Most Important Long Term Disability Laws

Long term disability laws are noted under the Employment Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). There are several key provisions to this law you should be aware of if you have become disabled.

Long Term Disability Laws

The single most important long term disability law would in effect be how the disability insurance company has the undue right to invoke ERISA standards as a blanket reason for denying your claim for disability.  The raw truth is that ERISA gives disability insurance companies plenty of lead way in doing exactly what they want to do when it comes to denying disability claims.

Initially, ERISA was set up as a means of protection for pension plans in the 1970s, yet as time progressed, health insurance and disability insurance benefits were placed under the ERISA foundation.  ERISA sets in place stringent time lines  that you need to meet should any insurance claim that you may have, gets denied.  The process has changed drastically.  At one time you were permitted to have a jury trial for your insurance case, now ERISA law has been modified so that you will only have a hearing in front of a federal judge.

It is a double edged sword when it comes to ERISA.  This particular law now allows for insurance companies to instituted “discretionary clauses” where there is a stipulation that although lawsuits are permitted the judges on the federal level who in effect hear the cases do not have the liberty to judge the guilt or innocence or right or wrong in these cases.  Instead the judge is only determining whether or not the insurance company acted within the bounds of reason when it comes to your claim. 

This is why ERISA is the single most important law that governs disability insurance.  ERISA enables events to take place that are in favor of the insurance company not the claimant.  It has a very strong effect on the outcome and ruling of your disability claim.  ERISA sets the stage, not for right and wrong, but for the insurance company’s definition of the phrase “bounds of reason” as relative to how the decision on your disability claim is made.

Getting Help

ERISA law is both complicated and tricky, and if you are not familiar with the verbiage surrounding it, then it is probably in your best interest to seek legal advice.  A disability litigation attorney can better help you understand the ERISA and your rights as relative to appealing your disability claim.  Without proper understanding, you will inevitably fall prey to this most important disability law.