Elkind & Shea, The Disability Benefits Law Firm
801 Roeder Road
550
Silver Spring, MD 20910
Disability Benefits Are a Necessity
In the next decade, Social Security disability benefits are expected to increase five-fold.
In 1999, 75% of U.S. households carried life insurance while only 40% carried disability insurance.
Nine out of 10 bankruptcies involve medical debt.
Nearly half of all bankruptcies are a result of a person suffering from an unexpected illness or injury.
It will take years to recover from a disability lasting more than 90 days.
Almost everyone will suffer from a period of disability during their lives.
Very few people can afford to be disabled. Unfortunately, disability is indiscriminate. It can happen to any person, at any time, under any circumstance. Any person can have an accident or succumb to illness. The challenge is providing for yourself and your family when you become disabled. Most modern two-income households require both incomes to make ends meet.
Most people attempt to persist through suffering in order to maintain an income stream. There comes a point for each person when the suffering becomes intolerable and the disability option must be pursued. Prior to that point, you should consult with your treatment providers about the potential duration of your sickness, whether temporary or permanent.
Following that, you should discuss the matter with legal counsel to understand your disability rights prior to declaring your disabled status.
The decision to declare disability is difficult and is rife with complications if not pursued correctly. For example, Social Security requires that you be disabled or expect to be disabled one year in order to receive benefits.
Private policies require anywhere from 30-180 days of disability prior to paying benefits. Of course, these time periods do not include the infamous processing times which can run far longer, especially when seeking benefits from the Social Security Administration.
It is simply overwhelming for most people to understand the many government regulations or the many provisions in disability benefits policies even when they are healthy. For persons facing disability, this becomes an impossible feat. Rather than risk losing a potential lifetime source of income and/or medical benefits by relying on your hope that the government or a private insurance company will understand your plight, it is a matter best left to someone who has had substantial experience handling these matters.
The truth is that the complexity of these matters is such that few attorneys undertake disability benefits work at all, especially group benefits cases arising under ERISA.
