If you have MetLife for your disability insurance, you need to be aware of these three alarming practices of their claims operations that can limit your ability to collect disability benefits.
First, many MetLife policies have limitations that prevent you from receiving more than one or two years of benefits. One of the ways they do this is through “Subjective Symptom Limitations” that exclude symptoms that can’t be evaluated by objective testing such as x-ray or MRI. This kind of limitation can limit your benefits to 12 or 24 months, with detrimental effects on your income going forward. Be aware of what is in your policy.
Second, MetLife uses in-house doctors or doctors from vendors that have an established relationship with their company. These doctors write their reports toward explaining why you are not disabled to prevent you from receiving benefits. MetLife’s use of these doctors is intended to make their denial of claims appear reasonable and fair.
To deal with these doctors, be sure your own doctors are fully aware of all of your symptoms and limitations. Don’t let your doctors speak with MetLife. Instead, withdraw authorization of MetLife to speak with your doctors and only allow MetLife’s questions to be sent in writing.
Third, be very careful on social media, as any information you put on social media is available to MetLife to review. As people tend to post a positive image of themselves on social media, this could have the effect of making it look like you are not disabled, and MetLife will use that against you. Social media is free surveillance for MetLife, and they’re looking for reasons to deny your claim. Lock down your privacy settings if you must be on social media.
Paying attention to these practices by MetLife and anticipating them can put you in a better position when you have a claim for disability benefits. Watch the video to learn more.
At Tucker Disability Law we handle these cases every day. If your 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 things you need to know about MetLife's disability claims operation. My name is John Tucker and I'm a disability insurance attorney. I represent people in group disability insurance cases that are filed through employer disability plans all over the country. You're probably watching this video because you have a claim or a loved one as a claim with MetLife, for disability benefits. I want to tell you some things about MetLife and the way they operate their disability claims based on their policies that are important for you to know, but they probably won't tell you.
First, a lot of MetLife policies have limitations that could hurt your chances of getting benefits for longer than one or two years. Many even have something called a subjective symptom limitation. That means if you have a disability from a condition that's only caused by subjective symptoms, not objective things that they can evaluate by testing or an X-Ray or an MRI, then you're only going to get paid for 12 or 24 months. You need to know this going into your disability claim because it will impact your income. It could mean that your benefits end after a couple of years.
Second, MetLife uses doctors that are in house or hired by vendors that they use all the time. These doctors know where their bread is buttered. And they're not writing reports saying everybody who files a claim with MetLife is disabled. Exactly the opposite. They're writing reports that explain why you're not disabled. They use these doctors to make it look like they're being completely reasonable and fair when they evaluate your claim. But what they're not telling you is these doctors are frequent flyers. They do it for them over and over and over. And their reports say the same thing all the time.
So how do you deal with that? Well, you need to make sure that your doctors are aware of all of the symptoms and limitations that you have. You also need to make sure that your doctors don't have authorization to speak to any doctor from MetLife. Withdraw those authorizations. Tell the MetLife adjuster you don't authorize anyone at MetLife to speak to your doctors and that any questions they have for your doctors be sent in writing.
Finally, beware of putting anything on social media, because MetLife is watching you. They're not only going to send out video surveillance sometimes, meaning a private investigator is going to follow you with a video camera. They're also going to hop online and do free surveillance. Information you give them on Facebook or Instagram or some other place where you're posting things on social media that make it look like you're able bodied, that you're doing well.
Most people don't put things about their disability on Twitter, but keep in mind, whatever you're putting out there in social media land, it's easy for them to find, and it can hurt you because it portrays you in a light that may be better than you really are. And in a disability claim, you need to make sure the insurance company knows what it's like to really live in your skin. Not that pretty picture that people put on social media, but what it's really like to be disabled, to deal with the symptoms, the side effects of medications, the limitations that you have every day.
If you have a MetLife disability claim and you have questions, or your claim has been denied and you need help with an appeal, call us at the number on your screen. I represent people like you all over the country and we can help you. I'm John Tucker. Thanks for watching.
