Today I want to talk to you about what to do after you receive your final denial letter from a long-term disability insurance company. When I say final, what that means is when you file for long-term disability benefits, if you’re denied, you usually have a right to at least one, if not two, appeals. And if the appeal is denied, then the insurer will usually identify whether you have one more optional appeal, or if you’ve exhausted all of your appeals that you have directly with the insurance company. So what I’m talking about is if you’ve exhausted all of your appeals and you have no more appeal rights directly with the insurance company. That’s when you are deemed to have exhausted your administrative appeals. But that doesn’t mean that’s the end of the road for your claim.
What the insurer should also tell you is that you have the right to file a lawsuit under ERISA. That’s ERISA, short for the Employee Retirement and Income Securities Act of 1974. That usually applies to most group insurance plans. Although some claims may be subject to an individual plan under state law, most will fall under ERISA. If your claim falls under ERISA, then you have a right to file a lawsuit in federal court, directly against the insurance company handling your claim. We can assist our clients in enforcing their rights in federal court against the insurance company via a lawsuit.
So if you need assistance in filing a lawsuit against your insurance company for wrongfully denying your claim, then I encourage you to give us a call at (888) 321-8131. If you’d like some additional free information, I encourage you to download a free copy of an e-book that I wrote, called The Top 10 Mistakes That Will Destroy Your Long Term Disability Claim. You can also read my article on how to appeal your long term disability case to federal court.
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