disabilty Ins. for Va. law

[martha hagy]

My mother is bi-polar and has been taking medication that alters her thinking process. She has been under a lot of stress with the illness and then the passing of her father 2 years ago when this all started. My mother worked for this Co. and was getting short term and then long term disability for her condition. The Dr's she was seeing at that time had given her such a hard time about all the paperwork that she retired from capital one to save her Insurance. She advised the Ins. Co. of this. The Ins. co continued to send her money and she had no clue that she was not suppose to be getting it. When she retired should the company not have notified the ins co that she was no longer an employee? My mother is still disabled and will probably never go back to work her medication totally messes with her mind? Can you please give me some information as to how to handle this situation for her? the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Virginia

 

[cbg]

Who is saying that she is not entitled to benefits? It is very, very common for STD or LTD benefits to continue long after employment does; in fact, in 30 years this month of administering employer-sponsored group benefits I have never seen and only once heard of a plan when benefits ended when employment did. Has someone been telling her that she was paid when she was not entitled to be, or are you just assuming that she is no longer eligible?

 

[martha hagy]

ltd benefits

Who is saying that she is not entitled to benefits? It is very, very common for STD or LTD benefits to continue long after employment does; in fact, in 30 years this month of administering employer-sponsored group benefits I have never seen and only once heard of a plan when benefits ended when employment did. Has someone been telling her that she was paid when she was not entitled to be, or are you just assuming that she is no longer eligible?

She received paperwork and they ask for her employer....well she is not employed with them anymore?

 

[martha hagy]

Who is saying that she is not entitled to benefits? It is very, very common for STD or LTD benefits to continue long after employment does; in fact, in 30 years this month of administering employer-sponsored group benefits I have never seen and only once heard of a plan when benefits ended when employment did. Has someone been telling her that she was paid when she was not entitled to be, or are you just assuming that she is no longer eligible?

Well she received paperwork to have the disabilty extended and they asked for her employer and her job title she is retired!!

 

[cbg]

Then say that. That doesn't mean that they're planning on stopping the benefits.

 

[martha hagy]

Then say that. That doesn't mean that they're planning on stopping the benefits.

So let me see if I have this right .....put the name of the co that she worked for or that she is retired? The insurance was thru the company she worked for? Does that make a differene?

 

[cbg]

Put that she is retired from company X. They will understand that the insurance was through the employer. If they've been paying benefits for her for two years, they KNOW she isn't working. And it would be HIGHLY unusual for an employer to have left an employee on the payroll, even inactive and collecting disability benefits, for two years.

The insurance company is doing a standard followup. They will not be even remotely surprised that she is not working and is no longer considered an employee.

 

[MarieCollett]

Sounds to me like benefits are not stopping, but being reduced to zero and being applied to an overpayment because she received her retirement/pension years ago and now her claim has been overpaid.

most policies will only allow you to receive 1 benefit at a time, and sadly employers do not always notify the insurance companies of an employee receiving pension - therefore the employee "unknowingly" receives double benefits and ends up having to pay it all back. the disabiltiy benefit will usually be reduced by the amount of the pension, so technically the disabilty benefit does not end, it is just reduced - usually to a minimum benefit of 10% or $100 a month. if the pension was a lump sum payout then it should have been pro-rated to a monthly amount that should have been reduced from the disability benefit.

request a copy of the policy in writing, the overpayment calculations and confirm whether or not they were notified that she took pension. in some cases a chunk of the overpayment can be forgiven, but going forward her monthly benefit will be corrected to include the reduction for pension. also get your mom to send in written authorization for you to speak on her behalf.

oh, and since the benefit is through her employer while she is on disability she will always be considered an employee.