Two Important Actions You Should Take When Filing A Disability Insurance Claim
There are a lot of steps involved in filing a disability claim, some more important others. If you want to give yourself the best chance of getting your request for benefits approved, here are two important things you should do when you file.
Initiate a Social Media Blackout
Social media has become such an integral part of human life that it's only natural you would want to use your Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram account to keep people updated about your condition and progress. However, you should avoid doing this at all cost. In fact, you should set all of your accounts to private so they cannot be accessed by the public.
To protect the company from insurance fraud, insurance adjusters regularly check claimants' social media accounts to see what they're up to. If anything on your profile indicates you aren't as disabled as you claim or looks like it may have contributed to that injury, the adjuster will use it to pay you less than you're owed or deny your claim altogether.
To avoid this, set your accounts so that only people you trust have access to them or delete the pages altogether. Additionally, notify people in your life that you would rather they didn't discuss your condition or posting updates about you on their social media pages either because it could hurt your case.
Mind Your Language on Forms
Insurance companies will look for any reason to deny claims, and some are even exacting enough that they'll pick apart your statements on the forms you filled out to collect your benefits. Thus, you need to be very careful about not only what you say but how you say it.
In particular, avoid using words like "never" and "always" because the insurance company may use this as an excuse to limit or deny your benefits if it can prove you wrong even once. For example, you claim you must always use a walker to get around. You might find yourself in some trouble if the insurance company can produce pictures of you walking without your mobility device one day.
In this instance, it may be best to have an attorney help you fill out your disability claim forms so you don't accidentally say something that could hurt you in the future.
To learn more about issues that could pop up during the disability claim process or help with your case, contact a disability insurance attorney firm, like Iler and Iler.