28 October

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The Many Mistakes Vocational Evaluators Use in Long Term Disability Cases

Long Term Disability carriers routinely use vocational evaluators to determine whether or not you can return to your former job or there is a job that exists in the national economy. Vocational rehabilitation counselors eager to please the Long Term Disability insurance company, make a number of errors in reaching a favorable Long Term Disability insurance opinion. These mistakes include: 1. Failing to understand the extent of your medical condition and the restrictions and limitations that you may have as a result of depression, fatigue, pace, concentration. 2. The opinions of functional capacity evaluators who determine the true extent of your physical restrictions...

28 October

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Dealing with the Insurance Carrier: Your Medical Records and Your Long Term Disability Claim

Posted by Nancy Cavey

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When you apply for Long Term Disability Benefits, your Long Term Disability carrier will ask for your medical records. However, the Long Term Disability carrier will not tell you what medical records are the most important in your disability claim. There are three types of medical records each of which can result in a denial of your Long Term Disability claim, or an approval. 1. Chart Notes When you go to see your physician, a nurse or assistant will take information regarding your complaints, symptoms, medications and perhaps the difficulty of how you are functioning. Chart notes are important because Long Term Disability...

28 October

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Long Term Disability Carriers Team Approach to Denying Your Long Term Disability Claim

Posted by Nancy Cavey

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Have you ever wondered how the Long Term Disability carrier goes about evaluating a Long Term Disability claim? They allegedly have “professional disability management teams.” These can consist of a “disability claims managers, disability management services and Social Security assistants.” What is a disability claims manager? That’s a person who is supposed to work with a disability claims management team that consists of their medical directors, clinical experts, Social Security specialists and other staff, who will evaluate your entitlement to benefits and quite frankly, how they will deny your benefits or reduce their exposure. Disability management services do that by developing “relationships...

28 October

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Long Term Disability Insurance Company Peer Review Scams

Posted by Nancy Cavey

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Long Term Disability carriers only need a reason to deny your disability benefits and, the way they get that reason is to send your file to a handpicked peer review doctor. They will use firms that are set up all over the United States who have recruited doctors to review your medical records and write a report. Guess who’s making the money! First, it’s the peer review or company who hires these peer review doctors and ostensibly, trains them. They are trained to never use the work “disabled” and to always determine that the claimant is capable of working in...

28 October

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Own Occupation Claim for Long Term Disability Benefits and Fibromyalgia

Posted by Nancy Cavey

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Your Long Term Disability policy may provide that you are entitled to disability benefits if you are unable to engage in your own occupation. It is important that you first understand how the Long Term Disability carrier defines “own occupation.” The Long Term Disability carrier may define your “own occupation” as the occupation you are performing for your employer, the occupation as it is performed in the local economy or the occupation as it is performed in the national economy. Note that we are not talking about a new way to do your job or how the job is performed...

28 October

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Fibromyalgia and Your Long Term Disability Claim Part 1

Posted by Nancy Cavey

in Fibromyalgia Disability Claims

Introduction and the Three Things Every Fibromyalgia Disability Applicant Should Know There are three things the Long Term Disability carrier looks for in every Fibromyalgia Long Term Disability claim: 1. Objective evidence of the diagnosis of Fibromyalgia 2. Objective evidence that Fibromyalgia is causing physical restrictions and limitations that result in you being disabled. 3. A causal relationship between your diagnosis and disability and your inability to work. The Long Term Disability carriers know that there are many people with Fibromyalgia that are able to work and unfortunately, they evaluate Fibromyalgia claims through that mindset. Is Your Fibromyalgia Condition Covered in Your Long Term Disability policy? One...

28 October

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Sleep Apnea and the MS Patient’s Claim for Long Term Disability Benefits

Posted by Nancy Cavey

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If you suffer from MS and are having difficulty with your long term disability claim, Nancy Cavey, experienced long term disability MS attorney, suggests that part of the problem you might be having is your failure to fully explain all the problems that you have as a result of your MS. This can include difficulty walking, balance and coordination. However, obstructive sleep apnea is a common sleep disorder among people with MS. Many people with MS, also have bladder problems which means that there are in and out of bed frequently. They may also have restless limp syndrome, or periodic limb...

28 October

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Lupus and Benlysda: Short and Long Term Disability

Posted by Nancy Cavey

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If you are a short term or long term disability recipient who suffers from Lupus, there is new drug, Benlysta, specifically designed to treat lupus. It is expected to receive FDA approval this year but it is very expensive. Local Rheumatologist, Dr. Michael Burnette of the Tampa Medical Group has been working with Benlysta as part of the clinical trial for the last five years. In a recent article in St. Petersburg Times on April 29th, 2010, he explained that Benlysda works by "suppressing the part of the immune system associated with Lupus". Research by GlaxoSmithKline has found that Benlysta can...

28 October

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Dr. Mahwar and Your Long Term Disability Claim

Posted by Nancy Cavey

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Have you ever heard of Dr. Suresh Mahwar, an internist in Freemont, California? If you are a Long Term Disability claimant, beware because he moonlights by reviewing disability claims for a company called “University Disability Consortium” who is hired by Long Term Disability carriers to provide peer reviewed medical reports. Long Term Disability carriers do this because they need a “legitimate” reason to deny your claim. They routinely will pick organizations such as University Disability Consortium to hire doctors like Dr. Mahwar who rarely disagrees with the Long Term Disability carrier’s decision to deny benefits. In an article by Evan George,...

28 October

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UNUM Forces Long Term Disability Applicant to Return to Work and Then Denies Claim

Posted by Nancy Cavey

in UNUM Insurance Company

Can you imagine waiting 13 years to get disability benefits? That’s what happened to Johnny McAulley who was insured under a disability policy purchased through his employer Socretes Holdings and later under a conversion policy. UNUM denied coverage to Mr. McAulley on the basis that he untimely exercised his rights to convert his group Long Term Disability policy to an individual policy. UNUM argued that Mr. McAulley should be denied 13 years of disability benefits because he had “tried to return to work.” In Johnny McAulley v. First UNUM Life Insurance Company the trial court “ruled earlier this week that Mr....

Author: Nancy Cavey