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How to Apply for Disability Benefits with Lincoln Financial - YouTube
Channel: Dell Disability Law
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[Music]
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hi I'm attorney Gregory Dell here with
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attorney Stephen Jessup and we're gonna
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talk about how to apply for long term
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disability or short term disability
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benefits with Lincoln although as I said
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that I'm thinking I commonly see mostly
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long term disability claims with Lincoln
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however we know that Lincoln Financial
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took over Liberty Mutual and we know
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that Liberty also soul
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sold a lot of short term disability
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policy so high likelihood that that
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Lincoln is handling a bunch of short
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term disability as well as long term but
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in this video I want to talk about the
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important things that people need to
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look out for and that they should know
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when applying for these benefits now
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obviously we helped hundreds of people
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apply for benefits with Lincoln and
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Liberty as well and we've and we've done
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that in the past more available to help
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but we're gonna give a road map as to
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what to do because it can be done on
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your own but I want people to be aware
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of the pitfalls because of the fact that
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I want you to get right into is what are
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the implications if you make one mistake
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that results in a denial one of the
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hardest things you know in a lincoln
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product or Foe is an old Liberty they're
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calling it Lincoln they're they're
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slightly different in there and the way
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that they're gonna go about handling
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certain aspects of your claim but the
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big thing on a denial especially if this
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is a true Lincoln policy is they have to
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mandatory levels of appeal so what that
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means ultimately is if you don't get
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your application right the first time
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and you have to go through two appeals
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with them they will have up to six
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months on those Appeals alone to conduct
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a review so not getting it right with
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Lincoln on the first go can mean you
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could be out without benefits for an
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extremely extended period of time and
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just getting awarded short term if you
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do doesn't necessarily mean the long
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term will get awarded so then you're
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you're you know could be well past the
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time long terms pain you got to make
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that application so with with Lincoln
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more so than a lot of the other
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companies you really want to make sure
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you get it right just from that timing
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standpoint and and remember that six
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months that you're talking about is
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after the elimination period and the
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elimination period is how long you have
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to wait before you're even eligible for
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benefits which is usually 90 or 180 days
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so if they deny you
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you have a six-month elimination period
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and it's gonna take six months to go
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through two Appeals you could be waiting
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a full year before you get benefits and
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there's unlikely even more likely mana
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and and that's if you win your appeal so
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it could be a long run so you want to do
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it right so first step in doing this
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thing in my opinion is you got to
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understand the policy language and
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specifically the definition of
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disability and why is that the first
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step in the process of applying for long
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term disability the first step the
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reason being is is that you need to know
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is your policy covering you from the
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inability to do your own job or they
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inability to do any occupation more
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often than not it's going to cover you
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for at least the first twenty four
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months if you're unable to do the duties
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of your own occupation with the caveat
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that all the Lincoln policies will have
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language that says your regular
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occupation is not how it's done for your
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employer or at the location that you
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work at it's how it's done in a global
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sense in the national economy so you
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want to understand how they're gonna
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look at you when it comes to disability
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and then the parameters of what your
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occupation is gonna mean and honestly I
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see this more and more with applications
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and it should be common sense or you
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would think it is make sure you're going
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to a doctor because a lot of conditions
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that people go out on work for they may
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need to go see a specialist
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and sometimes it can take a while to get
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in this you see this especially with
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mental health claims where people aren't
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actively getting treatment but they're
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having issues and they try to make an
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appointment with a doctor and by the
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time they're able to get in with that
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doctor they may have already filed so
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Lincoln's looking at it well we have no
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medical evidence so first and foremost I
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think it's really important that the
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medical is already established before
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you really consider going out on
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disability okay yeah I was gonna segue
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into when do you think is the best time
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to file for a claim and I want to give
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the caveat to people that are watching
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this video that we often consult with
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clients while they're still working
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because unless you get hit by a bus or
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have a cat you know or have a very
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serious medical diagnosis of something
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that you didn't know about yeah then
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then the likely it is you've been
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working with pain or discomfort through
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your job and that's how 95 percent of
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these claims are you didn't just wake up
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me like I can't work at all and if it
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does happen then that
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happen but let's go with the majority of
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the claims so with that being the case
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we've consulted you beforehand and said
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here's what needs to happen now if
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you're the type of person that wakes up
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and says I can't do this anymore and
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you've been suffering for six months and
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you have no medical treatment and then
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you call us up and say yeah I stopped
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working the other day I'm done working
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and I haven't been to a doctor yet but I
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know I've got really bad back problems
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and this and that what's the problem
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with that for that person the problem is
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gonna be is there's no medical
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information contemporaneous when they
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stopped working to support that they
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couldn't work because Lincoln is not
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going to take your word for it they're
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gonna see what the medicals say so the
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treatment aspect is so important and
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then even if you are treating and you
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know like you were saying you've been
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working with this issue for for months
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and months and months the argument back
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from Lincoln's can be what changed you
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know if you could do it before why can't
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you do it hit you both ways mhm and and
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and someone's watching us and hearing
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what we said well okay I'm thinking of
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filing I don't have maybe I haven't go
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to the doctor but how much is enough
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medical support how do you know well
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that's that's a really fine line that's
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that's a very good question I mean is
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one appointment gonna do it I mean I
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guess it depends on the on the medical
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condition but we'll talk in the idea of
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you know like a back pain problem issue
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like that something isn't a catastrophic
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diagnosis there that is a really good
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question and also you also want to build
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enough rapport with your doctor that
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your doctor is gonna be willing to fill
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out forms on your behalf is gonna be
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willing to speak to you know doctors
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from Lincoln to support you so there
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does need to be a relationship
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established with the doctor and then you
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know what that doctor is gonna be
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willing to say and what the doctor puts
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in the record so it's really hard to say
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how much is enough my experience is that
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the vast majority of the people that
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contact us don't want to stop working it
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doesn't make sense that you want to stop
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working because you're not replacing
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your income if it was dollar for dollar
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then everyone would have an incentive
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but disability rarely covers what you
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were making the most it pays is up to
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two thirds of what you were earning so
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you're already at a loss you know by
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getting on disability but the other
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thing I find is that people work through
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their ailments and then like you just
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said the insurance company punishes you
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for that because you say oh I you looks
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like you did it for six months or a year
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or you say your complaints go back a
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year and a half ago when you saw a
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doctor once and you haven't been back
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and then you end up going the doctor you
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know a year and a half later and then
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they say but you didn't really have any
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treatment so how bad could it have been
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so these are scenarios that you and I
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are just bringing up but that's where we
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coach the client to go through to
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document because we always say the case
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is only as good as it looks on paper and
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what that means is that when when the
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carrier in this case Lincoln Financial
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gets to claim they're gonna look at it
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and say they're gonna send the file out
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to their nurse or their in-house doctor
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and they're gonna get a medical review
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back they're not gonna talk to you
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likely they're not going to visit with
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the with the claimant at all and they're
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gonna base their review based on what
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they see in that file so when people
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call me I always say I need to make you
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look messed up on paper now that may
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sound offensive to you or may sound rude
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but the truth is that if you don't look
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messed up on paper then the likely it is
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your claim is not going to get approved
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so moving forward when we help the claim
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and apply how do we work with their
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doctor to get the records to the point
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where it needs to be so that they have
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appropriate medical support you know the
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big thing is going to be the
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documentation specific to your condition
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you know if there are certain tests that
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can be done to verify you know going
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along with an idea of pain conditions so
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you got radiating pain down into the leg
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do you have MRIs do you have EMG nerve
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conduction sighs do you have objective
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evidence the doctor can rely on to
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support restrictions and limitations are
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going to apply then it's also very
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important that the doctor is viewing it
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and understanding that for purposes of
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the disability this isn't about your
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ability to activities of daily living
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it's it's specifically to be in a
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workplace work with reasonable
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continuity and things like that
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something I always touch upon with
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clients too in an application process
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because doctors like you said
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understandably don't like dealing with
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insurance companies you know the you're
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more than likely almost probably 99% of
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all the Lincoln policies with a few
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exceptions are going to be governed by
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the federal law orissa
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and under that you know your doctor
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would never be deposed by a lawyer will
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never testify in court so a lot of
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doctors are worried that they make
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wrapped up in a long legal battle so
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it's also educating the doctors as to
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the fact that the only thing if it ever
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ends up in court that will be considered
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by a federal judges what that doctor put
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in records or what they wrote in
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statements so it's helping the doctor
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understand the purpose of what's what's
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what's happening in and making sure the
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complaints are being documented you know
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say you know patient has been saying for
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several months having issues at work
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I've recommended reduction and work
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maybe taking time off and that's where
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it comes in when you said with you know
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coaching a client into setting up for
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the disability because a lot of people
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also concerned you know my work is
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struggling I may not have been to the
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doctor as much as I should
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I'm afraid my employer may terminate me
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before I can even file a claim so there
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are so many moving parts that it can
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just be really good to get the peace of
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mind to have it set up in a way to make
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it presentable because you're right
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these people don't they don't want to
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stop working it's it's no financial
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incentive to of them so and we could go
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on you know we've just scratched the
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surface but the point is medical support
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is essential and how you work it and
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work and then we're gonna look at it
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from a perspective of not just one
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doctor but as many doctors as we
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possibly can get to support the claim
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and then you know the claimants also
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people don't like to complain but you
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need to go in and complain to the doctor
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because if it's not in your records it
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doesn't exist so that you know the the
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other very important step I would say
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step two is then you finally get to this
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point where you get these claim
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documents and you get you get these
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forms and these forms are very generic
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when I say they're generic why is that I
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think it's a problem and and how do you
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prepare your application so you can get
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away from the generic nature of the
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lincoln financial claim forms well the
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problem with those claim forms is
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realistically even though they will mess
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up also potentially provide claim forms
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related to mental health conditions so
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it's more specific to that but any
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physical medical condition it's the same
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form they're talking about you could be
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suffering from migraines they want to
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know how much you can lift how much you
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can sit things that aren't necessarily
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being impacted by the conditions so with
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these claim form some people feel that's
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important to squeeze it all in the
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little lines but we do addendums we do
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attachments to be able to elaborate and
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explain
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more but also not explain too much you
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know because remember they're gonna rely
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on all this stuff so it's providing the
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information in a in a concise way that's
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encompassing what's really going on so
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you know addendums to the policies I
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mean I'm sorry to the application
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documents are very important okay and
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one of the most important addendums that
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we always do that goes in line with
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understanding the definition of
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disability which we started this video
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out talking about is how the claimant
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describes their occupational duties why
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is that so important well because every
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insurance company Lincoln is no
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different is going to try to strip it
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down to the physical components of the
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job for instance we're lawyers
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Department of Labor says we have
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sedentary jobs
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Lincoln would pay lip service to some of
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the duties we have to do in a generic
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sense but they're always going to go
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back with you know sedentary and we
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think you have the physical ability to
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do sedentary work so you want to hit
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very early on the dialogue of what those
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actual occupational duties are because
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if all of us just had to sit for a while
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lift up to ten pounds to do our jobs
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work would be really easy so it's really
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focusing the dialogue and if you have a
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generic description from your employer
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they may even classify your job
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incorrectly under the national economy
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standards so it's really important to
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have that and documented in the file
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just also in the event is extra you know
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security in the event they do deny the
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claim that's deeply embedded in the file
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from the get-go and it could be
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something a judge would take into
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consideration later on all right and the
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other thing we'll do is you can think
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about getting things like support
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letters from your employer your boss
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your supervisor your co-workers family
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members and there's a strategic manner
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in which those should be drafted as well
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because the kareoke says like you said
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before well what was going on beforehand
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we can't tell from the medical records
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but it's helpful to have a peer review
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from those people I just mentioned to
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say yeah so-and-so was suffering so a
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difficulty with this because then they
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pull those employee reviews and
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employers often tend to write positive
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employee reviews that don't necessarily
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represent the weaknesses of the person
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may have and then they'll say well all
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of your employee reviews were consistent
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so there's so many different I mean like
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we're just throwing out scenarios
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there's hundreds of different angles to
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look at of all the scenarios that we've
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seen of how Lincoln financials gonna
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look at this claim that a person can
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make a mistake well I think it's almost
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in a way like you're you're basically in
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summary is they're not looking for ways
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to approve your claim they're looking
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for ways to deny your claim right and
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and then in terms of putting it all
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together at the end of the day you take
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all this information and how do you how
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important is it to determine the date of
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disability extremely important you want
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to make sure that it's coinciding with
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times and dates of treatment
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some people like we said they file for
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disability then they go see the doctor
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right so having you know a setup to the
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story of where the problems are in lying
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in it you know how do you approach the
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employer with it
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you know often with some of my clients
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will say well listen you're having
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issues and if you're concerned about
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your your job being on the line if you
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have vacation time or sick time put it
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in you know you they don't need to know
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why you're going out but if that first
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day you miss you can use that as a dated
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disability so strategically planning it
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in a way to not only protect you with
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your employer to make sure that they
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don't fire you and then you're without
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not without coverage but also just
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setting it up so there's a clear line as
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to why this is happening now because
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most people don't think to to do these
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things they think I'm gonna work and you
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know I can't do it anymore my insurance
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company's gonna do the right thing by me
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okay so I want to talk about like 20
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other issues that deal with the why
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because it's the foundation of
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everything that goes on and then we can
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make it so good in the beginning and
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eliminate all the problems from when the
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other people call us when they've been
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denied we can't recreate time but we can
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make we can create the record we can
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write the script per se and really
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present you in the light most favorable
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to support your claims so easy process
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to work with us especially at this stage
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the the easiest thing to do is give us a
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call or fill out our free consultation
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form we're gonna ask you to provide us
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with a copy of your disability insurance
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policy from Lincoln Financial we're
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gonna review that policy instead of free
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phone consultation with you which is no
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obligation whatsoever and right after
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that phone call based upon speaking with
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you and reviewing your policy we're
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going to lay
[933]
roadmap and let you know if we think we
[936]
can help you we're gonna let you know
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right away what we charge we often
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charge in these situations a small
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percentage of your monthly benefit which
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is a flat fee which clients really
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appreciate because they want to be
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locked in on a flat fee and not get
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stuck with thousands and thousands of
[951]
dollars of a bill one month that could
[952]
far exceed the monthly benefit so we
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like to work on a flat fee of something
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that's gonna continue into the future
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because of the fact that once you get
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approved Steve you know there's no
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guarantee this isn't like you gotta
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prove just like you applied for a pay
[964]
your premium know you got approved and
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they're gonna evaluate it month after
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month after month and we stick with you
[970]
throughout that process cuz we want you
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to continue to get paid for as long as
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you think you need this policy so we we
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represent claimants all over the country
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we've spoken a thousands of lincoln
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financial claimants all over the place
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and we've litigated against them all
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over so we're fully experienced in
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handling these cases everywhere
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we appreciate you considering our law
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firm and whether you speak to Steven or
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myself we're thankful for the
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opportunity to speak with you
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you
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