Disability Insurance

If you have purchased Catastrophic Disability Insurance or Total Disability Insurance to cover your income if you cannot work, you may find that upon making a claim, your insurance carrier can utilize many different terms in the policies to deny your claim. Many times these policies can be marketed to you directly by the insurance company such as Penn Life or The Hartford, or by an insurance broker such as HealthExtras or many other insurance brokerage firms. In all cases, your disability insurance policy is underwritten, most likely by a large company like AIG, The Hartford, Federal Insurance, and many other large insurance companies.

Catastrophic Disability Policies
Recently, we have seen a number of claims denied for catastrophic disability polices. These polices are usually marketed via telemarketing or by mail inserts with your credit cards. You may have been offered a one million dollar (or $1.5 million in some cases) disability insurance policy for a low monthly premium or low yearly premium. What is unclear when these insurance policies are marketed to you is that the definition of total disability is extremely narrow and easy to deny. Some of the definitions we have seen in the past require a person to lose the use of both legs, both arms, or the use of one leg and one arm, or total sight in both eyes.

Even though legitimate claims are made every day, the insurance companies who write these polices pay a very small fraction of these claims. Some of the polices allow arbitration of the claim which can assist you in moving the claim through the court system quickly. However, many claims have to be litigated in either Federal or State Court. We have experience in all three of these legal venues and can help you if your Catastrophic Disability Insurance or Total Disability Insurance claim has been denied.

Long Term Income Disability Insurance
Long term and life time disability insurance can be marketed to you in many ways. In the same way catastrophic disability insurance polices are marketed, you may receive solicitations directly from an insurance company or from a broker. The offer may be that if you suffer an injury and cannot perform your job, you will be paid a specific amount per month for the remainder of your life. What is unclear at the outset of these marketing tactics is that there are several different definitions of disability.

Own Occupation Policies
Own Occupation Policies are expensive and cover you if you are disabled from a job that you are performing at the time you purchased the policy. These policies are usually marketed to professionals like surgeons and engineers, who, if they suffer a physical disability, can no longer perform their specific job duties.

Any Occupation Policies
An Any Occupation Policy claim can be complicated and tricky to collect from your insurance company. Many times the definition of disability in these policies state that if you can perform any job, even though you have suffered a disabling injury, you may not recover benefits.

At Hemmings & Stevens, P.L.L.C., we have litigated both of these types of policies and may be able to help you with your claim. You may call us for a free consultation and evaluation of your case. We represent individuals and families statewide in any city or county in the State of North Carolina.

For more information about our services, please contact us.