Long-term disability or LTD is one of the two types of disability insurance. But there are certain parameters that you have to fulfil if you want to get an LTD. Medical conditions that qualify for LTD are severe disabilities like Parkinson’s disease, back and neck injury, cancer, epilepsy, etc. the reason behind the disability might be an illness or an accident. In some cases, the disability is the result of medical malpractice. Further, the disability could be compounded by fatigue and chronic pain. Whatever the reason, if the condition is severe enough and prevents you from working further, you can look and see if you can get an LTD.
The aspect that will qualify you for LTD is the severity of the disease and the fact that you have been disabled for five years or more.
The list of disorders may differ from one insurance company to the other, and also, Social Security has a different list of disabilities that qualify for LTD. However, this article tries to aim at all the disabilities that are considered qualifying. The disabilities are classified into different problem areas like neurological, musculoskeletal, mental disorders, autoimmune disorders, speech, and special senses disorders, respiratory disorders, digestive disorders, cardiovascular disorders, infections, and parasitic diseases, etc. Depending on the areas, a few names are mentioned.
- Neurological disorder– Dystonia, epilepsy, neuropathy, Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, etc.
- Musculoskeletal diseases– Back pain, amputation, cervical stenosis, inflammatory arthritis, etc.
- Mental disorder– Attention deficit, mood disorder, bipolar disorder, agoraphobia, panic attacks, etc.
- Respiratory disorder– Asthma, lung transplant, asbestosis, sleep-related sleeping disorder, sarcoidosis, etc.
- Speech and special senses disorder– Vision loss, loss of speech, Meniere’s disease, otolaryngology, eye disorder, etc.
- Cardiovascular disorder– Heart attacks, hypertension, phlebitis, heart transplant, stroke, symptomatic congenital disease, etc.
- Infection and parasitic disorder– Polio, salmonella, tuberculosis, hepatitis B, autoimmune hepatitis, etc.
- Digestive disorder– Cirrhosis, hernia, inflammatory bowel disease, kidney and bladder disorder, colitis, etc.
The names mentioned above are few among hundreds of diseases qualifying for LTD. The insurers will further examine you based on your medical documents before passing you the qualifying criteria.
Documents and data you need to present for qualifying LTD.
You will need to present documents and records that will imply that your condition will last for a long period or might not be cured at all. And in turn, you will not be able to lead a normal life again. The documents and data include medical reports and testimonials of the doctors that proves that you will be enabled for a long time and can not work any further to work and provide for yourself or your family. The insurance company will demand a few documents; these documents will verify the nature of your disability. The documents may include blood reports, CT scan reports, MRI reports, X-ray reports, doctors’ prescriptions, clinical reports of your therapist, etc.
The process of treatment.
Patients might need different treatment procedures to carry on with their life, like continuous therapy, in-house medical facilities, physiotherapy, etc. Apart from this, you will need to follow every advice of your doctor. If you fail to do so because you are reluctant, the insurance company may regard it as deliberate self-harm and thus deny the insurance claim. Not only uour insurance claim will be denied but your health will also degrade.
Conclusion
It is less likely that if your employer is paying for your disability insurance policy, they are paying for short-term disability insurance. If you want to get an LTD, you must contact the insurance companies.