Any resident of Alberta can purchase a policy that claims to guarantee disability insurance. Still, that does not remove the possibility of the insurance company’s decision to deny certain requested benefits.
What to do after receiving a denial letter
• Review the letter carefully
• Study the terms of the purchased policy
• Hire an injury lawyer in Medicine Hat
Should you pursue an internal appeal process?
It may make sense to pursue such an appeal, if the denial was based on a lack of information. Does the insurance company want to examine more of your medical records? Could you use a letter from the physician that is treating your injury?
You must realize though, that those that must respond to the appeal will consult the men and woman who issued the original denial. In other words, do not count on winning an internal appeal.
What to know if you plan to sue the insurance company
You are allowed to file a lawsuit while you are pursuing the internal appeal process. In fact, lawyers urge their clients to follow that timeline. The statute of limitations, which is usually 2 years, does not stop during the appeal process. Hence, waiting could result in failure to meet the filing deadline.
Assuming that you do not miss the deadline and do file a lawsuit, what are your chances for winning? If you have hired a lawyer, your chances are greater, than if you have not. Yet your own actions can also increase or decrease your chances for winning.
How organized have you been, while corresponding with the insurance company, or with any doctors? Did you manage to save evidence of that correspondence? Do you know what was said or written by both parties? Do you know when the correspondence took place?
Did you limit mention of your disability to correspondence directed at the insurance company or at any physician? If you have discussed your disability while posting a message on a social media network, that could prove a problem. More problems, if you posted a picture of you performing some task that you have said you cannot do.
On the other hand, perhaps some on-the-job incident served to verify your claim, that you are disabled. Alternatively, maybe some job-related task highlighted the limits that are placed on you by your disability. Such evidence could be used to strengthen your case. The evidence would be even stronger, if you had a letter from your physician. That might be used to link a certain task and a medical problem that relates to your disability.
For instance, suppose that you experienced periods of unsteadiness after climbing stairs at work. Then your doctor wrote that your condition got worse, after lots of stair climbing.