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Without An Attorney, Your Long-Term Disability Claim May Not Work In Your Favor

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For the average person who has found themselves in a situation where they need to rely on long-term disability — fast action is essential. As a result, of this urgency, some people assume that the fastest route to the disability payments they need does not involve an attorney. However, the opposite is often the case. Learn how not having an attorney working with you on your disability claim can make it harder for you to recover compensation.

Slow Claim Processing

A fully legal, yet unfair and unethical process that insurance companies use to discourage long-term disability claimants is slow processing. In terms of the law, there is no set timeline by which a disability claim must be decided upon, and unfortunately, insurance companies use this loophole to stretch the claims processing process to the point where the claimant may be more likely to settle. 

Without an attorney, there is little a person can do to counteract this process. However, an attorney can identify this type of practice right away and will use their knowledge of the law to force the insurance company to move forward with your claim as quickly as possible.

Questionable Evidence Gathering 

When it comes to evidence concerning a long-term disability claim, it is important to understand that there are rules and guidelines when it comes to evidence. More specifically, these rules apply to how evidence can be collected. 

First, any evidence collected on the part of your employer must be shared with you. Second, an employer cannot use illegal means of evidence collection, such as surveillance, to use against you. Attorneys understand these rules and local laws and will use this knowledge to ensure that only legal evidence is used. 

Technical Denials

One of the most disheartening practices that insurance companies will sometimes use when a claimant is not represented is a series of technical denials. For example, the claimant will submit a disability application, and the insurance company will deny the claim because of a signature on the wrong line. 

The claimant then corrects the signature, but receives another technical denial, because their zip code is missing from the address line. One of the great things about working with an attorney is that he or she will review your application for errors before it is submitted to help you avoid this time-consuming practice.

If you have been injured on the job and need long-term disability, the importance of speaking with an attorney cannot be understated. Contact an attorney, like Iler and Iler, for a review of your claim as soon as possible. 


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