Stop using exclamation marks! I can hear (read) you loud and clear. Yes, I know the Toronto Raptors have now won 2 games in a row. Yes I know they beat Phoenix and Utah on back to back nights. Yes I know that Andrea Bagnani deserves some All Star consideration if he can stay healthy. I can’t believe it either. But seriously, we have some more pressing matters to attend to.
Every day, I get calls from prospective clients inquiring about whether or not I can help them with their long term disability claim. I hear the same story. I’m hurt. I can’t perform my job. I’ve applied for Short Term and Long Term Disability Benefits. I’ve been denied. Now I’m not getting paid and money is running out. I’m scared. I’m worried. I’m in pain and I have no source of income. What can I do?
My advice aside from buying a guaranteed winning lotto ticket is to get a personal injury lawyer. If you’re in a non-unionized workplace, or if your long term disability benefits are not governed by your collective agreement, a personal injury lawyer like Brian Goldfinger personal injury lawyer to the stars in Toronto can help.
If you’re seriously hurt and can’t work, there are some sources where you can seek out income or benefits to help you along the way.
Sit down with your family doctor. Have a chat with him/her about your long term disability claim. Also chat with your family doctor about applying for Canada Pension Plan Benefits. But Brian; Canada Pension Plan (CPP) benefits are for old or retired people. They’re not for me. Right and wrong. Canada Pension Plan benefits work in many ways. You’re probably thinking about old age CPP benefits which kick in after the age of 65. These benefits are called Old Age Security Benefits or OAS. They are the “cornerstone of Canada’s retirement income system“.
But, CPP benefits also work in other ways. If you’re under the age of 65, and unable to work on account of a medical condition, and you’ve made sufficient contributions to CPP in at least 4 of the last 6 years, you may be eligible to CPP Disability Benefits. It’s amazing how many people haven’t heard of CPP Disability Benefits. If you’ve worked, can no longer work on account of illness or injury, and made contributions to the plan in 4 of the past 6 years, then you should give it a shot. CPP will require your doctor to fill out an application form, and it’s a good idea to send CPP all of your medical records so they have a good understanding of your condition. It would be a good idea to have a personal injury lawyer look in to what you’re sending in to CPP to make sure you’re sending in relevant documents which won’t do more harm than good.
Another government agency which can assist you in paying some medical bills while you’re disabiled is the Ontario Disability Support Program or ODSP. If you’re sick, injured or disabled and you need assistance with paying for your medication, treatment, therapy, or financial assistance, you may want to look in to applying for ODSP. ODSP has an office right next to Goldfinger Injury Lawyers’s Toronto office at Yonge and Sheppard.
To answer your question as to why your long term disabiity insurer isn’t listening to you; my jadded view is that it’s really NOT in an insurer’s best interest to listen to you, or to side with you. Every dollar that they pay to you in benefits, is a dollar lost. Insurance companies like Long Term Disability Insurers are NOT in the business of saving the manatees or engineering a middle east peace treaty. Insurance companies are in the business of making money. Say that again, they want to make money. I sound like this guy now (read his book by the way. Good read.) If insurance companies paid out every single claim no questions asked, they likely wouldn’t be in business. So, put yourself in their shoes. If you were the adjuster at one of these long term disability companies, and you paid out every single claim which came across your desk without questioning the merits of the claim, without asking for more documentation, without asking for independant medical evaluations with doctors who you pay; then you’d likely lose your job.
So in some cases, not listening to you, or not caring what you have to say, or not believing your pain or your stories really does pay off for them. Except when that amounts to bad faith, which is a story for another day.
In other news, my wife is really excited because her “Gold” Starbucks card arrived in the mail today. Do you know how many cups of coffee you need to drink to be a Starbucks Gold Card person? I don’t, but I imagine it’s a lot. And she’s hella proud. So am I.
Brian Goldfinger Injury Lawyersyer Toronto Lawyer Long Term Disability Lawyer