It’s tough enough to live with a long term disability without having to fight an insurance company for the benefits you’re owed. At Longo Lawyers, we know how hard it is for people in Georgina who can’t work because of an illness or injury and have their disability claim denied. It’s hard to deal with the stress of losing your income while trying to take care of your health, especially when the insurance company that’s supposed to be helping you seems to be working against you. Accident Benefits provide essential financial support for treatment, rehabilitation, and income replacement following an injury.
Long term disability insurance protects your income if you can’t work because of a medical condition. Whether you get coverage through your job or buy your own, the main goal of both group plans and individual policies is the same. These benefits are supposed to replace some of your income, usually 60 to 70% of what you normally make, so you can focus on getting better without having to worry about how to pay your bills, buy groceries or cover other important expenses.
But getting these benefits or keeping them active is often much harder than people think. Insurance companies will refuse to pay claims or cut off payments that were already granted. They’ll say your medical evidence isn’t strong enough to show you’re disabled. They’ll send you to their own doctors for independent medical exams that conveniently find you can work. They’ll say even though you can’t do your own job, you could do some other kind of work. They’ll use surveillance to try to prove you can do more than you say you can, looking for anything you do that goes against what you say you can do.
The truth is insurance companies are businesses that care about making money. Since paying out claims cuts into their profits, there is a natural conflict between what’s best for you and what’s best for their business. Even though most claims are handled fairly, there are times when insurers read policy language in ways that make it easier to deny claims, downplay the severity of real disabilities or make it harder for people to get the benefits they deserve.
When you get a denial, it’s very important to understand the exact conditions of your policy. Long term disability insurance can be hard to understand because they have definitions and conditions that can greatly affect your right to compensation. At Longo Lawyers, we read through policies to make sure we know exactly what your insurance company has to do and what you need to show to get benefits. The definition of disability in your policy, whether it’s based on your own job or any job, makes a big difference in what you have to prove about your restrictions.
Medical proof is the most important part of any disability claim. Your doctors need to write down a lot of information about your health, such as your diagnosis, symptoms, treatment, functional restrictions and prognosis. Insurance companies often say they won’t pay because there are gaps or contradictions in the medical data. We help our clients work with doctors to make sure the medical proof is complete and complete. We’ll also need to get views from medical experts to fill in the gaps. We may also need to get views from medical experts who can answer specific questions the insurance company has about your condition.
When dealing with denied claims time is of the essence. There are different deadlines for appealing denials and taking legal action and these depend on the type of policy you have and other factors. Missing important deadlines in Georgina and all of Ontario can make it very difficult for you to get the benefits you deserve. That’s why you should go to a lawyer who knows a lot about disability claims as soon as you get a denial notice. Brain Injuries require careful legal and medical attention to support recovery, long-term care, and quality of life.
Many people who have already lost their income because of a handicap worry about how much it will cost to hire a lawyer. Most of the time we work on long term disability cases on a “contingency fee” basis. This means you don’t have to pay legal fees until we win benefits for you. You don’t have to worry about paying legal fees or bills up front during a time when money is already tight because our fee is based on a percentage of the benefits we get.
Every disability case is unique since it has its own medical conditions, insurance provisions and reasons for being denied. The process may involve talking to the insurance company, going through their internal appeals process or suing them. Some cases are settled before going to court while others go to trial. Whatever happens with your case we will always fight for your rights and the benefits you paid for and earned.
You don’t have to go through the insurance company alone if your long term disability claim in Georgina has been denied or terminated. You can use the law to fight unfair denials and make them honour their promises. We’re here to help you get through this tough time and get the money you need.