
Hatchet | Disability Insurance Regulations, or good sources for reading about them? |
My mother has recently been having problems regarding her short term disability insurance, and I am wondering about the regulations on such insurance policies, because for what they are doing to be legal, it makes no sense.
Here is the situation. My mother had disability insurance at her old job, which worked her until she had a breakdown and is mentally incapable of working (seriously, totally incapable). So the company pays out her benefits after putting up a bit of a fight, fine. But now she has transferred to long term disability, and they are paying that out. There is only one problem, the short term company (Unum) hired a lawyer and sued the government for back disability benefits, paying me 10770 (because I passes 18 after the time period, so it was awarded to me) and her much more. Then the short term disability insurance company (Unum) demanded back all of that money, which we paid in full.
So essentially, she paid into a policy for 13 years, and when it came time to collect on it, she did, but the company made up virtually all of its losses by getting a check strait from the government. Literally pure profit from paying out a policy, and despite this, they are demanding more money from us that we never received, and have even hired a collections agency to collect it, despite the fact that we can't possibly owe it, because we never had it to begin with.
So I guess the question is: Where can I find regulations on disability insurance, to see exactly how what they are doing is illegal (because if its not, that is terrible, and we will take the story to the news and I am sure Unum will swallow their sorry *** and pay it back), or any other possible solutions. Thanks. Additional Details She was not double dipping, she was getting benefits ONLY from Unum. Unum just sued the government to get free money and make a profit from paying out worst case scenario.
So essentially, she paid 13 years into a policy, and then needed it, and it got paid out to her, and then the insurance company stole directly from the government and made a profit from worst case scenario. Isn't there some kind of insurance law that says "you can't profit from worst case scenarios"??? |


mbrcatz
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It's contract law. It's moderately complicated, but you START by reading the policy. The ENTIRE policy.
Sounds to me, like she was "double dipping". Collecting benefits from two different insurance companies (private insurance, plus SSDI) for the SAME time period that she was disabled.
When you read that policy, you'll see that they're entitled to reimbursement up to 100% of what they pay out to her, from any government insurance she is collecting.
Double dipping, is illegal. She owes the money. |
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Jonathan Hannsson
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Probably can find most of what you need here. http://hr.blr.com/HR-topics/Benefits-Leave/Disability-Insurance/ |
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StephenWeinstein
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I see the problem. Disability insurance is primarily for disabilities that are not caused by work. When the disability is caused by work, you are supposed to claim worker's comp benefits, not just disability benefits. She should file for worker's compensation benefits, and use some of that money to pay whatever is supposedly owed to Unum, and keep the rest (or give it to you). |
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