If you have a disability claim for Lupus, then you need to know that group employer disability claims are subject to ERISA – Employee Retirement Income Security Act. There’s a claims process, and if you are denied, an appeals process. Here are some strategies to help you win your claim without having to appeal.
The first strategy you should follow is to visit your doctor regularly and explain your symptoms. Make sure your doctor knows what you are experiencing. Describe all of your symptoms to every doctor you are seeing. Don’t assume they know your details. Tell them explicitly so they will be likely to include the information in your records.
Second, tell your friends and family about your symptoms to make them understand why you are unable to work. They need to be able to tell someone else why you cannot hold down a job with your condition. They may have to do so later in your case in order to prove your claim.
Third, keep a regular journal in which you talk about your good days and your bad days, explaining how your condition affects your life and limits your ability to work a regular job. By keeping a journal, you will be able to explain weeks and months later why you were not able to work at a previous time.
There are phone apps that can help you to journal, and a spiral notebook also works fine for this purpose. Your medical records, the testimony of the people close to you, and your own detailed records of your experiences can go a long way toward winning your Lupus disability claim. Watch the video to learn more.
At Tucker Disability Law we handle these cases every day. If your disability claim has been denied, or if you have any additional questions, call Tucker Disability Law at (866) 282-5260 , or review our videos and media library for more information.
Video TranscriptThree strategies for winning your lupus disability insurance claim. I'm John Tucker. I'm a disability insurance attorney, and I represent people like you in group disability, insurance cases, all over the country from Florida to Alaska. Now a group disability insurance cases covered by a federal law called ERISA; the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. Insurance companies have to go through a claim process, and then an appeal process if they deny the claim. You can use some strategies to avoid having to appeal, to hopefully win your claim. When you first file it.
Number one, go to the doctor and tell them everything that's happening. Don't think your doctors know what's going on. Don't think when they put you on a six month or a one year schedule, that that's enough. You want to tell every doctor you're seeing every symptom of your lupus. You may go to a physician that you don't think has anything to do with lupus. Tell them anyway, and hopefully it makes its way into the medical records. What you want is a paper trail of all of your symptoms. Fatigue, skin problems, you name it, you want it all in the records.
Second, tell your friends and family. I understand that it's embarrassing to talk about your symptoms, and it's just not in us naturally to do that, but you have to talk to the people around you so they understand what it's like to be inside your skin, and they would be able to tell somebody else, if asked, why you can't work, why you couldn't hold down a job.
Finally, keep a journal, write down what you're doing, not necessarily every day, but on a regular basis, and talk about your bad days on your good days. You don't have to prove to an insurance company that you're disabled every day from doing anything. In other words; you don't have to be bedridden. You simply have to prove to them that one or two days a week, you would not be able to go to work and do the duties of a job. If you can keep a journal, weeks and months down the road, you'll be able to explain what was going on in the past, and why you couldn't have worked at that time. Keeping a journal, even if you used some kind of an app on your phone, or just a spiral notebook will help you prove your claim.
If your claim for lupus has been denied by a disability insurance company, call me. I help people like you every day. I'm John Tucker. Thanks for watching.
