Nov 16, 2022 - Disability Insurance by Seltzer & Associates
Many challenges face doctors applying for disability insurance benefits due to disabling conditions preventing them from working. From acknowledging the severity of their disabling conditions to staying on top of disability insurance claim paperwork, the application process can quickly become overwhelming. Add on managing medical treatment, adjusting to new limitations of their disabling condition, and coping with being unable to work, doctors facing disability have a lot to deal with, especially if they are facing multiple disabling diagnoses.
Fortunately, disability insurance benefits can help alleviate the financial burden of disabled doctors being out of work. Your disability insurance benefits are a contracted benefit to which you are entitled if you meet the policy requirements. Each disability insurance policy has its own requirements and evaluations to approve disability insurance benefits to insureds, and each claimant’s medical circumstances are unique, especially when suffering from multiple disabling conditions.
You do not need to sift through the disability insurance claim process alone. With all the other challenges you face while dealing with your disability, a disability insurance attorney can help you handle your claim for disability insurance benefits.
Seltzer & Associates has experience handling a variety of disability insurance benefits claims, including disabling physiological impairments, psychological impairments, and addiction. Often our clients suffer from multiple diagnoses, preventing them from continuing in their medical careers and engaging in complex medical practices. We fight for our clients’ rightful disability insurance benefits when the insurance companies miss the full picture and deny or terminate their benefits.
Is Your Disability Insurance Benefits Claim Impacted by Suffering Multiple Disabling Conditions?
The short answer is yes, but maybe not in the way you think. Multiple disabling diagnoses and the associated symptoms and limitations which prevent you from working in the medical field should all be documented for your disability insurance benefits claim. While this creates additional paperwork for your claim, it also provides a more comprehensive representation of the limitations that are preventing you from practicing medicine. Your disability insurance attorney can help you maintain your disability insurance claim record and protect your disability insurance benefits.
There may be an inclination to highlight or emphasize one disabling condition and its symptoms over others if it seems more severe. While this could help make a quick determination of disability, it may also create issues over the lifetime of your disability insurance claim as your health conditions change. The severity of limitations may change with treatment. You may have a different prognosis for each of your disabling conditions. You may recover from one condition, which on its own may eliminate your disability status, but if you have multiple conditions, those all need to be evaluated and the remaining conditions would still qualify you for disability insurance benefits. Your disability insurance attorney will not let your disability insurance company focus on only a portion of your overall health if it will negatively impact your disability insurance claim. It is important in these instances to make sure your insurance company has adequate evidence of your ongoing disabling conditions and the limitations preventing you from practicing medicine. If your insurance company erroneously terminates your disability insurance benefits due to the complexity of evaluating multiple disabilities, Seltzer & Associates can appeal your termination. Appeals can be complex, so working with an experienced disability insurance attorney is critical to your claim.
In addition, insurance companies are quick to deny or terminate disability insurance benefits for high-earning claimants, such as doctors and surgeons, in an effort to save costs on their bottom line. It is understandable that insurance companies want to watch out for their business profit, but they cannot do so at the expense of their insureds with eligible disability claims. Seltzer & Associates will make sure your disability insurance company sticks to the terms of your contract so you receive the disability benefits you deserve.
Seeking Treatment for Multiple Disabling Conditions
As you seek treatment for your multiple conditions, make sure each treating physician gets a full and accurate report from you on your symptoms. This not only allows your treating physicians to have an accurate picture of your overall well-being but allows their reports in your disability insurance claim to accurately portray your limitations. Your disability insurance company may even ask your treating physicians to complete paperwork and forms that will be used to evaluate your claim at the initial stages as well as during claim maintenance.
Your treating physicians may also work together to create a comprehensive treatment plan to enhance your chances of treatment success and limit interactions of medications or therapies that could disrupt treatment. For example, you may need to stop a certain medication for one ailment before a therapeutic surgery due to drug interactions with anesthesia or other risks. You would not want your disability insurance company to misinterpret a report or an order stopping medication to mean you no longer suffer a certain disabling condition when in fact it is necessary to further your treatment plan for another disabling condition.
Residual Disability Status with Multiple Disabling Conditions
Another consideration when dealing with multiple disabling conditions is that while you may experience recovery on some conditions or alleviation of some symptoms, you may still be suffering other conditions to an extent that leaves you in a partial or residual disability status. Residual disability means you can complete some but not all of your work duties. This could mean being able to perform some but not all of the material duties of your job or you can work a limited but not full schedule. These restrictions on your ability to work due to your disability still impact your ability to earn and your financial well-being, so residual disability insurance benefits are still necessary to bridge the gap in your income.
Let a Disability Insurance Attorney Handle Your Disability Insurance Benefits Claim
If you are dealing with multiple disabling conditions preventing you from working, you should let a disability insurance attorney handle your claim for disability insurance benefits. Contact Seltzer & Associates online or by calling 888-699-4222 to schedule your free consultation.