Long-Term Disability Coverage
No one can predict when they will suffer a devastating injury or serious medical condition that could keep them out of work for over a year. Long-term disability insurance pays you a percentage of your salary you would have earned if you would have worked as normal.
If you have been making monthly payments for your long-term disability insurance, you expect your insurance company to respect your claim. Unfortunately, many companies act in bad faith. This could greatly impact your life so get a professional legal representative to help you today.
Long Term Disability Lawyer Houston Texas
Disability insurance provides financial security to people unable to work by awarding them periodic payments that compensate a portion of their usual salary. Studies show that one in four workers will be unable to work at some point in their lives, usually due to illness, physical impairment, or mental diagnoses. For this reason, many people purchase disability insurance under the good faith belief that they will stay afloat financially should unfavorable health conditions arise. It can be devastating when insurance companies deny a disability insurance claim or use deceptive tactics to delay benefits without a reasonable basis. Insurance companies have a history of taking advantage of a disabled worker’s vulnerable position by employing deceitful tactics to avoid paying a fair claim.
Types of Bad Faith Disability Insurance Practices
Disability insurance policies are often riddled with complicated and ambiguous language intended to confuse the policy holder when they try to argue their denied claim. There are many other ways a disability insurer can employ bad faith tactics, including:
- Using their own doctor to invalidate assessments your doctor made
- Insisting your medical condition was pre-existing
- Denying your medical records
- Failing to disclose a policy holder’s benefits
- Providing partial payments rather than full payments
- Not investigating the claim in a timely manner
- Deliberate misrepresentation of included coverage to avoid paying claims
- Abusive or intimidating conduct
Disability insurers have a legal and ethical duty to handle claims with fairness and integrity. Many people depend on disability insurance as their only source of income in light of their inability to work. As such, insurers who wrongly deny claims without a reasonable basis should be held accountable.
Houston Short-Term & Long-Term Disability Insurance Claims
While less common than home, property, or life insurance, disability coverage enables you and your family to meet its everyday needs such as your mortgage, car, groceries, and even savings in a situation when your income suddenly disappears. It’s been referred to by some as “paycheck protection.”
If you’ve had to make a disability claim, and your insurance company has delayed, denied, or underpaid your claim, you’re no doubt dealing with extreme financial and emotional stress. Our Houston disability insurance claim lawyers can help you fight your insurance company by personally evaluating your medical records, determining the proper course of action with your doctors, preparing and filing the appeal of the insurance company’s claims decision, and if this isn’t successful, filing a lawsuit on your behalf against the insurance carrier.
ERISA Law
The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) sets forth the rules for administering retirement and benefit plans, as well as certain “welfare benefit plans,” which refer to benefits such as healthcare or long-term disability. ERISA covers employee pension benefit plans, including retirement and 401(k) plans, which provide retirement income to plan participants. Death and long-term disability benefits are generally received as employee benefits pursuant to ERISA plans. To determine whether your disability claim is subject to ERISA’s rules, you should identify who purchased the insurance coverage. When the claimant’s employer purchases the insurance, your claim will generally be governed by ERISA. If an employer does provide benefits, they must follow the rules set by ERISA, including creating written plan documents and then filing a description of the plan, and annual reports, with the Department of Labor.
Read More: ERISA Claims
Contact a Disability Insurance Lawyer in Houston
Disability insurance is meant to provide assistance during a disabled worker’s time of need. Wrongful denial of a claim or use of deceptive tactics to avoid paying a claim can significantly hinder the healing process for a worker who is out of a job. If you are experiencing bad faith tactics from a disability insurer, our Houston disability insurance attorneys at Grisham & Kendall, PLLC may be able to help you receive the benefits you deserve. Call our Houston office at (713) 999-5085 to discuss the details of your case.
See also:
Texas Long Term Disability Attorneys
Long Term Disability Attorney Dallas
