Appealing a Denial of Disability Benefits from Union Central

Having disability insurance from Union Central Life Insurance Company can be a smart way to protect yourself. Many people suffer disabling injuries or medical conditions sometime during their lives, and this type of insurance helps by replacing a percentage of your income until you are able to return to work. You may feel overwhelmed if you are disabled and your claim is denied. Osterhout Berger Disability Law has a team of experienced lawyers who have represented many clients who have been denied on their appeals.

Background On Union Central

Founded in 1867, Union Central Life Insurance Company was based in Cincinnati, Ohio. In 2013, Union Central Life merged with Ameritas Life. The company sold a variety of different insurance products, including life and disability insurance. It offers multiple disability insurance products.

Disability insurance from Union Central

Union Central Life offers both individual policies and group disability plans. Its group disability plans are offered through employers as benefits for their workers. The company’s group plans are available on either an employer-paid or individual basis. The long-term plans offer coverage up to age 65 if elected. Short-term disability benefits may offer payments for a limited duration after the insureds complete an elimination period. The long-term benefits for people who have both types may then start when the short-term benefits are terminated.

More about short-term disability insurance from Union Central

Short-term disability insurance from Union Central is aimed at helping protect your income if you find yourself in a situation where you can’t work for a short period of time due to a disabling injury or illness. You’ll have to go through an Elimination Period before you can start collecting benefits and, depending on your policy, you may even need to go through a Waiting Period before you can even apply for benefits. In order to understand all the things your policy entitles you to, you should read your policy in full. Some policies have exceptions and limitations that will prevent you from collecting benefits. For example, some disability insurance policies will consider pre-existing conditions as ineligible for benefits. Some policies may even set limitations on conditions that are due to mental illnesses or substance abuse. Understanding your policy will help you when it comes time to submitting a disability claim.

More about long-term disability insurance from Union Central

Long-term disability insurance is structured the same way as short-term disability insurance, but the benefit period and percentage of income covered are both greater. Unfortunately, the Elimination Period is also greater. The Waiting Period may be the same. The exceptions and limitations will also be the same, so make sure to read your policy carefully.

What you need to know about Union Central disability claims

If you find yourself needing to submit a disability claim, you’re going to want to make sure that you submit the claim forms accurately and completely. Most insurance companies prefer not to have pay benefits and train their representatives to find ways to delay or deny claims. If claimants don’t fill out the forms completely and accurately, it makes it easy for a representative to delay or deny a claim. However, some insurance companies may ask their representatives to go out of their way to find reasons to delay or deny claims. Experienced disability lawyers are able to identify tactics used by insurance companies to unreasonably delay or deny claims. This is why it’s extremely important to fill out your claim form completely and accurately.

How to submit a disability claim form

Typically, disability claim forms require the employee, employer, and attending physician to fill out respective forms. You’ll have to make sure that your employer and attending physician fills out their portions completely and accurately. You’ll also have to fill out your portion and you may need to sign a few authorization forms. Once everything is correctly filled out, you’ll have to send in all of the forms and wait to hear back from the insurance company.

What to do if Union Central delays your disability claim

If it’s been more than ten days since you submitted your claim and you haven’t heard anything from the insurance company, it may be time to contact a representative. They should be able to provide you with a status update on your disability claim. If the representative cannot provide you with an answer and instead asks you questions or for more information, they may be delaying your claim. At this point, you may want to consider contacting an experienced disability lawyer. Our lawyers at Osterhout Berger Disability Law are experienced with tactics some insurance companies use to delay claims and can help you get through this process. We’ll even provide a free consultation to understand what you’re currently going through.

What to do if Union Central denies your disability claim

If your claim for benefits is denied by Union Central, you will be notified in a letter. In your denial notice, you will be able to read the reasons that you were denied. You will also be provided with information about how you can appeal the denial decision and the deadline for filing your appeal. You must follow these instructions exactly. If you fail to file your appeal by the listed deadline, you will be time-barred from trying to recover benefits for your disability in the future. You also cannot skip the company’s own appeals process by heading straight to court. The law mandates that you must exhaust the remedies that are available to you with the company before you will be allowed to file a lawsuit.

Appealing a denial from Union Central

The company must supply you with a complete copy of your file upon your request. Make sure to ask for it. If you went through the insurance company’s internal appeals process and still got denied, you may be ready to consult an experienced disability lawyer at Osterhout Berger Disability Law. Once you schedule an appointment with one of our lawyers, bring your file and your denial notice with you to your appointment. Your file will contain the evidence that Union Central gathered while it was investigating your claim so that you will be able to see why it denied it. Your experienced lawyer will review all of the evidence in your file as well as the information in the letter and give you an assessment of the approach that might work the best for you on your appeal.

When you are appealing a denial from Union Central, it is important that you keep your communication with the company to writing and resist the urge to answer questions over the phone. Keep photocopies of everything that you send and receive, and consider sending documents via return-receipt, certified mail so that you have a record that proves that you sent them. Your lawyer may advise you to keep all of your medical appointments even if you do not think anything can be done to improve your symptoms. He or she may also ask you to submit to additional tests and exams. Your lawyer’s goal will be to build and add as much additional evidence so that your file clearly shows that your appeal should be granted. In many cases, this helps claimants to win benefits without ever having to go through the court litigation process. Contact the experienced legal team at Osterhout Berger Disability Law today to schedule your consultation.