.” I probably know as much...
Friday Q & A 3/13/2020
Can Unum take money out of my bank account? Not unless you give it permission to. Electronic deposits allow Unum (and other insurers) to put money in, but not take it out. Authorizations to watch are those connected with third-party SSDI Advocates such as Genex,...
Unum Denies Mental Health Claim In Violation of Multi-State Settlement Agreement
Sometimes I get the impression that some of my readers feel I am exaggerating the “bad faith” insurers engage in to create fear and hype about disability claims. While I have said over and over again my motives are to, “provide knowledge at least...
Is There Such A Thing As Privacy For Disability Insureds?
For Americans, lack of personal privacy has been going on for quite some time now. I don’t know if it’s just that people are finally waking up to what they don’t have anymore, or that the environment of disability insurance progressed along with new...
2020 Insurance Surveillance Is Worse Than Ever!
Several insureds called me this past week to fill me in on their experiences with surveillance. One gentleman described surveillance teams following his children for several days in addition to following him. His opinion was that it must be illegal for an insurance...
Attorney On Your Case?
Recently, I’ve received several calls from insureds who have already retained attorneys for their disability claims, and unfortunately I turned them dow It’s no secret I’ve traditionally written on this blog, that in my opinion, most attorneys are...
Unum – Do SSDI Nickel And Dimes Really Increase Cash Flow and Profitability Enough to Cover the Admin Cost Of Endless Chasing?
For years now Unum has been “making the market” on its own common stock by buying up Treasury shares in order to increase the market price of common shares. For those of you who are unaware, buying up Treasury shares (corporation’s own stock) reduces...
“Comorbidity” And It’s Deliberate Omission From The Claims Process
Two of the most commonly misused insurance terms are “Mortality Values” and “Comorbidity.” Actuarial “mortality values” are used in the Life insurance underwriting process where hazards and perils are charted with sex, age, gender...
Do Roundtables Still Exist? “Yes, But Oh So Quietly And Undocumented”
As I’ve written so many times, insurance companies are constantly focusing on “setting up” insureds with documentation that any prudent person could read and agree insureds should not be on claim, but working. Every day insurers are putting something...
Criteria That Must Be Met In Order To Have A Paid Claim In 2020
I know there must be a few Lindanee’s Blog readers who think, “I’ve got this covered, Linda. We don’t need any help.” And, that might very well be true. However, unless insureds are particularly skilled in managing disability claims,...
Please See The New Tab for “NCDI”
Please do not forget to periodically check out the new tab at the top of the Home Page for new NCDI information. If you have links or articles you feel would be interesting to others, please send them to me for inclusion on this page. Thank you!
Friday Q & A On Sunday
Why do we not use the GAF (Global Assessment of Functioning) scale anymore? GAF was removed from the DSM-5 in October, 2018 and was replaced with WHO DAS 2.0. The DSM-5 is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Psychological Disorders that replaced DSM-IV. In my...
TBI Claims – Refusals To Pay!
Although Traumatic Brain (“TBI”) impairments are quite common, disability insurers are reluctant to pay for cognitive impairments that are alleged to be “subjective” and “self-reported. TBI can result in speech, ambulatory, muscular...
“Better Than Sliced Bread” IDI Policies Are Toast
As most physicians, dentists and highly paid executives know, policies were sold in the 1980’s and 90’s as “own occupation better than sliced bread” coverage. At the time, it was believed by insurers that highly skilled professionals would...
Unum Insurance Defense Physicians And Doc-To-Doc Calls
Many of my readers may recall previous articles concerning Unum’s paid physician reviews and what are called, “doc-to-doc” calls. Unum’s agenda for the calls is to persuade treating physicians its medical review is the only accurate one, and...
Unum Updates – What Next?
The “hungry vulture’ strikes again with continous requests for more and more SSDI information to re-calculate SSDI awards looking for every nickel and dime it can find. Some claimants are asked to submit SSA paperwork over and over again allowing Unum to...
Signs Of Bad Faith Investigation – A Reminder
An insurer may be acting in bad faith if the insurer delays or denies investigation or payment without a reasonable basis for its delay or denial. ERISA claimants must be notified in writing at 45-day intervals (tolling letters) as to why the liability decision has...
Daily Buzz – Monday, February 17, 2020
Just say, “No”. Recent information has it that Unum may be asking insureds to allow the company to speak with spouses and children. While I would think such a request is an obvious “stick it in your ear” kind of question, callers to DCS are...
Friday Q & A On Thursday
Does Prudential try to deny claims? Prudential is at least in the top five ERISA group employers who actively seek to deny claims. In fact, Prudential is well-known in the industry for its unfair and discriminative denials of mental health claims. Patient notes are...
Surveillance Video – “Seeing Is Believing”
Most of my readers know that I often write about the necessity of abiding by medical restrictions and limitations so as not to provide insurers with “inconsistency of report” that often leads to denied claims. A case was brought to my attention: Farron...
