Is your disability insurance claim with Liberty Mutual? If it is, then you should be aware that Liberty Mutual’s disability insurance company has been bought by Lincoln Financial, and that is likely to affect your claim, even if it is well-established.
It is typical for an insurance company that has purchased another company’s claims to increase claims investigation on the cases they are taking over. You can expect Lincoln Financial to take actions like sending you more forms, having their adjusters call you more often, or talking to doctors and vocational professionals toward figuring out ways not to pay you.
They may take many actions behind the scenes, out of your sight. They may try to contact your doctors or send a private investigator to follow you in person and/or online, reviewing your social media accounts. You can expect they will take steps to minimize the amount of money they have to pay out for the new claims they have purchased.
Fortunately, there are steps you can and should take to limit their ability to hurt your claim. If you must be active on social media, be very careful not to post anything that could be construed such that you are able to do more than your disability allows you to do. Also regularly review your settings to prevent others from tagging you in posts that could be so misconstrued.
Regularly document what is happening in your life and in regards to your disability. A simple way to do this is to keep a disability journal in a notebook where you consistently and specifically record how your disability affects your life. Record whenever you have a bad day. Sometimes people get distracted in life and forget to keep these records – especially if they have been disabled for a long time.
We have a client who had been cut off from his benefits after 13 years because the insurance company said he was no longer disabled. Understand that even if people investigating your claim might seem friendly they are paid to do the same to your claim if they can find a way. If you have notes saying what you were doing on a given day, you’ll be better able to explain your past actions when a private investigator suggests you are able to do more than you can.
Visit your doctor regularly and keep your doctor updated on what is happening in your life in regards to your disability and the difficulties you experience as a result. Instruct your doctor not to take calls from people from Lincoln Financial, instead requiring the questions to be sent in writing. Insurance companies take advantage of busy and distracted doctors to get information that they can present in an effort to harm your claim.
Tell your friends and family how your disability affects your life and prevents you from being able to work and hold down a job. Make sure they understand the specific details in your life and the conditions that prevent you from being able to work. Watch the video to learn more.
At Tucker Disability Law we handle these cases every day. If you have a claim with Liberty Mutual that is being taken over by Lincoln Financial, 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 TranscriptLiberty Mutual's disability insurance operation got bought by Lincoln Financial. What does that mean for you? I'm John Tucker. I'm a disability insurance attorney and I handle disability insurance cases all across the United States. I've handled cases for nearly 30 years involving Liberty Mutual or their subsidiary called Liberty Life. Recently though, they were bought by Lincoln Financial, another insurance company. So what does that mean for you? Because you're probably watching this video because you have a Liberty Life or a Liberty Mutual claim.
Every time we see one insurance company buy another insurance company's book of business, people get terminated. Now I'm not telling you that's what's definitely going to happen to you. But what I can tell you is that Lincoln is going to increase the claims investigation on those cases they took over from another insurance company. So when they took over those Liberty claims, you might see more forms. You might see adjusters calling you more. You might not see doctors behind the scenes looking at your claim, vocational people behind the scenes at Lincoln looking at your claim, trying to find ways not to pay you.
You also certainly won't see them tracking you on social media or on the internet to see if they can find anything about you that would let them say you're not disabled. Beware of that additional claim investigation, beware of a private investigator following you, even when you've been on claim for a long time. I have a client named Jim who was cut off after being on claim for 13 years. 13 years and they said, he's no longer disabled. Pay attention to what's going on in your life and know what's around you, but do a better job of documenting what's happening with your disability, particularly if you've been on claim for a long time, because people can get tired of that and they get lax in documenting those things. Go to the doctor regularly, tell your doctor what's going on, use examples of simple things in your life that you have a problem doing. Tell your friends and family what types of things are still causing you to be unable to hold down a job, to be unable to work and keep a disability journal. That can never hurt. If you keep a record, even if it's just a spiral notebook writing notes about when you're having a bad day, what's going on, some details that would allow you to remember what's going on. Because if Lincoln writes you a letter that says they had a private investigator follow you three months ago, you may not remember what happened that day, unless you made notes.
And then you'd be able to explain what was going on when they tell you we're going to cut you off because our private investigator says you can do more than you've told us you can do. If you have a problem with Lincoln investigating your claim or you just have questions about this takeover of the Liberty business, call us at the number on your screen. I'm John Tucker. Thanks for watching.
