10 More Legal Mistakes Professionals Make When
Filing a Claim for Disability (Mistake #9)

In an effort to provide professionals with more information about how the disability claims process works and identify some of the most common pitfalls for professionals filing disability claims, Comitz | Stanley attorneys Ed Comitz and Derek Funk have compiled an updated list of the 10 most common mistakes we are seeing physicians, dentists, and other professionals make when they file claims under the new post-2000 generation of disability policies (which are much more complex and stringent than the policies sold to professionals in the 1980s and 1990s).

In this post, we’ll be looking at the common mistake of not understanding how the care provision in your disability insurance policy impacts your disability claim.

Mistake #9: Allowing the Insurance Company to Dictate the Terms of Your Care

Many disability insurance policies now condition receipt of benefits on compliance with stringent care requirements. In contrast to older policies, which typically required an insured to obtain “regular care,” many newer policies require insureds to obtain care designed to achieve “maximum medical improvement.” While the older regular care requirements provided little leverage for insurance companies to require insureds to obtain specific treatments or procedures, these new requirements give them leverage to argue that an insured must undergo treatment that arguably could enable the insured to return to work. In some cases, the insurance company may go so far as to demand surgery, leaving the insured with the choice of undergoing an operation involuntarily and bearing all of the medical and financial risks himself or herself, or potentially giving up his or her right to collect benefits.

Action Step:  Contact an experienced disability insurance attorney to ensure your rights are protected if your insurer attempts to dictate the terms of your care.

To read the rest of the 10 most common mistakes, click here.

To learn more about some of the tactics insurers use to deny claims and other mistakes to avoid, click here.

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