3 Important Things About Your Employer’s Group Long Term Disability Insurance – John V. Tucker

The three most important things you need to know about your employer's group long-term disability plan. I'm John Tucker. I'm a disability attorney and I represent people just like you all over the country in long-term disability cases. Most people don't realize that group long-term disability plans are different than private disability insurance policies and I want to tell you three things that you must know if you're going to make a claim under your group disability plan. First, group plans are covered by a federal law called ERISA. That stands for the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. ERISA is very different than state insurance law. One of the most significant differences is that you actually have to file an appeal if your claim is denied and that appeal goes right back to the same insurance company that just told you you weren't disabled. If you don't file that appeal and you have 180 days to do that, you're going to miss your right to ever file a lawsuit because your claim is going to die. Second, if you file an appeal, you have to make sure that all of the evidence you would ever want in your case is in that insurance company's claim file before the appeal is over. ERISA is very peculiar in that you have to have all of the evidence into the insurance company because a judge in a court will never consider any new evidence. You don't get the chance to testify in court in ERISA cases. Your doctors can't come to court. You can't send in new medical records. You can't hire experts to talk about why you can't work. It all has to be put together during your claim and your appeal. Third, and this ties into what I just told you, you need an experienced ERISA attorney to help you with your appeal. Doing it by yourself works very rarely. You probably don't know all of the legal documents, all of the legal argument, and the types of special evidence you need to prove your case to the insurance company or a court. If you leave something out, you're probably going to lose. Find an attorney that understands ERISA, that knows ERISA, and has handled more than one or two cases. If you need to file a disability insurance case under your employer's group plan, or you need to file an appeal, call me at the number on your screen. I handle cases like yours every day, and I'd be happy to talk with you about your claim. I'm John Tucker. Thanks for watching.