Nancy Cavey, a Pinellas and Hillsborough County long term disability attorney, often finds that medical records can be the key to getting your long term disability benefits. Unfortunately, many long term disability applicants fail to get a copy of their medical records before they file for long term disability benefits and that can be disastorous!

Nancy Cavey has four quick tips that you should remember in the long term disability claims application process:

1. Always remind your physician that you are applying for long term disability benefits and that they should provide the long term disability carrier with a copy of your medical records.
2. Remind your doctor however, that if the long term disability doctor or nurse calls asking questions about your claim, that you are not authorizing your physician to have any phone calls, but, rather, you want all correspondence to be in writing.
3. You want to make sure that your physician lets you know when they’ve been contacted by the long term disability carrier so that you can make sure that your physicians reports are accurate and fully reflect your symptoms and problems your are having with your ability to function.
4. Keep a journal about your condition and how it impacts your ability to function. That includes, bending, lifting, stooping and all the activities of daily living. Make sure that you keep a copy and give a copy to your doctor at every visit so that your medical records document how your medical condition impacts your daily functions and your inability to work.

If you have questions about the long term disability claims process, or your claim has been denied, contact Florida long term disability attorney claims denied attorney, Nancy Cavey , for a free consultation by calling us at 727-894-3188 or using the Contact page today.

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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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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.

Some will use a cost of living adjustment based on the consumer price index. Even more confusing, they will sometimes attempt attack the COLA based on a fixed amount like 4% or the most recently determined annual percentage increase and the consumer price index. Trying to calculate this can give you a headache! If your Long Term Disability policy has a cost of living adjustment in it and you don’t believe you’ve been paid properly, contact Long Term Disability COLA increase law firm Cavey and Barrett for assistance in determining the correct amount of benefits that you are due and owed. Use the form on the right side of this page to contact us.  Let us help you today.

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Video surveillance, under the right circumstances can provide an overwhelming reason for the Long Term Disability carrier to deny your Long Term Disability claim. It can also capture a mere snapshot in your life and fail to reveal the complete picture of your disability. Surveillance may show you at a family gathering but not show the resulting excruciating pain and misery you suffer.

If you claim that you have difficulties with walking, bending, carrying, and lifting, you are most certainly going to be the subject of surveillance.

Make sure that what you are recording on your Activities of Daily Living form is consistent with what you are telling your physician.

As I have emphasized in the past, if the Long Term Disability carrier calls to take your statement on the surveillance film on you, you should never give your statement without representation. If you suspect that you have been the subject of surveillance or the Long Term Disability carrier schedules a telephone conference or meeting with you, contact Long Term Disability benefits denied lawyer, Nancy Cavey.

Ms. Cavey, Florida’s Long Term Disability attorney has written the guide “Robbed of Your Peace of Mind” in order to help better prepare you for your Long Term Disability claims process. Be sure to get it today before you make a mistake that could caught on tape.

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I explain present value in several different ways. It can be considered that money today is worth more than the money we get tomorrow. In other words, if you get $10 today and invest it at a percentage for twenty years, it may yield $15.00, if you get $10 in fifteen years it’s still $10.00.

Would you prefer $10 today or $10 in fifteen years?

In evaluating Long Term Disability claims we will look at the total amount of benefits due over the life of the policy and then reduce it to present value. In other words, what is your policy worth today as opposed to over the life of your plan?

Another way to look at it is if you have won the $20 million jackpot and you want it now, you’d only get $6 million or you can get the entire $20 million by waiting and getting it over time. Present value is what that $20 million jackpot is worth today.

If you have questions about the value of your Long Term Disability case, contact ERISA disability attorney, Nancy Cavey, who handles ERISA Long Term Disability claims in the Southeastern United States including Florida, Georgia and Alabama.

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Long Term Disability carriers can’t shut their eyes to “readily available information when the evidence and record suggest that the information might confirm the beneficiary’s theory of entitlement.” In an interesting decision in Gaither v. ETNA, 394f3d792(10^th Circuit 2004), the claimant found Mr. Gaither, was accepted as being entitled to Long Term Disability benefits under the own occupation standards, in part because of the narcotics he was taking as a result of his spinal condition.

ETNA later took the position that he was not entitled to any further disability benefits and chose to ignore medical evidence that the claimant had to continue to use medication which had significant side effects, the court reserved the denial and in doing so pointed out that the administrator didn’t have to pour over a person’s medical records for a possible basis of disability that hasn’t been raised or consider what further evidence might be honorable to make a favorable decision. The court did say that Long Term Disability carrier’s can’t turn a blind eye to the information in the record, that the carrier has a duty to investigate information that confirm your period of entitlement for Long Term Disability benefits.

ETNA suggested that it acts like a judge in a Long Term Disability matter and the priorities bear the responsibility for compiling evidence to support the claim for Long Term Disability. ETNA also argued that they had “little or no responsibility to see qualification even when the evidence suggested the possibility of a legitimate claim,” the court rejected that argument.

If a Long Term Disability carrier like ETNA is handling your case in an adversarial manner, you need the assistance of a Long Term Disability attorney like Nancy Cavey, who helps Long Term Disability applicants or those Long Term Disability ERISA applicants who’s claim has been denied. Nancy Cavey has written a free no obligation consumer guide entitled, “Robbed of Your Peace of Mind.”

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Long Term Disability carriers routinely hire private investigators to conduct video surveillance of you. More often than not Nancy Cavey, St. Petersburg and Tampa disability insurance lawyer, often will see that the report that the video surveillance doesn’t match the actual footage taken or, in some cases is an actual work of fiction.

If your Long Term Disability claim has been denied as a result of surveillance, you need a Long Term Disability attorney. Nancy Cavey requests a copy of your Long Term Disability claim’s file, including the surveillance and the surveillance report.

Nancy Cavey, Long Term Disability denied expert, watches the video tape and makes the record of all the actual kinds activity and an activity log. There are many things that she sees in the surveillance film that is absolutely ignored by a Long Term Disability carrier.

It is not uncommon for the investigator to ignore what’s shown on the surveillance that actually supports your claim for disability.

Of course, the Long Term Disability claim’s adjuster rarely reviews the surveillance tape and relies on the summary for the claim’s denial.

Nancy Cavey has a strategy for dealing with this and handling Long Term Disability claims that have been denied. She:

1. Reviews the videotape,

2. Compares the videotape with the surveillance long,

3. Creates her own cumulative activity log,

4. If necessary, takes the surveillance tape to your treating physician to have them address what is seen in the videotape as compared to their reports and finding about your physical functioning,

5. Gets an affidavit from you and your family about what you were doing and the difficulties that you have on an ongoing basis,

6. As necessary, has the doctor and a vocational evaluator compare what is shown on the videotape, which when showing it is going to get to gasoline, going to the doctor’s office or running errands, and have that comment on how that activity does not translate into the ability to work.

Let’s face it, activities such as walking a dog, shopping, having lunch, running errands doesn’t mean that you can do that activity on a sustained basis or that that is the equivalent of work or in fact has any relationship to the material duties of your own occupation.

If you’ve been a star in a Long Term Disability horror flick, contact Long Term Disability Denied Lawyer, Nancy Cavey for assistance in filing your Long Term Disability claim.

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