When Your Doctor Won’t Certify Disability
There seems to be an outbreak of treating physicians who refuse to write medical restrictions and limitations, or are reluctant to say someone is “permanently disabled.” My impression is that physicians have become reluctant to be involved in disability...
Ignoring Good Advice May Be Costly
I have to admit I have no idea why some people retain my services and then ignore what I tell them. It’s just something that seems inherent to my profession, and although I feel sorry for the eventual denials that come back to me, there is nothing I can do if...
Independent Medical Examination White Paper
I have a 19-page White Paper written on disability claims Independent Medical Examinations. Since insurers are now back in aggressive management mode, they are requesting more and more IME’s. These evaluations are NOT a joking matter. Therefore, for a donation...
Principal’s Curious SSDI Position. Don’t Be Fooled!
An interesting case came up last week involving Principal and dependent offsets. It still amazes me when claims handlers still think they can bamboozle people about things that are not true in order to profitably benefit. The facts might be a little confusing, but...
No Virginia, There Is No Such Thing As The Unum Police
I haven’t had to write this particular blog subject for quite some time now. In fact, the last time I wrote this type of article was when Unum was tagged by the Multi-State Commission (2002-2008) But lately, I’ve been receiving calls from people scared to...
Creating Red Flags With Your Insurer
Although I’ve been writing about claim “red flags” for about twenty years now, I still see many evidences that insureds and claimants do not give much thought to internal consequences of their behaviors. Of course, this is because insureds...
Lincoln And MetLife – The Walking Dead On Customer Service
Lincoln and MetLife are two hardest companies to “raise the dead” on Customer Service. Insurance companies are supposed to provide a suitable customer service process that allows insureds and claimants to be able to reach representatives for questions and...
Are Settlement For You?
This past first quarter profitability seemed to be a settlement powerhouse for Unum. If you are interested in learning more about settlements, I’m happy to send you the “white paper” I wrote on the subject for any donation amount made from my...
“Indexing” More Important Now Then Ever
Some time ago I wrote a very detailed blog article entitled, “How to Index Pre-Disability Earnings to Determine Loss or Gainful Occupations.” During the Tru_p Presidency, indexing wasn’t a big deal and calculations didn’t benefit insureds by...
Entitlement Mentality Will Get You Nowhere
‘You think you’re sooo smart!’ Prevalent among wealthier IDI insureds is often the idea that they are “entitled” to receive disability contract benefits because, as they tell me, “I’ve been paying on this policy for more than...
IDI Underwriting And How It Affects You Today!
Those who are not covered by ERISA group disability, are generally high-level physicians, lawyers, executives and various other medical personnel. They either own their own practice, or work for a medical/legal facility. These professionals purchase Individual...
Understanding Employer Group Underwriting
Unfortunately, most employees receiving ERISA benefits know very little about the insurance product that makes it possible for them to receive benefits. Most, often tell me, “The only thing I care about is that I am covered for LTD disability by my employer and...
Insurance Communications Centers
Consider the voluminous amounts of paperwork that goes “in” and “out” of an insurance company for just a moment. In fact, insurance is one of the top five “paper” laden industries there is. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary for...
Narcissism And Disability Claims
While there are many different types of personalities out there, one of the most dangerous, or risky types to a disability claim is that of narcissism. Although I am not a psychiatrist and don’t diagnose anyone as a “narcissist”, I do recognize the...
Limit Communications To Required Information
The short answer to the title question is: Occupational, Medical and Financial information. Yes, claimants and insureds have a responsibility to provide certain information, but there is information NOT REQUIRED to be given, such as: daily activities, computer usage,...
Insurance Risk And Pay Out Rates
All risk is based on the “law of large numbers”, which simply put means that insurers place bets not everyone who buys a policy will file a claim. The more people who buy disability policies, the more profits can be made as long as payouts remain static....
Are You Emotionally Affected By Your Claim?
It is not surprising that the majority of insureds with disability claims keep themselves in constant states of anxiety over whether or not they will get paid each month. In the past, I’ve written many articles stating in my experience that it appears emotional...
Prudential Financial And Lincoln Also Bad Apples
Although Unum Group is publicly known as the worst “bad apple” company in America, Prudential Financial and Lincoln are the runners-up that we don’t hear too much about. I’m already hearing case scenarios that indicate to me these two...
Physician’s Who Won’t Take The Time to Do A Good Job
Does your physician just scribble short answers on your medical update forms? Do you let that form stand and just send it in anyway? Unfortunately, that’s not going to work as well for you as it could. When insurance companies are back to “stacking the...
Trespassing Surveillance – Don’t Be Afraid!
Although location surveillance wasn’t used very much during the COV_D years, it is resurfacing with a vengeance. As you can imagine, surveillance investigators are crossing the line and are actually knocking on doors demanding to be let in for an interview. This...
