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2.5 Million American apply for Social Security disability benefits every year and it takes, on average a whopping 288 days, to get a decision on because of the backlog. The reality is that in the Tampa/St. Petersburg area the delay is almost 2 years.
What contributes to that delay? In an awesome article, the New York Times author, Mary Williams Walsch, exposed for the public what ERISA/LTD and Social Security lawyers and their clients deal with every day. The Social Security Disability system is being clogged by long term diablility carriers, such as UNUM, Cigna, Liberty, who require any policy holder claiming long term disability benefits to apply for Social Security. And when a policy holder is denied, the long term disability carriers insist the policy holder appeal and appeal again!
The typical long term disability policy requires a policy holder to apply for Social Security Disability benefits. This improves the disability carrier’s profit margin. If you refuse to apply, the long term disabiity carrier simply stops paying benefits until you apply or appeal. Sometimes, the long term disability carrier just reduces the long term disability payment by what you would have gotten in Social Security. This reduces the long term disability carrier’s reserves and smaller reserves means bigger profits for the long carrier. So they pay less and can use their premium dollars for investment.
It gets worse. If you do get Social Security benefits, the long term disability wants thier money back from you lump sum retroactive Social Security and reduce your monthly benefits! Then, many long term disability carriers have the gall to turn around after an award of Social Security benefits and tell their policy holder “They no longer qualify for LTD benefits.
Whistleblowers are claiming that since almost 18% of the long term disability applicants are ultimately denied Social Security, the long term disability carrier could screen those cases not likely to get Social security and not force their policy holder to apply and appeal.
Unloading unqualified Social Security applicants on the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) doorstep is fraudulent and a waste of American tax dollars. Please read www.nytimes.com/2008/04/01/business/01disabled.
UNUM was recently convicted of falsely requiring UNUM long term disability policy holders collecting long term disability to apply for Social Security.
If you have any questions about UNUM or your rights to long term disability benefits, call Nancy Cavey Tampa Bay Florida Long Term Disability Insurance lawyer. She can be reached at 727-477-3263.
