The Disability Application

In Margueritte Kibel v. Aetna Life Insurance Company, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in a unanimous opinion, ruled that Margueritte Kibel had met her burden of proof and was entitled to long-term disability benefits. It remanded to the District Court with instructions to enter an award of benefits to her.

Kibel’s problems started in 2011 when she collapsed two separate times at work. Once in a meeting with a supervisor, and another time while entertaining clients. In January 2012, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Even so, she returned to work in March 2012, but after only a month, she had to quit. She made several other attempts to work before finally quitting in November 2013 and applying for long-term disability benefits. Aetna denied her claim.
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Nationwide disability insurance attorneys Gregory Dell and Cesar Gavidia discuss neck disorders and why these types of claims are highly scrutinized by LTD Insurance companies. A claimant suffering from neck pain needs to put their claim in the best position possible to get on claim or to win an appeal. In this video, learn what you need to prove to receive LTD benefits if you are a claimant with neck pain.
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This past year, Hartford Insurance company agreed to purchase the disability and life insurance division of Aetna insurance company for 1.45 billion dollars. Aetna and The Hartford have different styles of reviewing disability insurance claims. If your Aetna claim has been dormant or has not had much action lately it is more than likely that Aetna policy holders will be subject to another layer of review. Read more »

Back Disorders often receive the most scrutiny in a disability insurance claim. Pain is subjective and based on what is reported by the claimant, but pain can be verified by objective diagnostic testing. Even with supporting objective medical findings insurance companies tend to review back disorder claims under a microscope.
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In 2012, an assistant news editor for Investor’s Business Daily suffered a heart attack resulting from an ongoing heart condition. He was forced to file a disability claim with MetLife, his employer’s chosen disability carrier. Although Mr. Popovich’s cardiologist had reported that Popovich could physically handle a job performed at the sedentary exertional level, he deemed him disabled due to cardiomyopathy resulting in dizziness, heaviness in chest and pain in his left shoulder blade. However, MetLife denied the claim based on a normal ejection fraction despite reports from the cardiologist that angiographic studies showed severe coronary artery disease. Another treating physician had reported that Mr. Popovich was experiencing chest discomfort while undertaking even mild activities.
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