Long-Term Disability
Lawyers in Wisconsin
Get What’s Fair from Your Long-Term Disability Insurance
The whole point of having long-term disability insurance is to hold on to economic security when your health takes a downturn and you have to step away from your career.
You or your employer paid the premiums. When you need the coverage but the insurance company rejects you, you can push back to get what’s fair.
The Wisconsin long-term disability lawyers at the Becker Law Office and Hawks Quindel know how to handle long-term disability insurance companies on your behalf. You can get us to protect your rights and financial future—and usually you don’t pay an attorney fee until you succeed.
You could have one of two types of long-term disability insurance:
- An ERISA Plan: This is long-term disability you get from a job. It’s generally the less expensive type but may also be stricter in approving claims and less generous in the amount of money you receive. It’s named for the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act, which sets the rules for these policies.
- An Individual Plan: If you bought long-term disability insurance on your own, the premiums are probably higher but the coverage may also be greater.
Bring your long-term disability denial to our lawyers, so we can make sure the insurance company doesn’t get away with shortchanging you for its own benefit. We’ve helped thousands of people in Wisconsin.
Job-Based ERISA Plans for Long-Term Disability & Protecting Your Rights
You built a career and life. A major health disruption threatens everything. Long-term disability insurance can preserve the lifestyle you’ve known . . .
. . . if the insurance company lives up to its responsibilities.
Here are some facts about ERISA-governed plans:
- The payments are typically between 50% and 75% of your salary when you could work. Individual plans can pay more, but also cost more.
- With an ERISA plan, it can be a challenge to get the insurance company to agree that your medical situation means you’re unable to work.
Your ability to work must be impacted by a medical condition to win a long-term disability claim. But insurance policies have different definitions of how long is “long-term.” And insurance companies define being unable to work in different ways:
- The “Own Job” Standard awards benefits as long as your health stops you from doing the same job you had to leave.
- The “Any Job” Standard requires you to prove you couldn’t switch to any other job in existence and resume working.
ERISA plans lean more heavily on the tougher “any job” rule, sometimes granting benefits for a period of time but then saying you can’t continue receiving help unless you show you can’t do any job at all.
This is an entire, special area of law and business. If you’re not a professional in this kind of insurance yourself, you can’t be expected to know all the ins and outs.
Let the professionals at Becker Law and Hawks Quindel step in. Our disability lawyers devote their practice to helping workers who face injuries, mistreatment in the workplace and health impairments.
You also can talk to us about getting Social Security Disability benefits—the government-run counterpart to long-term disability.
An introductory conversation with our disability law team is free of charge.
How to Fight a Denial of Long-Term Disability Benefits, with Help from a Lawyer
You could be denied long-term disability insurance from the start. Or you could receive benefits for a while, then get a premature termination of benefits.
You don’t have to accept this. Insurance companies sometimes serve their own bottom lines before your best interests. A skilled long-term disability attorney can find the ways they fail to live up to their agreements, and get it fixed.
The first step is filing an administrative appeal to the insurance company. Then you could file a lawsuit if that’s what it takes to make them respond.
Keep this in mind when appealing a long-term disability benefits denial:
- Just writing a letter stating that you appeal isn’t going to be enough to get the insurance company to overturn its decision.
- Keep an eye on the calendar. Don’t let the insurance company drag out their process of reviewing your appeal until it’s too late to sue.
- Watch out for deadlines the insurance company gives you, saying that you accept their decisions if you don’t respond by certain times.
- Be careful about what’s in any settlement offer they make, and how it may limit your future options.
- Work with a lawyer who can spot and steer you away from these pitfalls.
- Work with a lawyer who takes care of gathering the evidence and documentation you need.
Get in touch with our long-term disability lawyers in Wisconsin.
It’s a shame when insurance providers make it a hassle to use a financial cushion you’ve already paid for.
You should be treated better, and be able to rest more securely. Becker Law and Hawks Quindel can get you there.