Everything You Need To Know About Long-Term Disability
Are you looking for everything you need to know about long-term disability? We cover everything from benefits, eligible disabilities, filing a claim, and more.
Long-term disability is something that many people think of as they age. While there are those who would never openly take disability payments, sometimes circumstances are beyond our control.
There are times in which an accident or illness affects a person’s ability to work and actually make a living, putting their family in jeopardy. This is where long-term disability can be of use.
However, many people are unaware of what long-term disability is, nor do they do they know how to go about getting it.
What is Long-Term Disability?
Long-term disability is meant to pay someone a portion of their normal income, in the event that they are injured/have a disability that makes it unable for them to work in their current job.
This is meant to help offset the financial hardship that a person or family would go through when losing a job for an unspecified period of time.
For those who qualify for long-term disability, they will receive this income for a long period of time as the disability that they have makes it impossible for them to return to their career.
What Are The Benefits Of Long-Term Disability?
In most scenarios, the benefits of long-term disability are meant to replace 55% to 75% of an employee’s’ gross earnings before this disability.
Those who are looking into this type of disability also need to remember that there are two types of benefit maximums that apply to long-term disability.
These are the non-evidence maximum which is going to be the amount of insurance that an individual can get without having to submit to a doctor exam that states their health.
The other is the overall maximum which is the maximum amount that an insurance company is going to pay to a person who is disabled.
What Types Of Disabilities Are Covered?
Is any type of disability or injury covered under long-term disability? Yes! Most long-term disability coverage will kick in as long as you are not able to do any of the tasks that are required by your current job and you qualify for these benefits.
There are certain illnesses or injuries that are not going to be covered with this disability, especially if they were due to the workplace, as these are workplace injuries to be covered by Worker’s Compensation if this is available in your workplace.
Do keep in mind that when trying to get long-term disability, the companies are not only interested in the job that you do, in seeing that you can no longer due to this job to the disability, but you may have to prove that you cannot do any job successfully.
Are Long-Term Disability Benefits Taxable?
This truly depends on how you received the disability benefits. For those who have an employer that has this coverage on them, it means that the employer is covering the premiums for this coverage.
In this scenario, the income that you receive is going to be taxable. However, if you have this type of coverage and paid for the premiums yourself, then this is not taxable.
There are also considerations that must be made if you were to be paid in a lump-sum amount, which is rare to have this happen.
How Can You File A Claim?
For those who believe that they do qualify for long-term disability, filing a claim is not as easy as most people think. They often think that it requires filling out some paperwork and basically waiting. However, there is more that goes into this. For those who are considering filing a long-term disability claim, they are going to first need to know if their disability classifies as one of the disabilities that the company covers.
In most cases, you will find that the policy will list what disabilities qualify for long-term coverage.
You will then have to prove your disability with medical records. You can’t simply say that you have a disability, as the company is going to want concrete evidence that you do have this disability and it is affecting your ability to work and make a living.
There are several sources that the companies can look at to make sure that you are not exaggerating on this claim. For example, they do look at medical records, but they may also look at your social media to see what you are posting, or you may even have surveillance on you.
Be sure to get people whom your trust to vouch about this disability, as this can go a long way. And even with doing all of this, there are still times in which a person finds that their claim is denied.
Click here for more, If you are looking for more information on how to make a long-term disability claim in Ontario
What Happens When The Insurance Company Denies Your Claim?
There are times in which the insurance company can deny a claim for this long-term disability.
There are times in which these issues can be simple, such as turning in another form, other times the person has to rely on a lawyer in order to get the disability that is rightfully theirs.
When a company denies your claim, they do have to give a reason as to why this has been denied.
Some of the more common reasons include:
- Your employer did not provide the necessary documentation that proves you are unable to work the job due to your disability
- Your injury/disability has not been properly documented by the physician
- The company may state that if you have received these benefits for the past two years, you should be able to work part-time as you should be back to normal and this disability is not something that should be affecting your daily life
- You may have exceeded the time limitation for filing a claim
- There may have been a pre-existing condition that you did not mention which can deny the claim immediately
- You did not mitigate your loss, which basically means that you are not maintaining your treatment regimen to get better or build up those muscles.
The reasons for a denial are numerous. However, when this does happen, the one key point to keep in mind: you have to act fast.
If you are denied and simply do nothing, there is no way that you are going to get any type of compensation if you do not act at all.
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When you are denied long-term disability, then you are going to need to find a qualified lawyer that can help with your case. This is a personal choice to make, but those who do utilize a personal lawyer often have a better chance of getting what they need and deserve.
In these cases, in which a person is denied, the lawyer looks at the denial reason and then acts. This could mean taking action against the insurance company that is supposed to be providing the long-term disability, the employer, or even the broker for this coverage.
This is all something that happens based on a case by case experience. It is not a one size fits all situation.
For those who are struggling with these long-term disability claims, or who have been denied, reach out for help. This can allow you more peace of mind knowing that you still have some income coming in when you are suffering from a disability.
Conte Jaswal Can Help with Your Long-Term Disability Claim
At Conte Jaswal, we understand how difficult and burdensome this process can be.
If your disability claim has been denied, or if you feel overwhelmed by the application process, don’t lose hope. It may seem like you’re facing a losing battle, but you don’t have to admit defeat just yet – this is simply an indicator that it’s time to seek professional assistance.
Our dedicated team of experienced lawyers will fight for your entitlement and help you get the settlement you deserve.
We can assist you at any stage of the long-term disability claims process – whether you’re just starting out or if you want to file an appeal.
Don’t face the insurance companies alone – Contact Conte Jaswal now for a free, no-obligation consultation to discuss your options.
