If you are filing a claim for long-term disability benefits, always follow your doctor’s instructions and review your disability policy. You may lose your disability benefits if it can be determined that you failed to follow prescribed treatments. Don’t let this happen to you.
Insurance companies like to use failure to follow prescribed treatment as a reason to deny or cancel disability benefits.
Beware – The Insurance Companies Will Expect You to Follow Their Prescribed Treatments
Read your policy carefully. It describes the requirements you have to meet to receive LTD benefits from your insurance company. The problem is, the language used is often complex and hard to understand. Every claimant must understand their disability insurance policy, and know what is expected of them.
Even if you follow your doctor’s orders, your insurance company may still say that by failing to comply with their policy, you have failed to follow prescribed treatments. For instance, the insurance company may tell you to submit to an independent medical exam or a functional capacity exam (FCE) with their examiners. Failure to do so may be considered a failure to follow a prescribed treatment.
They may also require that you be receiving “appropriate care” or “appropriate medical treatment” from a physician for your disabling condition. If you are no longer under the regular care of a physician, the insurance company may terminate benefits.
What Are Some Possible Reasons For Not Following A Prescribed Treatment?
What are some of the reasons for an individual choosing not to follow their doctor’s orders? In some cases, the patient may fear the serious side effects of a prescribed medication or treatment. Sometimes, the risks of treatment outweigh the rewards, and that can go either way. No insurance company or doctor can force you to undergo surgery or treatments that are medically dangerous.
In other cases, the individual may simply not have the financial resources to pay for expensive treatments or medical devices.
Was Your Claim For LTD Benefits Denied or Canceled Because You Didn’t Follow Your Doctor’s Orders?
M. Stanley Whitehead has been a leading long-term disability lawyer for over 27 years. He helps clients across the nation to obtain disability benefits. Even in cases where the claimant was alleged of having failed to follow their prescribed treatment, we can help.
At the law offices of M. Stanley Whitehead, we can’t begin to stress the importance of following your prescribed treatment to the success of your claim. However, there are always mitigating circumstances. If you lost your disability benefits because you didn’t follow prescribed treatment, contact us today to schedule a free consultation.
