Not all insurance companies offer long-term disability coverage. But those, who do, are usually unwilling to approve your benefit claims if these are based on bipolar disorder or depression. If you regularly visit a psychiatrist’s clinic, the professional’s statement will be a big support to strengthen your claim for disability benefits. Still, chances are high that your LTD carrier will deny your application and thus, compel you to plead your disability case on appeal.
In such a situation, your case becomes more critical than previously thought and makes it necessary for you to hire a Unum disability claims lawyer. He or she is the right person to take you through the appeal procedure and if required, helps you lodge a lawsuit against your insurance company.
Bipolar Disorder and Depression – Know the Symptoms
Depression: Clinically, depression is defined as a mood disorder. The most common symptoms of depression include isolation, agitation, sadness that interferes with the patient’s ability to lead a happy and healthy life. Often considered a serious mental disorder, depression manifests itself through a wide diversity of symptoms including crying spells, delusion, suicidal actions or thoughts and hallucination.
What triggers depression is still unknown but the mental disorder is believed to emanate from long-time stress, chronic pain, substance abuse and even genetic factors. Talk therapy alone or along with medication helps to treat the patients.
Bipolar Disorder: Bipolar disorder is also known as manic-depressive disorder. Those suffering from bipolar disorder experience deep-seated depression and bouts of mania in an alternate fashion. “Hypomanic” is a less severe form of bipolar disorder whereas “hypermanic” is a severe form that has varied symptoms such as, hyperactivity, racing thoughts, impulsive decision-making, irritability and sleeplessness.
Nervous and Mental Conditions – Know LTD Limitations
It has increasingly become a common practice for LTD insurers to put strict restrictions on payment for nervous and mental disorders to only two years. The provision is clearly mentioned in many LTD individual plans and all employer-funded group plans. However, an individual is allowed to buy a rider that will allow him or her to swap the term with a higher monthly premium.
LTD Claim Documentation for Bipolar or Mental Disorder
If you are suffering from depression or bipolar disorder, you need to undergo consistent treatment so that you get a chance to prevail on a claim for your mental condition. It’s important for you to ensure that your LTD carrier has all the medical reports that document your particular condition. Never trust your LTD carrier to solicit all the documents required to make a well-informed decision in your particular case.
In all probability, your LTD carrier will get in touch with your treating psychiatrist to have a fair idea about the nature and extent of functional limitations related to your condition. The insurer may not have thorough paperwork that you might have expected of them and may prepare something that won’t favour your claim. To solidify your claim, you should ensure that the record contains detailed findings from your physician about your treatment and vocational limitations caused by your illness.
Insurance companies usually rely on medical options and records to make a decision. However, submitting the third-parties’ statement – they may be supervisors or colleagues –about their observations of your difficulties at the workplace will help your case a lot.
