Have you ever found yourself tearing out your hair over a payout dispute with your insurance company? You are not alone: insurance companies overwhelmingly try to wriggle their way out of their obligation to pay you when you attempt to cash in your policy. If you’ve found yourself in this situation, you likely considered employing a lawyer to help you with your case. Here’s some more information about what you can expect going forward.
What is disability insurance?
Disability insurance exists to help you pay your bills and put food on the table if you experience a setback that prevents you from working for a period of time. These plans can be purchased for long-term support over months or years or simply to supplement your lost regular income during a short gap in ability that lasts a few days or weeks. As such, it is vital that there’s no delay in receiving the support you will be dependent on in the event of a car accident or unexpected complication in your health.
Complications in insurance
Far too often we find ourselves exposed to long waits in disbursement of these safety nets or a blanket rejection of legitimate claims. When this happens, it’s often where a lawyer enters the picture to help with your claim. This is a smart choice, but what if your lawyer isn’t well versed in disability law or doesn’t take your case as seriously as you think they should?
Well, you can always switch lawyers. It is completely your right to fire your legal representative, but this choice comes with a few issues that you should keep in mind. Firstly, you will owe the attorney who initially represented you any unpaid fees, which can rack up to a hefty total if he or she worked with you for longer than just preliminary meetings. Furthermore, you need to catch your new lawyer up to speed, meaning the process will need to start anew and may cost you quite a bit more.
Making the process easier
It would be far more efficient — not to mention cost effective — to do your homework researching disability lawyers in your area before hiring one to represent you. Everyone thinks their case is life or death and they need the best in order to win, and nowhere is this more accurate than in disability law. If you are ultimately denied the benefits that you have paid for and are entitled to, then it could be devastating for your financial health. You may resort to gutting your savings account or racking up a mountain of credit card debt. And what do you do if you don’t have either of those options available?
Choosing the right lawyer to help you get the aid you deserve is critical. There are a few considerations you should make before even taking that preliminary step. Often times, insurers will claim that you need to be evaluated by an approved medical professional before receiving your benefits, or that there is a waiting period of some type that must elapse before you can receive your aid. These are traps that insurers place in your path in order to attempt to not pay, or not pay the full amount you are owed. If you find yourself scratching your head after hanging up with your insurance provider, the next call you make should be to a disability lawyer to review your circumstances. Don’t settle for less than you deserve, make sure you get the help you need, and choose wisely.
