Prove your disability: 1) motivate your doctor to articulate your limitations; 2) discuss your job duties with your doctor in detail; 3) compile every shred of information that supports your disability; and 4) build your own team of skilled professionals to develop your legal/medical case early on.
1
Motivate your doctor to clearly articulate your condition and your limitations under the disability definition set out in the policy.
It is extremely important to build a strong record of your disability while your claim for long-term disability benefits is at the first stages of administrative review by the insurance carrier. Your proof of disability will be blocked if you fail to build your proof early on.
Consider the person who has a disabling condition but can’t get his doctors to state it to the insurance company administrator in terms that are clear and concise. Unless your doctor comes right out and says that you are disabled; clearly identifies your symptoms; and, describes in detail how your condition prevents the performance of your material job duties -- my experience is that the administrator will always deny long-term disability benefits.
Even when your doctor has taken meticulous notes of your condition, symptoms, and treatment, it’s a hard lesson to learn that long-term disability carriers notoriously cherry-pick only the neutral evidence from the medical file.
2
Block your insurance company from cherry-picking evidence
To prevent the long-term disability insurance administrator from using the excuse that “your own doctor didn’t say that your condition prevented you from performing the material functions of your job,” it is often necessary to guide the doctor (diplomatically and pointedly) to render a thorough and concise opinion. Your doctor must specifically articulate the medical science of your condition, describe his or her personal observations of your performance, and then lay-out all of the interactions of the condition, symptoms, treatment, medications, and side effects, taken as a whole, so that the insurance plan administrator will have no choice but to grant long-term disability benefits. Under no circumstances should your doctor provide your disability carrier with an opinion without reviewing a written job description and discussing your former job duties with you.
Getting a skilled disability benefits lawyer in your corner early on in the process is key.
Comments - add comment