Senate Finance Committee Hearing Held to Discuss Abuses in Long-Term Disability Insurance Industry
On September 28, 2010, the United States Senate Finance Committee held a full committee hearing titled, “Do Private Long-Term Disability Policies Provide the Protection They Promise?” At the hearing, the Finance Committee and expert witnesses discussed the sometimes abusive practices of insurance companies when handling legitimate long-term disability claims.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., said LTD insurers use doctors with conflicts of interest to review claims. “Many of these doctors are employed either by the insurance company or by companies that do a lot of business with the insurance company,” Baucus said. “These arrangements make it far too easy for the doctors to deny claims, terminate claims, or reject appeals.”
It’s time for long-term disability insurance companies to clean up their act and treat people fairly. They have acted with impropriety for too long. We need to evaluate the laws that we have on the books and make sure that they are true to their original purpose – to protect people from abuse, and to guarantee that they can get the insurance funds to which they are entitled. Hard-working Americans with long-term disability insurance should not have to deal with corporate abuses if they suffer an injury that keeps them out of work. They are entitled to insurance payments. They should not face roadblock after roadblock to see that money, nor should they face unfair rescissions or payment terminations.
Baucus convened the hearing in response to recent media reports of unfair claim denials and terminations that threaten the livelihoods of those beneficiaries who are unable to work. Both Baucus and the expert witnesses cited instances of long procedural delays and the use of in-house doctors to avoid making claim payments.
Ronald Leebove, a rehabilitation counselor who appeared for the American Board of Forensic Counselors, Springfield, Mo., said private group long-term disability policies fail to provide the protection insurers promise. “There are many tricks and tactics used by the insurance companies to deny claims,” Leebove said.
Baucus stated his desire to work in conjunction with the Senate Commitee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions to move toward a solution that gives beneficiaries the fair process and justice they deserve.
Video of the hearing and transcripts of testimony are available at: http://finance.senate.gov/hearings/hearing/?id=1c1bd578-5056-a032-5237-4dd9283e52ed
