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Susan E

Junior Member
I live in Ohio. I am retired because of disability (Multiple Sclerosis) and receive a payment from the Public Employees Retirement System. I receive the rest of my disability payment from Hartford Insurance. Every 3 - 6 months they send me forms of some kind to fill out, sign, send to my doctor etc. They may be forms for me to describe my disability or for my doctor to fill out. I don't understand why they keep doing this. It's very upsetting to me because MS does not get better. It's never going to get better. Also, they send me the forms "Authorization to Diesclose Health Information" to sign. How many times are they allowed to ask for this? I signed one in January and they are asking for another now. I just want to know what my rights are about these forms. Thank you so much.What is the name of your state?
 


cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
MS is cyclical; your level of disability does not necessarily remain unchanged. They are entitled to periodically see whether you have temporarily improved. Or gotten worse.

Under the law, they MUST have your authorization to obtain any information from your physician.

I'm sorry it's annoying, but it is necessary and legal.
 

Susan E

Junior Member
cbg: Thank you for your reply but I don't know where you have gotten your information. There are 3 of us with MS in my family and I have known many others. Not one has gotten better. Must I allow them to get my records and how often? Thanks.
 

cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
I didn't say it was curable, I said the disease goes in cycles. There's a difference.
 

Susan E

Junior Member
I guess I'm not sure what you mean. Do you have MS or are you a doctor? I still don't see the need for forms and records every 3 months. I was just trying to find out if I legally HAD to fill these out on demand or if there was a limit to the number of times or occasions per year that they could ask for these.
 

cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
No one is going to hold a gun to your head to force you to fill them out, but the LTD carrier is free to stop paying your benefits until you do. MS is not the only disease for which LTD benefits are offered; they don't have to make up special rules for you. No, there is no law that limits the number of times per year they can request them.
 

mlane58

Senior Member
Susan E said:
I guess I'm not sure what you mean. Do you have MS or are you a doctor? I still don't see the need for forms and records every 3 months. I was just trying to find out if I legally HAD to fill these out on demand or if there was a limit to the number of times or occasions per year that they could ask for these.
You have two options:

1. Do what the carrier asks and continue to recieve LTD payments
2. Don't follow the requests of the carrier and have your payments stopped

Pretty simple. cbg is the most knowledgable professional in benefits I have ever met, so since you don't like the answers you are getting, do as you please and when your payments stop, don't come whinning here.
 

Susan E

Junior Member
It seems to me that insurance companies that offer disability ins. would have enough medical people on their staff to know the difference in disabilities. For example, if someone was in an accident and went into a coma, would forms still need to be filled out at the same rate as a person who broke their back but was on the road to recovery? I know I'm getting paid disability from them, but I also paid into it when I was working. Something just doesn't seem right to have people constantly revisiting their disability. Does anyone else have a comment about this?
 

janeyal

Junior Member
My husband has been disabled for six years with a spinal cord injury. He is not going to get better, but he is still required to have his doctor fill out disability forms every six months for the insurance company. He also has to complete the release of information forms each time. I guess this is pretty standard.
 

Susan E

Junior Member
janeyal thank you for your reply. I thought everyone on this website was just mean. I guess this is just the way it is but that doesn't mean it can't be changed. It doesn't seem right to me for a company that has been paid for their services to continually badger people who have physical disabilities that cannot be changed. I understand there is fraud and people abusing the system but there has to be a better way. I'm sorry your husband is disabled.
 

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