ERISA Experience You Can Rely On.

Attorneys Raquel Busani + Robert Rosati

Community Medical Centers’ Long Term Disability Benefits Through Lincoln, fka, Liberty

On Behalf of | Jul 22, 2020 | Long Term Disability Claim Denial

CMC Employees and Group Disability Benefit Requirements

CMC is insured by Lincoln Life Assurance Company of Boston, formerly known as Liberty Life Assurance Company of Boston. CMC’s long term disability policy with Lincoln requires a 365-day elimination period prior to becoming eligible for long term disability (“LTD”) benefits through Lincoln.

Long Term Disability Dos and Donts

It is imperative that you continue to see your treating physicians during the year-long elimination period because if you don’t have regular medical care and relevant medical records when Lincoln is reviewing your claim for LTD benefits, it will be denied with the reasoning that you did not receive appropriate medical care or that your condition is not severe enough to support disability based upon sporadic treatment.

Second, during the 365-day elimination period, you should be receiving California State Disability benefits. Your disability for SDI benefits must be certified by your doctors. Get and keep copies of those forms for submission to Lincoln when you apply for long term disability benefits. You have to show Lincoln that you were disabled throughout the 365-day elimination period and continue to be disabled. Your doctor’s certification to SDI that you were disabled is useful evidence – evidence which doctors often do not keep in their records. So, make sure you have copies of all such certifications.

Lincoln Often Denies LTD Claims on Application

We have seen a rapidly growing trend in which Lincoln denies claims at the application stage. Lincoln personnel use various reasons and tactics. It may be they are denying at the outset to see how many claims can be denied without a claimant appealing the denial. If the claimant does not appeal, Lincoln wins by saving all the money it would have had to pay out over the life of the claim.

ERISA Law Center Knows The Lincoln Policy

There has been such an uptick in the CMC/Lincoln denials recently that we have become very well versed in Lincoln’s use of ambiguous terms and reliance upon criteria imposed on a claimant that are not written in the policy itself. We have been successful in obtaining long term disability benefits for our clients on appeal and are willing to move forward to litigation, should your appeal be denied by Lincoln.

So, if you need help with a long term disability insurance claim to Lincoln based on a denial of your CMC group disability benefits, contact the ERISA Law Center.

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