Reliance Standard Long-Term Disability Denied
Don’t Fight a Reliance Standard Long-Term Disability Denial on Your Own
When bad health interrupts your livelihood, it’s a financial lifesaver to have long-term disability insurance (LTD)—provided through companies like Reliance Standard—giving you income support when you can’t work.
Not everybody has this kind of insurance. But does it always work the way it should?
Not necessarily.
The insurance company can deny your benefits, or cut off benefits you already were receiving. Did Reliance Standard deny your long-term disability claim?
Reliance Standard is one of many insurance companies that the Michigan long-term disability lawyers at Levine Benjamin Law Firm see rejecting or dropping people in Michigan. Its corporate office is in Schaumburg, Illinois, but it’s part of a huge international company from Japan called Tokio Marine Group.
When Reliance Standard denies you, you can fight back. When you do, get support from an LTD lawyer.
If you try to appeal a denial on your own but don’t include all the proper evidence and arguments, it can backfire badly, hurting your chances of ever securing the financial relief and peace in your life that long-term disability coverage should provide.
Lawyers who know how this process works and what you need to do can often get a much better result.
To appeal a Reliance Standard long-term disability denial in Michigan, talk to an experienced Levine Benjamin disability lawyer.
Getting Your Maximum Benefits
Possible Reasons Your Long-Term Disability Was Denied By Reliance Standard
Any of these things can trip up your long-term disability insurance claim with Reliance Standard:
- You need to submit better medical evidence.
- The insurance company argues with you about what medical treatment you should be getting.
- Insurance says they don’t cover a particular medical condition.
- They terminate your benefits—often after about 24 months—because they say you now must meet a higher standard for what counts as a “disability.”
- An insurance adjuster simply makes a mistake.
- They spy on you looking for signs that you’re more physically strong than you say (yes, this can actually happen).
Under many long-term disability insurance policies, you can encounter an issue where the company will first say you qualify for benefits if your health problems prevent you from continuing in your “own” job.
But after a time period like two years, they’ll say in order to keep receiving benefits you must prove your medical impairments prevent you from doing “any” job that exists—a much harder standard to meet.
But an experienced long-term disability attorney knows how to counter this.
With an attorney’s help, you could reverse an initial denial, get existing benefits reinstated, or get a money settlement.
Sometimes insurance companies might deny you just hoping you’ll give up, which saves them money.
Don’t let them play with your security and well-being.
You can talk to a Levine Benjamin Michigan long-term disability lawyer, for free, to see what your options are.
Differences Between Long-Term Disability Insurance Plans
When health problems force you off of work, a few forms of disability support are available:
- Long-term disability insurance provided through your employer
- Long-term disability insurance that you bought individually
- Social Security Disability from the government
Employer-provided long-term disability insurance often falls under a federal law called ERISA—the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
Your Reliance Standard long-term disability insurance policy may well be governed by ERISA.
Generally speaking, ERISA policies are less expensive than individual policies. But the benefits you get are also less generous.
Under most ERISA plans, you’ll also be required to apply for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits from the government.
(When you get approved for SSDI, the private insurance company will want to deduct your Social Security amount from your LTD benefits.)
It’s typically harder, and takes longer, to get Social Security Disability benefits than long-term disability benefits. And the government benefits may pay less.
But SSDI also lasts for the long-term in most cases, while “long-term disability,” ironically, always tries to cut you off sooner.
Levine Benjamin disability lawyers can help you with both kinds of benefits.
And this is important: Don’t accept a Social Security Disability representative sent to you by your long-term disability insurance company.
They’re really just keeping an eye on you on behalf of the insurance company. Your own disability attorney puts your needs first.
Why Work with a Levine Benjamin Long-Term Disability Lawyer?
Levine Benjamin has a highly experienced disability attorney—with Social Security Disability, long-term disability and even specifically with Reliance Standard cases.
Don Busta has two decades of legal experience and has helped thousands of people in Michigan.
When you work with a lawyer, you should also know: You pay no attorney fee until you win benefits.
An attorney can help you get a better result and also make the process easier along the way, taking on all the work that goes into appealing a long-term disability denial, including:
- Reading and understanding the fine print of your insurance policy
- Taking care of the multiple forms you have to file
- Serving as your negotiator with the insurance company
- Helping you gather the most effective possible medical evidence
- Making sure you don’t miss anything in the process, such as deadlines for appealing denials
- Speeding up your benefits in some cases
- Filing a lawsuit if that’s what it takes to get what’s fair
Don Busta and the Levine Benjamin disability law team help people in Detroit, Warren, Oakland County, Flint, Saginaw, Lansing, Grand Rapids, Traverse City, and all of Michigan.
Don’t let Reliance Standard long-term disability insurance push you around. Get backup from Levine Benjamin, and when illness interferes with your life—preserve the lifestyle you worked hard to earn.