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One addition to Bruce's comments - Save copies of ALL correspondence between you and Social Security, LTD insurance companies, and any legal representatives you hire. MAKE COPIES of any letters YOU author before sending them off to these entities for future reference, just in case it's claimed by them you've never sent such correspondence. Speaking from experience, being able to back up anything you've already sent in to Social Security with a dated copy is well worth the effort of going out to the printer's and making those copies. Barb Mallut (saving to buy a copier!) [log in to unmask] ---------- From: Parkinson's Information Exchange on behalf of Bruce Anderson Sent: Thursday, May 14, 1998 7:21 AM To: Multiple recipients of list PARKINSN Subject: Fw: Re: Social Security Disability THERE IS NOTHING IN HERE MOST OF YOU DON'T ALREADY KNOW. I WOULD HAVE OFFERED THIS STUFF DIRECTLY TO THE PERSON INQUIRING BUT I DON'T KNOW WHO IT IS. Dear ? I was SET NOMAIL when you sent this in so I don't know who you are but I have a couple of suggestions. It sounds to me like there is no way you don't qualify for both your LTD policy and SSDI ! The LTD individual policy - STORKIE1 can probably give you a better answer but here's my experience. By, "I must meet a 'regular occupation' definition," do you mean you have what is called an "Own Occupation" policy? It sounds like it. If so, here's what happened to me with mine. I was between jobs when I applied for it. I filled out their forms listing as my occupation the profession I'd been in for the previous 25 years, commercial real estate finance. I then explained why I couldn't do it anymore: Can't work in an office because of difficulty walking around desks, etc.; can't negotiate anymore (speech, decreased cognitive abilities); can't attract clients because of poor appearance and demeanor (drooling, speech, gait); need to nap frequently. I was between jobs at the time. The insurer tried a brief end run by saying, Nooo, the occupation you are engaged in while making this claim (or, when the disability began) is that of an Unemployed Person - explain how you can't fulfill THAT occupation. Ha! Ha! I wrote back and said, Fine. The duty of an Unemployed Person is to take job interviews. I can't do it because - and then I listed the exact reasons mentioned above all over again. They approved the claim without anything more said. I hope this tactic works for you if this is the type of situation you are in. Everyone, even the unemployed and/or disabled, has a "regular occupation." Being unemployed is an occupation, which is, by definition, whatever occupies your time. If they hadn't caved I was going to sue them, although I would have had to get a lawyer on a non-contingency basis. But as STORKE1 said at the time, advising me not to hire one initially, most LTD insurers are not in the business of denying claims. You should immediately hire one just to fill out the forms, though, if you can't get someone to do it for you, because unlike SSDI they don't pay retroactively. Every month you delay is $ down the drain. SSDI - If you don't qualify given that description of your symptoms - it's your fault !!! Here is what you should do - just fill out those forms any old way the best you can. Just get them completed enough so the claim doesn't come back incomplete. Wait 2 months after you get turned down and then hire one of the SSDI help firms (send me an e-mail and I'll give you some names). They are only allowed by law to be paid if you win, and then only out of the back benefits you get. So they don't want to hear from you too early in the process. With the right firm, you claim sounds like a true no-brainer. I know 2 people who together don't have half your symptoms who got approved. In one case it took the firm fighting them for 2 years but it did get approved. He got back benefits in 5 figures. The firm got, I think, $4,000 of that, but he's still way ahead and now gets his check every month and immediately qualified for Medicare. Hope this helps. -----Original Message----- From: Lcsw410 <[log in to unmask]> To: Multiple recipients of list PARKINSN <[log in to unmask]> Date: Thursday, May 14, 1998 8:32 AM Subject: Re: Social Security Disability >In a message dated 5/6/98 11:24:14 PM Central Daylight Time, >[log in to unmask] writes: > >> At the urging of my wife and my doctors, I filed for disability benefits >> in connection with an individual D.I. policy I purchased 12 years ago. I >> also have applied for benefits with Social Security. >> >> To qualify for benefits under my individual plan, I must meet a >> "regular occupation" definition. This policy also contains a Soc. >> Security rider under which a supplemental benefit is paid to the insured >> pending qualification of Social Security benefits. (FAT CHANCE) >> >> Social Security has responded with a series of lengthy questionaires >> concerning my claim. They are bewildering to me. I have read the two >> FAQ's concerning Social Security D.I. benefits. They would be >> informative to a clinician, I guess...but I am a claimant sitting here >> facing this pile of forms. >> >> In closing this diatribe, allow me to tell you I am now 58. I have lost >> 35 pounds in the last three years. My voice grows weaker. My dead-pan >> stoic appearance is a crowd-pleaser, I am sure. I am impotent. I am an >> insomniac. My extremeties are afflicted with rigors. My hands and feet >> get ice cold. My left hand becomes cyanotic perodically. The tremor in >> my left hand is violent at times. Dyskinesia episodes leave me writhing. >> As a result of my efforts to fight the tremor, I have strained the >> ligaments in my left arm so severely...I wear a brace several times a >> week. My left leg is rigid, and I have constant pain in the hip. I am >> weak, tired, and weary of all this. I realize others out there have it >> worse than I do. But this is my moment, before I become the lurker >> again. Can someone help me with these forms? It IS probably stupid of me >> to think Social Security will approve my application anyway, since I >> only have one so-called afflicted extremity...but what the heck! >> >> >> Sherman >> in EADS, TN > >Sherman, > >The APDA Young PD Newsletter published a lead article on "Applying for Social >Security Disability?" along with several good resources for assistance. For >this newsletter and other information and programs call >Amer PD Assoc's (APDA) Young Parkinson's Information & Referral Center >1/800-223-9776 >email: APDA [log in to unmask] >