insurance denials

June 23, 2020

Some SSDI-Related Advice from Your Local Neighborhood Long Term Disability (LTD) Lawyer

Here at Kantor & Kantor we constantly find ourselves working closely with SSDI attorneys on behalf of our clients. Even more often, the evidence we secure on behalf of our clients during their LTD disputes can be utilized by your clients to support their SSDI claim as well. Here are some thoughts on our clients’ intersection between LTD and SSDI.

If we have a mutual client, use us as a resource to fight the substantive disability claim.

We can promptly provide copies of critical case documents, including testing or expert reports we have acquired in support of our client’s LTD fight. Our evidence saying a claimant is completely unable to work in any occupation on even a part time basis should be similarly useful for your SSDI case.

May 8, 2020

Kantor & Kantor Files Federal RICO Complaint Against Health Net, Centene Corporation, and Manatt, Phelps & Phillips Partners

by Kantor & Kantor LLP

For Immediate Release

May 7, 2020

Kantor & Kantor, LLP and Dawson & Rosenthal, P.C. FILED A COMPLAINT in the United States District Court, Central District of California on behalf of their client Sovereign Health, a Gold Star Award winning healthcare provider that treated mental health, substance abuse, and dual diagnosis patients . The $1.125 billon suit alleges that Health Net, Centene Corporation, attorneys from Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, and others engaged in practices that are in violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO); Conspiracy to Violate RICO; Intentional Interference with Prospective Economic Advantage, Violation of Unfair Competition Law; and Slander.

May 7, 2020

May is Lupus Awareness Month

by Cari M. Schwartz

The Lupus Foundation of America estimates that 1.5 million Americans, and at least five million people worldwide, have a form of lupus. According to the Lupus Foundation of America most lupus sufferers are misdiagnosed or can go undiagnosed for years. The goal of Lupus Awareness Month is to inform practitioners, patients, care givers, and the general public about how best to diagnose, care for, and live with lupus.

What is Lupus?

Lupus is a chronic (long-term) disease that can cause inflammation and pain in any part of your body. Lupus is a non-contagious autoimmune disease, which means that your immune system — the body system that usually fights infections — attacks healthy tissue instead. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about 9 out of 10 diagnoses of lupus are in women ages 15 to 44 and most people with lupus develop the disease between the ages of 15-44.

April 29, 2020

Claimants with Denied Disability Benefit Claims Get Extra Time to Appeal due to COVID-19

by Michelle L. Roberts

On April 28, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) issued deadline relief and other guidance under Title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to help, among other groups, disability plan participants who are impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, also referred to as the coronavirus outbreak.

The Department of Labor, Department of the Treasury, and the Internal Revenue Service issued a joint notice explaining the extension of time frames for healthcare coverage, portability, and continuation of group health plan coverage under COBRA, and time frames to file a benefit claim or appeal of denied claims. They also issued COVID-19 FAQs for Participants and Beneficiaries that address a number of common questions concerning health and retirement benefits.

The final rule published by EBSA and submitted to the Office of the Federal Register (OFR) for publication contains information of the extension of certain timeframes under ERISA and the Internal Revenue Code for group health plans, disability and other welfare plans, pension plans, and participants and beneficiaries of these plans during the COVID-19 National Emergency.

March 24, 2020

Your Disability Claim and Independent Medical Examinations

by Michelle L. Roberts

If you have a pending ERISA disability claim, the plan administrator or insurance company may schedule an Independent Medical Examination (“IME”) for you. Your first question may be, “do I have to attend?” While every person’s situation is different, and you should consult with your attorney about the specifics of your case, it is recommended that you comply with reasonable requests by the administrator to have you evaluated in person.

Why, you ask? For starters, most disability policies contain a provision that gives the administrator the right to have you examined. Failure to comply may result in the denial of your claim. For example, in Burke v. Pitney Bowes Inc., 392 F. App’x 570, 572 (9th Cir. 2010), the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that it was reasonable for the plan administrator to request a second IME of the plaintiff and that the plaintiff’s refusal to attend prejudiced the administrator’s ability to decide the claim. The Court found that the termination of disability benefits based on the plaintiff’s failure to attend the IME was not an abuse of discretion.

Second, if your matter ends up in litigation, it is important that you appear reasonable and cooperative to the judge. The focus should be on the merits of your disability claim, not on whether you should have attended an exam.

January 22, 2020

Five Attorneys from Kantor & Kantor, LLP Have Been Selected to the 2020 Southern California Super Lawyers List

by Kantor & Kantor LLP

Kantor & Kantor, LLP, one of the most experienced law firms in the nation dealing with litigating insurance claims against insurance companies, is proud that once again five Partners have been selected to the 2020 Southern California Super Lawyers list. Co-Founders Lisa Kantor and Glenn Kantor are joined by Senior Partners Alan Kassan and Corinne Chandler, and Partner Brent Dorian Brehm makes his fourth consecutive appearance.

No more than five percent of the lawyers in Southern California are selected by Super Lawyers. Super Lawyers, part of Thomson Reuters, is a rating service of outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. The annual selections are made using a patented multiphase process that includes a statewide survey of lawyers, an independent research evaluation of candidates and peer reviews by practice area. The result is a credible, comprehensive and diverse listing of exceptional attorneys.

The Super Lawyers lists are published nationwide in Super Lawyers Magazines and in leading city and regional magazines and newspapers across the country. Super Lawyers Magazines also feature editorial profiles of attorneys who embody excellence in their practice of law. For more information about Super Lawyers, go to SuperLawyers.com.

October 11, 2019

How Functional Capacity Evaluations Can Help Your Disability Claim

by Beth A. Davis

A functional capacity evaluation (FCE) is a series of tests that is used to measure a person’s functional physical ability to perform certain work-related tasks. A good, reliable FCE has validity measures embedded within the tests to show that the person taking the tests is putting forth the most effort he can, given his physical limitations. FCEs have many purposes, but in long term disability, we use them to provide objective support of a client’s physical restrictions and limitations with respect to his own occupation or any occupation, if that is the stage of his claim.

Often, in LTD cases, your physician will be asked to complete physical capacity forms. Having an FCE report will assist your doctor in this endeavor by providing her with the exact measurements she needs to provide her opinion.

If you have a condition such as degenerative disc disease, back pain with radiculopathy, fibromyalgia, or many other conditions that result in physical limitations, an FCE can be a very good tool to precisely measure exactly how limited you are by your disabling conditions. We can then use the FCE results to gather further support for your claim by giving it to your physician for her to review and use when she writes a letter of support.

October 9, 2019

Why ERISA Class Actions and Not Big Jury Trial Awards May Induce Payer Change on Proton Therapy

by Tim Rozelle

As we continue to learn about efforts to challenge proton therapy denials by groups such as the Proton Therapy Law Coalition, the fundamental question becomes: Will the insurers actually get the message and change their ways? A recent article suggests that even when a jury awards a large punitive damages figure against a health insurer, the carrier is likely not truly getting the message.

In November 2018, an Oklahoma jury returned a $25.5 million verdict against Aetna for improperly denying coverage for proton beam therapy, a treatment the company considered experimental. In the largest verdict for bad faith in U.S. history, the jury found that Aetna “recklessly disregarded its duty to deal fairly and act in good faith” and awarded punitive damages. During the course of deliberations, the jury specifically discussed “sending a message” to Aetna and “making a statement” so Aetna would reevaluate how it handles appeals and requests for coverage.

However, many large insurance companies, if state allows them to, carry their own liability insurance for just this occasion. It appears that about 20 states do not allow insurers to carry such liability coverage. But insurers are now turning to products sold by offshore insurers beyond the reach of state regulators. In other words, a lot of insurers are not directly paying for the punitive damages awarded against them. This undermines the importance and impact of large jury verdicts on effectuating changed insurer practices.

September 23, 2019

Logs – How They Help

by Beth A. Davis

If you have a condition such as migraine headaches, vertigo, or chronic pain, a condition that cannot be captured by “objective diagnostic measures” such as X-rays, MRIs, PET scans, etc., you still need evidence to prove to the insurer that you are disabled.

While letters from your physician describing your symptoms, their impact on your ability to function at work, and the underlying case are helpful as are the office notes from your doctor, we find that daily logs are very helpful. Logs, kept over a period of weeks or months, paint an ongoing picture of the number of times you are suffering from your disabling condition.

In the log, you must be sure to mark down the date, the type of symptom you are experiencing, e,g, – a migraine headache – the quality of the pain, the strength of the pain, and the duration of the pain. Over the course of several months, these logs can really help support a disability claim when they show a person is suffering from 3 or 4 migraines per week and the headaches are lasting for hours or days at a time. These logs are quite compelling when they complement the medical records.

August 27, 2019

I’ve Been Told it is “Too Late” For Me to Make a Claim For Health, Life, or Disability Benefits. Is That Right?

by Glenn R. Kantor

The correct response is, “maybe, or maybe not, depending on the facts, and the state in which you reside.”

Insurance policies very often have time limits on the submission of a claim for benefits. In some states, those deadlines are VERY strictly construed, and once the deadline has passed, it does become “too late” to make a claim.

However, more than half of the states apply some form of an insurance rule called the “notice prejudice” doctrine. Simply put, even if an insurance policy imposes a time limit for the submission of the claim, if certain rules are met, a claim can be submitted after the time limit if the late notice does not “prejudice” the insurance company’s ability to investigate the claim. However, that is just a basic summary of the rule. In the states that apply some form of the notice prejudice doctrine, its application differs from state to state. In some states, the insured making the late claim must demonstrate a “good reason” for making a late claim. In others, the burden falls on the insured to prove that no prejudice would be suffered by the insurance company because of the late claim submission.