Feb 14, 2025 - Disability Insurance by Seltzer & Associates
When you file a claim with your car insurance company or health insurance provider, the process is pretty straightforward, and usually, you don’t need legal assistance to get the benefits you’re entitled to receive under your policy.
Long-term disability insurance is different. The benefits are much more substantial, and insurance companies often deny or undervalue claims. At a time when you are unable to work and most in need of resources to rebuild your life, insurance companies delay or deny your benefits.
At Seltzer & Associates, we’ve seen this problem first-hand over and over through the years. We have dedicated our legal practice to helping professionals get the monetary benefits they need and deserve when a disability prevents them from practicing their chosen occupations. We understand how insurance companies work, the tactics they use to avoid or undervalue claims, and how to succeed in gaining full and fair benefits for our clients. So, speaking from experience, here are a few of the many reasons why it makes sense to work with a disability insurance attorney when you are seeking to obtain benefits through your provided disability insurance policy.
Reason #1: We Speak Insurance
Every profession has its own specialized language, including terms of art that have a specific meaning particular to the industry. Attorneys, accountants, physicians, and other professionals in the medical field use terms that those they work with understand closely. However, those terms may be unknown or misunderstood outside of the profession.
The language of insurance is just as (if not more) fraught with terms of art and other phrases with specialized meanings. That’s not surprising when you consider how frequently insurance companies work with both the legal and medical fields, but the insurance industry has taken the practice to a whole new level.
The result is that reading and understanding an insurance policy requires a fluency with the language that is difficult to obtain unless you have immersed yourself in it for a considerable period of time. Attorneys who focus their practice on obtaining private disability insurance benefits not only understand the insurance industry language in general but also the particular terms used with respect to that type of insurance.
Reason #2: We Help Claimants Avoid Common Pitfalls
Insurance companies make more money when they pay as few claims as possible for the smallest amounts possible. They have established numerous rules and procedural requirements that operate to prevent policyholders from receiving the maximum amount of benefits payable under their policies.
Skilled disability insurance attorneys know how to avoid problems that frequently occur with the claims process and how to ensure that all deadlines are met to prevent claims from being unnecessarily delayed or denied.
Reason #3: We Know How to Collect and Present the Right Evidence
Disability claims are often denied because policyholders don’t present the evidence necessary to demonstrate that they qualify for benefits, or they present evidence without making the causal connections necessary to establish eligibility. Even if the insurance company says that they will contact your doctor to get records, remember that they are not working for you but for their shareholders. You need to ensure that the right evidence gets submitted along with your claim. Unless you are experienced with long-term disability insurance claims, you may not even know exactly what evidence you need.
An experienced disability insurance attorney will know the right evidence to support your claim and how to present that evidence the most persuasively. For instance, your attorney may realize that it will be necessary to seek out a vocational expert to testify about the specific ways your disabling condition prevents you from performing in your profession or other occupations.
Reason #4: We Can Help Right from the Start
While you’re struggling to rebuild your life after suffering from an accident or illness that has resulted in a disabling condition, you need to focus on yourself and your family. This is not the time to be learning about the insurance industry and digging through records to build an evidentiary chain. At this critical time in your life, you can rely on a disability insurance attorney to handle the claims process for you right from the beginning until you receive the benefits that you are owed under your policy.
Rather than spending your precious time trying to figure out your policy coverage and the claims process or waiting until your claim is denied to seek assistance, it makes the most sense to take advantage of the advice and representation an experienced disability insurance attorney can provide right from the start.
Reason #5: We Understand Your Challenges
When you work with a legal team that has years of focused experience and a mission to help professionals gain the money they need through private disability insurance claims, you gain an ally who understands your needs without judgment. At Seltzer & Associates, we know the pressure executives and other professionals are under and the damage caused by constant stress.
We know that no matter how simple your job may look to others, there are complex factors involved that require physical, mental, and emotional abilities that you may not be able to count on at the present time. This is why you purchased disability insurance—for just such a time as this. We know what you are up against in your personal life and professional career, as well as understanding the challenges you face in filing your insurance claim. When you need guidance, assistance, and support, we are here for you.
Reason #6: We Know the Most Efficient Ways to Get Results
While it’s not accurate to say that a disability insurance attorney will have “shortcuts” to get disability benefits for clients, attorneys who work with these policies on a daily basis know the most efficient means of achieving the optimum outcome, depending on the situation. Whether it involves obtaining evidence from an expert, pursuing appeals through administrative channels, or filing a lawsuit, an attorney with the right experience can assess the situation and embark on a course of action designed to help you get benefits without unnecessary delays.
When you are unable to work and need resources to move forward with your life and your recovery, it is tremendously helpful to have the guidance and representation of an attorney who knows how to work effectively to get your disability benefits.
Learn More About the Assistance a Disability Insurance Attorney Can Provide
To recover and rebuild your life after suffering a disability, you need time to focus on yourself. Worrying about how you’re going to pay bills is going to hinder that recovery. But the team at Seltzer & Associates can help remove some of that burden. We can handle your disability claim to get you the resources you are entitled to under your disability insurance policy, cutting through red tape, bad faith actions, ERISA regulations, and other issues to ensure that the insurance company honors its obligations.
If you’re suffering from a physical or mental disability and have questions about your insurance policy or are ready to get assistance with the claims process, we invite you to schedule a complimentary, confidential consultation with our experienced legal team. Just call 888-699-4222 or contact us online to get started.