Mistakes people make when applying for long-term disability pay

When you’ve been out of work for months because of a serious illness or injury, you may need to apply for long-term disability benefits. First, you need to have opted into your employer’s long-term disability insurance plan, plus have had coverage long enough to qualify for benefits.

Even if you are qualified, though, often people applying for long-term disability pay make mistakes with their claim. The applications are complicated and require a lot of attention to detail.

Some of the most common mistakes people make when applying for long-term disability include the following:

1. Failing to make a claim in a timely fashion. Most insurance providers have specific deadlines for when you need to make a long-term disability claim.
2. Not including enough medical evidence to document your injury or illness and how it prevents you from working. As the benefit recipient, you have the burden to prove your injury or illness prevents you from working. You need to provide test results, a doctor’s evaluation and more to document your claim.
3. Not having a doctor support your claim. You need to talk with your doctor to ensure he or she believes your medical condition prevents you from working and your doctor is willing to support your claim.
4. Having a presence on social media or publishing information on internet that contradicts the severity of your illness or injury. If you post photos on Facebook of you playing pickup basketball with friends, but you can’t work because you are still recovering from a serious auto accident, that can cause a claim rejection. Or if you blog about your life and write about how you are enjoying nights out dancing with friends and weekend kayaking getaways, that also can harm your long-term disability claim’s success.
5. Coming under investigation from your insurance provider where photos, video or internet searches show you are either are capable of working or you are trying to receive long-term disability pay through fraud.

Working with Alan C. Olson and Associates, who have experience handling long-term disability claims, can give you a much better chance of getting your benefits approved. Experienced long-term disability attorneys are familiar how to handle a claim application how to deal with any challenges you may face with your claim.