Many disability claimants struggle with multiple impairments. And just as your LTD claim must link your health issues to your inability to work, it must also connect those various impairments to depict the totality of your disabling condition.
Listing multiple impairments can actually give insurers an opening to deny benefits. During their review of a long term disability claim, insurers often ignore, dismiss or intentionally isolate multiple medical conditions. They realize that, if all the health issues are considered as a whole, a reasonable review would find that claimant to be disabled.
But if considered separately and apart, one medical problem on its own may not be found severe enough to be disabling. So they find ways to separate the issues and dilute the effectiveness of an otherwise valid claim.
Separating multiple impairments is one of the most routine denial tactics we encounter as disability attorneys. Disability is not always the result of one single injury or illness. Instead, a combination of conditions usually limits a person’s ability to work.
One health issue aggravates or leads to another. Associated fatigue, chronic pain, depression, and medication side effects can further intensify a person’s inability to function.
Isolating impairments hide the fact that you are disabled.
As our video explains, your insurance company may dole out pieces of your records to different medical specialists, so that they each review isolated impairments without having the full story. Insurers “justify” their actions under the guise that each condition thereby receives a more qualified review.
The review process becomes flawed when the doctors do not have your entire claim file before them, but instead only a fragment. All they see is one problem that, by itself, does not qualify for disability benefits. You may end up with 3 different doctors saying although you may not feel well, you can still go to work and earn a living.
What can you do when the insurance company denies your claim, because they choose to ignore the big picture?
For a free legal consultation, call 800-562-9830
Don’t let the insurer hide multiple impairments. Appeal the denial.
An experienced disability lawyer knows this is going on, and will take the right measures to refute this inappropriate handling of your claim.
Such appeals must be crafted with skill and clarity. We want to center your claim on the specific cause of your inability to work, while accurately connecting all relevant impairments to support your overall medical condition.
If your claim has been denied, contact our disability attorneys without delay. We can help you appeal the denial in a way that informs the insurance company that they cannot manipulate you out of your rightful benefits.
Whether your disability policy is regulated under ERISA disability laws (for group disability insurance plans) or you are appealing a private disability claim, we will guide you through the appeals process.
Our team will enlist the full support of your doctors to develop the appeal of your case. We frame the appeal with detailed records of relevant multiple impairments, your treatment, symptoms and functional limitations as a whole, with additional assessments to support your claim when needed.
Fight Back through the Appeals Process
The administrative appeal must be a complete narrative of your condition that explains the totality of what you face. Allow our attorneys to present it in the best possible way, developed with the evidence vital to proving disability on appeal or in litigation.
If you have been denied benefits, ask us about your ERISA claim today. There is no cost or obligation.
Call or text 800-562-9830 or complete a Free Case Evaluation form
