Many of our clients are dedicated individuals who, as general duty or advanced practice registered nurses, provide vital care to patients in hospitals, nursing homes, clinics and other health care facilities.
Disability insurance for nurses serves to replace significant lost income in the event a medical condition prevents him or her from fulfilling their role as a nurse. LPN, RN, and LVN and Nurse Practitioner are all physically and mentally demanding occupations.
After many years of nursing, various injuries arise that are common to the profession. Impairments include spine, neck and joint disorders, back pain, arthritis and stress. Depending on specific duties or specialization of a nurse’s vocation, disabilities may encompass serious disorders to hands, fingers and extremities.
Whether by injury or illness, if disability has forced you to stop working, you rely on your disability insurance policy to protect you financially.
Different Types of Disability Insurance for Nurses Make a Difference
Many practicing nurses receive disability coverage through an employer-sponsored group benefit plan. This might involve a clinic, doctor’s office or hospital, or professional association’s group disability insurance plan.
In most of these cases, strict, federal ERISA law governs any disputes that might arise in the disability claim. If your long term disability (LTD) claim has been denied, our attorneys will explain your options and how to best proceed to appeal the nurse disability insurance denial and win your rightful the benefits. Certain group plans may be exempt from ERISA, therefore it is important to have a disability lawyer examine your policy and your case.
Disability insurance for nurses is also purchased as private, or individual policies. Insured nurses pay costly premiums for these policies, in the confidence that LTD insurance benefits will be properly paid in the event of disabling illness or injury.
For a free legal consultation, call 800-562-9830
What Issues are Specific to Disability Insurance for Nurses?
Insurance carriers typically will examine the claimant’s job duties. They may collect vocational information from the employer, the nurse filing the claim, vocational experts, and databases like the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT).
The DOT considers LPN as skilled work, with a physical strength level of Medium. As a medium job, nursing requires the ability to stand all day, occasionally lifting up to 50 pounds and frequent lifting and carrying of up to 25 pounds.
While the sources for gathering vocational information are appropriate, an insurer’s use of the information might be slanted more towards a nurse disability insurance denial rather than approval. For example, because the nurse is considered to be someone who can do medium work, then he or she also can do light and sedentary work.
Depending on the wording written into the nurse’s insurance policy, a claims examiner may use the policy language as ammunition to deny benefits. Often there are subtle differences between the basic meaning of a word and the legal implication of the word. In a high-payout disability claim, there are tremendous legal issues involving the words own occupation, any occupation, and total disability and residual disability.
Our Attorneys Represent LPS, RNs, and LVNs in Nurse Disability Insurance Denials
When the insurance company won’t play fair, call us at 800-562-9830. The doctor disability claim denial lawyers of Marc Whitehead & Associations have significant experience assisting public health, industrial, private duty, and surgical nurses in their fight to obtain the disability insurance benefits they deserve.
Call or text 800-562-9830 or complete a Free Case Evaluation form
