My wife is on long-term disability (Aflac) and they put her through the wringer constantly. It's as-if they have a progressive scheme they work through. As an individual reaches certain milestones, they're thrust into some new defensive position. Prove you have these problems that you have!
They send very, very misleading and confusing paperwork to her Doctors offices. Sometimes the administration staff at her specialist fills it out incorrectly, and, *poof, just like that we're going 3-4 months without disability payments while it all gets sorted out through a game of telephone.
Anyway, they're currently forcing her to appeal the SSAs decision to not give her Social Security benefits early... Which means we've had to retain a lawyer to help us understand what we're dealing with, to help us shuffle through the process, etc. Until such a time as the appeal comes back she's, once again, without disability pay.
Financially, for now, we're fine, but it's been a nonstop a headache. It's a non-trivial part of her time every week to manage this situation. Hours and hours spent on the phone with Aflac, collecting a seemingly endless amount of documentation, oftentimes having to submit, resubmit, re-resubmit the same documentation. Having to get new opinions, being told to retrain to a different career through their job placement people, etc. And it's all bullshit, and Aflac knows it -- my wife is a Senior SWE, she isn't retraining to a different career that 1) will somehow lessen the physical turmoil she's in, and 2) pays her as well as she's currently paid. And nevermind the idea that they can force you to get a new job anyway. But that doesn't matter. The goal is to keep you on the defensive, keep your back against the wall. Aflac pays an army of people to keep you totally entangled in their bullshit.
And usually she deals with her case manager, but sometimes some random case manager will call her up and they're always very, very hostile. They're very clearly trying to get an emotional reaction out of you. They pretend to not know all of the details of the case, but they're calling in a "case manager" position. They berate you, they try to get you to slip up and admit to fraud, whatever. It's a fishing expedition. It's happened probably 4 times over the last 18 months or whatever.
It just never stops. It makes me wonder why I bother with supplemental at all. If I'm dead, are my wife and kids going to have to walk through Hell and back to get that money? What's the fucking point?
They send very, very misleading and confusing paperwork to her Doctors offices. Sometimes the administration staff at her specialist fills it out incorrectly, and, *poof, just like that we're going 3-4 months without disability payments while it all gets sorted out through a game of telephone.
Anyway, they're currently forcing her to appeal the SSAs decision to not give her Social Security benefits early... Which means we've had to retain a lawyer to help us understand what we're dealing with, to help us shuffle through the process, etc. Until such a time as the appeal comes back she's, once again, without disability pay.
Financially, for now, we're fine, but it's been a nonstop a headache. It's a non-trivial part of her time every week to manage this situation. Hours and hours spent on the phone with Aflac, collecting a seemingly endless amount of documentation, oftentimes having to submit, resubmit, re-resubmit the same documentation. Having to get new opinions, being told to retrain to a different career through their job placement people, etc. And it's all bullshit, and Aflac knows it -- my wife is a Senior SWE, she isn't retraining to a different career that 1) will somehow lessen the physical turmoil she's in, and 2) pays her as well as she's currently paid. And nevermind the idea that they can force you to get a new job anyway. But that doesn't matter. The goal is to keep you on the defensive, keep your back against the wall. Aflac pays an army of people to keep you totally entangled in their bullshit.
And usually she deals with her case manager, but sometimes some random case manager will call her up and they're always very, very hostile. They're very clearly trying to get an emotional reaction out of you. They pretend to not know all of the details of the case, but they're calling in a "case manager" position. They berate you, they try to get you to slip up and admit to fraud, whatever. It's a fishing expedition. It's happened probably 4 times over the last 18 months or whatever.
It just never stops. It makes me wonder why I bother with supplemental at all. If I'm dead, are my wife and kids going to have to walk through Hell and back to get that money? What's the fucking point?