Town lets employees’ disability insurance lapse for 30 days

Employees of a town in Massachusetts are really hoping to make it through December without becoming sick or injured. Due to their employer’s error, their long-term disability insurance lapsed this month.

According to a news report, the town of Hopedale switched insurance providers last spring in order to obtain better rates. In making the change, however, town officials apparently did not read through the new contract, which clearly stated a minimum enrollment requirement was necessary for long-term disability coverage. Because the town did not meet the minimum, the insurer recently canceled the coverage, and the town was forced to switch to another provider but this still left workers with no long-term disability coverage from Dec. 1 to Jan. 1. Wisconsin residents can likely understand that these workers are upset that they were not given much notice about losing coverage.

Many are now calling for the town to install an Insurance Advisory Committee, which would include employees, to oversee employee benefits.

The employees who paid into this long-term disability plan — which was 100 percent employee-funded — are understandably discouraged about going an entire month without insurance and just about the fact that something like this has happened.

Long-term disability insurance is meant to protect employees in case they become disabled before retirement. It has been reported that one in four working Americans suffers a disability and this is why long-term disability insurance is so important.

When someone is denied long-term disability benefits for questionable reasons, it is often possible to remedy the situation with the help of an experienced long-term disability insurance attorney.

Source: The Milford Daily News, “Hopedale employees concerned over long-term disability,” Jessica Trufant, Dec.5, 2012

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