What is a Recurring Disability Provision?
What happens if you try to go back to work after dealing with a disabling condition, and being on claim, and it just isn’t feasible? Do you have to start your claim all over again?
Under most individual disability insurance policies, you may not have to because of what is known as a recurring/recurrent disability provision. With these provisions, if you become disabled within a certain time frame (typically between six to twelve months) from the same condition, you can return to claim without having to satisfy a new elimination period. One example of how a “Recurring Disability” provision works is this one, from a MassMutual policy:
For Disability benefits with a Maximum Benefit Period to Age 65 of Lifetime, a Recurring Disability is a Related Disability that starts less than 12 months after a period of Disability ends.
This particular policy also has a second definition, which is not as common across the board:
It is also an unrelated Disability that starts less than 30 days after the insured returns to work full-time at least 30 hours per week. The work must be consistent with his/her education, training, and experience. We will treat the Recurring Disability as a continuation of the prior Disability.
As you can see, here, the new disability does not need to be related to the original one but must occur within a short window and a return to work must have been made. While recurring disability provisions across policies may serve the same purpose, they can vary regarding the conditions which must be met for them to apply. For this reason, it’s important to be familiar with your policy and know the ins and outs of any recurrent disability provisions, including how long you have to link periods of disability, whether the new disability has to be the same or clearly related to the original disability, whether a return to work is required (and what the specifications of this return must be).
It is also important to note that the proof of loss remains the same—you must have clear medical evidence of the disabling condition, be receiving ongoing care, and be able to demonstrate how your disabling condition prevents you from working.
If you were previously on claim and have become disabled again, an experienced disability insurance attorney can help navigate the process of reopening your claim. However, it is important to speak with a disability attorney as soon as possible to ensure that you do not lose the right to reopen the claim.
