Disability Benefits

Surveillance, social media investigations, and tactics insurance companies use to deny disability insurance claims

by Mark Debofsky | May 15, 2017 | Disability Benefits

Insurance companies often hire private investigators to find ways to deny or discontinue payment of disability insurance benefits. The tactics that big business uses to develop evidence seems to expand as technology changes. For years, insurance companies have sent investigators to conduct undercover surveillance stake outs, hoping to secure video evidence that a claimant is not really disabled, […]

Georgia disability case gives weight to functional capacity evaluations

by Mark Debofsky | Apr 13, 2017 | Disability Benefits

The value of functional capacity evaluations in establishing entitlement to disability benefits was made evident by Madison v. Greater Georgia Life Insurance Co., 2016 WL 8648862 (N.D. Ga. Dec. 21, 2016), a recent federal court decision from Georgia. The case involved Ricky Madison, a transport driver for an oil company who applied for disability benefits […]

More adults under the age of 55 are experiencing disabling strokes

by Mark Debofsky | Mar 24, 2017 | Disability Benefits

New research indicates that the rate of people experiencing a stroke prior to the age of 55 has increased in recent years. The average age of people experiencing a first-time stroke has dropped by nearly 2.5 years between 2000 and 2012. The study indicates that while the overall stroke rate in the U.S. has decreased, […]

Question of disability for pharmacist on narcotics doesn’t halt insurer

by Mark Debofsky | Mar 15, 2017 | Disability Benefits, Pain and Disability

There are some medical conditions that produce such severe pain that only narcotic medication can relieve the distress. In such situations, a question has arisen in several disability insurance cases as to whether taking narcotic pain medication is disabling in and of itself if either licensure issues or strict corporate policies prohibit an employee from […]

New wine in an old bottle: the Department of Labor’s revised regulations applicable to disability benefit claims

by Mark Debofsky | Mar 3, 2017 | Disability Benefits

Shortly before the new year began, the Employee Benefits Security Administration of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) published final regulations on December 19, 2016, relating to disability benefit claims governed by ERISA: “Claims Procedure for Plans Providing Disability Benefits.” The regulations are effective January 18, 2017, and generally applicable to claims for disability benefits […]

Can a disability insurer rely on a treating doctor’s outlier opinion?

by Mark Debofsky | Feb 25, 2017 | Disability Benefits, ERISA

The recent ruling in Broderick v. Hartford Life and Acc. Ins. Co., 2017 WL 652451 (D. Minn. February 16, 2017) presents an interesting challenge – if a doctor gives an opinion that his patient can work which contradicts the doctor’s treatment notes and other contemporaneous statements, would that be a sufficient basis to deny benefits?