The most critical element to your long-term disability claim is ensuring that you have a supportive physician. Physician support goes well beyond your doctor simply agreeing that your illness or injury limits you from working. Your doctor needs to tell your insurance company that your illness or injury prevents you from performing your occupation or from any occupation, if necessary. This includes, but is not limited to: 1) completing your attending physician statement thoughtfully and accurately; 2) willingness to write a supportive letter, known as a narrative, outlining your medical history and references to objective medical evidence, to the extent such evidence exists, explaining your symptoms and the resulting restrictions and limitations that prevent or limit you from fulfilling your occupational responsibilities; and 3) speaking with insurance company medical representatives only after consulting with you or your attorney.
Generally speaking, your physician should not speak to an insurance company physician by telephone. The medical doctors hired by insurance companies, often insurance company employees, are cunning interrogators, highly skilled at manipulating your physician into taking a position favorable to the insurance company and against you. Indeed, the medical doctors hired by insurance companies typically don’t practice medicine. Yes, insurance company doctors have medical degrees, but they are paper reviewers and telephone interviewers. These doctors are skilled at manipulating the medical evidence against you and are trained to garner admissions from unsuspecting treating physicians to help their insurance company employers deny your claim or severely limit it.
So, before filing a long-term disability claim, make sure that your doctor “has got your back.” You should feel free to discuss your contemplated disability with your physician and ask him or her whether they would be willing to advocate on your behalf as discussed above. If your physician shies away from this conversation or is equivocal in the support of your claim, it may be time to find an equally qualified physician who would be willing to treat you and advocate for you. Even if your doctor charges you for the additional paperwork the insurance company requires, whether that paperwork includes attending physician statements, letters in support of your claim, questionnaires submitted to them by the insurance company, or telephone calls with insurance company doctors, you will find that to be money well spent. Remember, without proper medical support, your disability claim may never get off the ground.
To better understand this process, feel free to contact us to discuss the proper medical support for your long-term disability claim.
Evan S. Schwartz
Founder of Schwartz, Conroy & Hack
833-824-5350
[email protected]
