Degenerative joint disease goes by many names…the “wear and tear” arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis (RA), hip dysplasia and others. It occurs when the cartilage in a joint begins to break down and most often affects the hands, hips, neck, lower back and knees.
As you well know, treatment can help, but this condition can’t be cured.
The loss of flexibility, stiffness, limited movement, pain and swelling within the joint is debilitating and can severely impact your ability to work.
That said, if you:
- Are being treated by doctors
- Have been medically diagnosed for degenerative joint disease
- Can prove to an attending physician that your condition prevents you from working…
You may qualify for long-term disability benefits.
However, beware the traps that insurance companies set up for attending physicians. I discuss how they’ve rigged the system further in this article – and how we get around that.
Remember that just because you have degenerative joint disease does not assure that you get long-term disability benefits. Proving you cannot work, can.
We can review your long-term benefits policy or program to ensure you meet the criteria.
Your best chance at getting the long-term disability benefits you need includes pulling together the strongest evidence of how degenerative joint disease has affected your ability to work. That’s why it’s important to carefully review the requirements of your specific long-term disability policy or program to ensure you meet all the necessary criteria.
Tucker Disability Law, there are 4 strategies we use to help win your degenerative joint disease disability insurance claim. They are:
Tucker Disability Law, there are 4 strategies we use to help win your degenerative joint disease disability insurance claim. They are:
- Keep a daily journal to detail what you are feeling and how and when you are limited. This is the best way to give your physician specific instances of how your degenerative joint condition prevents you from being able to work and perform even the most routine tasks.
We’ve developed a journal that helps you provide details about the severity and duration of your degenerative joint symptoms and any limitations or restrictions it imposes on your ability to perform your job. The more you document, the greater your chance of qualifying. Click here or use the yellow box to the right to get my proven-to-work Capability Journal now.
- Make sure to see your rheumatologist and primary care doctor on a regular basis. Up-to-date medical documentation and evidence supporting your degenerative joint condition are vital to support your claim for long-term disability due to degenerative joint.
Your rheumatologist and primary care doctor need to know how your degenerative joint symptoms affect your everyday life, how they may change from time to time, and any side effects of your treatments and medications.
My Capability Journal will help your doctor understand your physical and mental limitations. Start journaling today.
- Let your family and friends know about your condition and its symptoms to understand why you can’t work.
Since insurance companies often ask those close to you about your symptoms and how they affect you, it’s a good idea to loop them in on your condition.
These same people can be the best witnesses in a disability claim. Give your friends and family copies of my journal, and ask them to journal your limitations.
- Attending Physician Statement Form: A must-have to qualify for long-term benefits for degenerative joint disease is getting a doctor to fill out and sign your disability form. But here is where the insurance companies Manipulate the system and tilt the playing field in their favor.
The rigging starts with the Attending Physician Statement form. The form provided by the insurance company is “one size fits all” and is not specifically for someone who has degenerative joint disease. As a result, the form makes it impossible for a doctor to detail your limitations.
Here’s the Insurance Company’s biggest trick: their Attending Physician Statement form does not ask the right diagnostic questions, meaning the questions the insurance company doesn’t want the doctor to answer. Insurance companies only ask the questions they want answered, but those aren’t the questions that help you win your claim.
Tucker Disability Law can help assist you by offering a FREE Capability Journal that you can download immediately. This journal, created by our experienced disability attorneys and complete with easy-to-follow instructions, is a proven asset to help you gather the evidence needed to win your disability case. Use this journal on a regular basis and bring it with you to your doctor’s visits so your provider can see how your symptoms reduce your ability to work.
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How Tucker Disability Law Can Help
Here’s the reality.
The burden of proof in long-term disability cases is on you. And the truth is, insurance companies don’t want to pay the claims. Furthermore, the doctors they may send you to are on their side, not yours.
That’s why battling the insurance companies on your own is not easy, if not impossible. In fact, going it alone has an extremely high fail rate, estimated to be as high as 98%!
However, if you’re struggling to make a living and overwhelmed by the anxiety, frustration, and depression associated with your financial burdens as a result of degenerative disc disease, Tucker Disability Law is ready to go to war for you.
We have a team of highly qualified physicians and healthcare professionals ready to look out for YOUR best interests.
If you’ve been denied or cut off from your long-term disability benefits related to having degenerative joint disease, we fight the big insurance companies every day, and unlike some of those other firms, we don’t settle for pennies on the dollar.
The only way to speed up your claim is to have all your ducks in a row.
We offer a three-step success plan:
Most of our cases are contingency, meaning you pay ZERO if we don’t win your case. Unlike the very high failure rate of claimants who go it alone, we have a 98% success rate for our clients.
At the end of the day, Tucker Disability Law doesn’t settle for less. Neither should you. We’ll fight for your benefits so you’ll be able to pay your bills. Isn’t that why you had disability insurance in the first place?
Schedule your free consultation now and put our team of disability experts to work for you today.
