A letter from your personal doctor or physician that states you are disabled and unable to work will not guarantee that your long term disability (LTD) claim will be approved. However, depending on the form and substance of the letter, such a letter can greatly improve your chances of being approved.
In most LTD cases, generic letters from physicians will have little impact on the insurance company’s disability decision. This is due to the fact that doctors submit letters that are so short and lacking in detail in most cases that the letter’s value to a disability examiner is practically non-existent. For example, if all the doctor does is summarize your medical diagnoses and conclude that you are disabled and unable to work, then that letter will not assist the claims handler in understanding why you are unable to work. Unfortunately, this type of letter is the most common one we see from disinterested physicians.
So what makes a good letter? We know that a detailed statement from a doctor who is knowledgeable about a claimant’s medical problems can make all the difference as to whether or not a disability claimant is approved for disability benefits. A good statement goes beyond reciting the patient’s medical diagnoses and gives an opinion as to the patient’s resulting functional limitations.
This type of statement is called a “medical source statement” or “residual functional capacity” evaluation. These medical source statements help in the evaluation process because most insurance company claims adjusters are not medical professionals. They rely on the medical professionals to identify the claimant’s level of impairment; therefore, adjusters give weight to detailed opinions of medical professionals, particularly those who are directly involved in the claimant’s medical treatment. The claims examiner should accept a treating doctor’s medical source statement as true and accurate unless they have good reason to reject it (such as where the doctor has no credibility or is not a specialist familiar with the claimant’s particular illness or injury).
To help a long term disability case, the doctor’s medical source statement should be:
- Detailed;
- Objective; and
- Specifically assess the claimant’s physical capacity or mental capacity and the physical or mental limitations that result from the claimant’s medical condition and problems.
The statement should explain why the patient has certain limitations (for example, the patient cannot stoop because of a herniated disc in the back), and also be supported by the medical evidence on record in the claim (for example, include an X-ray or MRI showing degenerative discs). There is a form that accomplishes these goals, known as an RFC form. (RFC stands for residual functional capacity.) To learn more about RFC forms and to download a free RFC form you can give to your doctor, see our page on residual functional capacity in long term disability claims.