How Long Will I Have to Wait Before I Get My Long Term Disability Benefits?
Long Term Disability policy premiums depend on your age, gender, health history and your occupation.
An important factor is the policy elimination period. This is the length of time you go without getting benefits. Sometimes people choosing a ninety-day period of time to go without benefits at the onset of their disability. When the time is up, the Long Term Disability carrier will start paying your benefits. The longer your elimination period, the cheaper your premium. I’ve seen elimination periods as long as a year and I would not encourage that.
I would suggest a ninety-day elimination period.
You also get to choose how long you will get paid benefits. Most companies will let you chose benefits that last between two, five years to age 65, 67 or for the rest of your life. Quite frankly, it’s very difficult to find a policy these days that will pay a medical professional for the rest of their life and more commonly these disability policies will pay through the age 62 or 65.
Regardless of the price tag, remember you are insuring you and your ability to work. As the breadwinner you have the obligation to yourself and your family to provide them with support even in a time of your disability. If you have any questions about the Long Term Disability process, contact us today so we can get you on the right track in your claim. 727-894-3188.
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Did you know that long term disability policies do have clauses in the policy that provide that if you have been “over paid” benefits, you owe the money back. However, some courts hold that as a matter of law, the carrier can’t be entitled to reimbursement because of these “equitable relief”. Unfortunately, there is no uniformity in the law in the United States on this issue. If you are a long term disability policy holder whose being dumped by the long term disability carrier for an alleged over payment, you need the services of a long term disability overpayment attorney such as Nancy Cavey, who can explain to you that the law that is applicable in your case.
At Cavey and Barrett we have seen a disturbing trend where carriers, like CIGNA deny short term disability claims just prior to the policy holder becoming eligible for LTD benefits, why? Carriers, like CIGNA, will never pay long term disability benefits if the short term disability claim is denied. Unfortunately, if your long term disability lawyer files a long term disability claim, the courts will most likely dismiss the claim for “failure to exhaust”.
Many long term disability policies require that you apply for Social Security Disability benefits. They’ll even make recommendations for Social Security Disability representation. Hartford, for example, will refer you to a company Crowe Paradis for Social Security representation.
Your Long Term Disability policy might have a provision so that your disability benefits can be increased by a cost of living adjustment. However, fact remains that the rate of benefits can be hard to figure out simply because the Long Term Disability carrier doesn’t write the policy very clearly.
