Nearly Half of All Bankruptcies Are Due to a Disabling Medical Condition

Did you know that a 2005 study by Harvard University showed that nearly half of all bankruptcies are due to a disabling medical condition?

The statistics are very scary. It has been estimated that every 2 seconds, someone in the United States experiences a disabling injury. What may surprise you is that nearly two-thirds of those disabling injuries happened OFF the job according to Injury Facts, 2004 Ed., published by the National Safety Council.

Having disability insurance is crucial. This is particularly true when a bad economy hits and it is hard to find a new job after an injury. Protect yourself by getting disability insurance before you become disabled.

If you have been injured or gotten sick and you are unable to work, consider hiring an attorney to help you get your disability benefits before you are denied. We have had considerable success in getting benefits paid for our clients before they were ever denied, and it has saved many people thousands of dollars in legal fees because we were able to head off the denial that was expected from the insurance company.

Copyright (c) 2008 by John V. Tucker and Tucker & Ludin, P.A. All rights reserved. For assistance with your Long Term Disability claim, ERISA Disability benefit claim, Social Security Disability claim, or Veterans Disability compensation or pension claim, call Disability Lawyer John Tucker at (866) 282-5260.

Tucker & Ludin Shareholder Eric Ludin Receives 2009 "Heroes Among Us" Award

On Saturday, January 24, 2009, disability benefits attorney John Tucker had the honor of introducing his law partner, Eric Ludin to a crowd of over 150 people at the 2009 St. Petersburg Bar Foundation Awards Dinner at the St. Petersburg Yacht Club. Mr. Ludin was being recognized for his lifetime of service to the community by the Bar Foundation. The "Heroes" award has been given for the past 5 years to bring awareness to the good works that lawyers do in the community.

Eric Ludin has a long and distinguished history of service in St. Petersburg and Pinellas County. In addition to serving as President of organizations like the St. Petersburg Bar Association and the St. Petersburg Bar Foundation, Mr. Ludin is also a Past-President of his synagogue, Congregation B'nai Israel. He has orchestrated and chaired several fundraising efforts for local Jewish charities, and was instrumental in creating a Jewish summer camp in Georgia. Currently, he is the President-elect of the Board of Directors of Menorah Manor, a local retirement and rehabilitation facility.

Perhaps the most enduring contribution that Eric Ludin has made to St. Petersburg revolves around his efforts to bring past discrimination by the St. Petersburg Bar Association to light. When he was President of the Bar, Ludin not only formed a standing diversity committee which exists to this day, but also established the Judge Frank White Scholarship (given to Stetson University Law Students of color) and created a museum exhibit titled "A Legacy of Courage, Vision & Hope" which chronicled the discriminatory efforts of the local bar that continued into the late 1960's. This exhibit has been shown in numerous locations, including the Florida state capital. Times have certainly changed, as evidenced by the fact that today the St. Petersburg Bar Association's President is an African-American attorney, Jeanine Williams.

Tucker & Ludin, P.A., salutes our shareholder Eric E. Ludin for his lifetime of service. For more information about Mr. Ludin, please visit www.tuckerludin.com.

Copyright (c) 2008 by John V. Tucker and Tucker & Ludin, P.A. All rights reserved. For assistance with your Long Term Disability claim, ERISA Disability benefit claim, Social Security Disability claim, or Veterans Disability compensation or pension claim, call Disability Lawyer John Tucker at (866) 282-5260.

John Tucker Spoke to Jacksonville (FL) Bar Association About Disability and Other Employee Benefit Issues

On Wednesday, January 22, 2009, John Tucker presented a lecture on disability insurance and other employee benefit issues titled "ERISA - Employee Benefit Issues in Severance and Termination Claims - How to Steer Clear of the Potholes!"

For a copy of the lecture paper, please contact our office.

Copyright (c) 2008 by John V. Tucker and Tucker & Ludin, P.A. All rights reserved. For assistance with your Long Term Disability claim, ERISA Disability benefit claim, Social Security Disability claim, or Veterans Disability compensation or pension claim, call Disability Lawyer John Tucker at (866) 282-5260.

Disability Benefit Tip: Social Security Consultative Exams

If your Social Security caseworker does not have enough medical information to make a decision on your claim, he or she will usually order a consultative examination ("CE") at Social Security's expense. The exam may be needed because the caseworker did not receive copies of your medical records, your doctor's notes were illegible, or because the written records simply did not have enough information about your condition and work restrictions. The case workers sometimes request additional information from your doctors, but they can only wait a limited amount of time for a response before needing to move the claim forward.

You will be notified of the examination date and time in writing. If you have a conflict or cannot make the appointment, contact your caseworker immediately to reschedule. Do not wait until the last minute - it can delay your claim significantly or result in a denial. You can also refuse to go to the exam, but your claim will likely be denied because of it.

A few points to remember when at the exam:

• Cooperate with the doctor. Do not exaggerate your symptoms, but do not minimize them either. The doctor has access to your medical records and may be able to tell how truthful you are. The doctor will probably ask you to do something that is difficult or painful (like testing your range of motion). Do the best you can, and if something hurts, explain that. If you don't try or refuse outright to do something, the doctor may view you unfavorably or conclude that you are lying about your condition.
• The exam probably will not be very thorough or in depth. When you are done, you should immediately write down what occurred, including the amount of time that you actually saw the doctor. Note also how much the doctor relied on your own statements and how much observation was made of your condition. For example, if one of your symptoms was knee pain, did the doctor have you flex and extend your knee while watching you, or did he just take a brief look and start writing?
• You can take someone with you to the appointment. They are not usually allowed in the exam room, but they can also write a statement attesting to the amount of time your appointment lasted.
• Also remember that you may be observed from the time you step out of your car to the time you get back in. Doctors will report if they observed you walk to the office with no problem but start limping as soon as you walk in the door. Again, do not exaggerate or fake anything, but be aware that other staff besides the doctor could be watching.
• Make sure to take an acceptable form of identification, a list of medications that you take and the bottles they come in, and any glasses, canes, or other assistive devices that have been prescribed by a doctor.

REMEMBER: BE COOPERATIVE AND HONEST DURING THE EXAMINATION. DOCUMENT EVERYTHING THAT OCCURRS FROM THE MOMENT YOU ARRIVE TO THE MOMENT YOU LEAVE THE OFFICE.

Copyright (c) 2008 by John V. Tucker and Tucker & Ludin, P.A. All rights reserved. For assistance with your Long Term Disability claim, ERISA Disability benefit claim, Social Security Disability claim, or Veterans Disability compensation or pension claim, call Disability Lawyer John Tucker at (866) 282-5260.

It's a Bad Economy....Be Wary Talking To Your Disability Insurance Company - Here's a Baker's Dozen Tips for Talking To Disability Adjusters

For some reason, many of my clients believe that the adjuster that works for the disability insurance company paying their benefits is their friend. I know it sounds cynical, but no matter how nice and sweet they are on the phone to you.....THEY ARE NOT YOUR BUDDY! They are just trying to coax information out of you. Remember, adjusters do not get paid to approve every claim. Insurance companies could never make money if they pay every claim. If the upturn in phone calls to my office is any indication, more people are getting denied in this bad economy.

When you make a Short Term Disability or Long Term Disability claim through your own insurance policy or an employer's benefit (ERISA) plan, you need to do what you can to get approved and avoid being cut off.

Here are 13 tips for talking to the disability insurance company's employees:

1. Ask the adjuster if you can record the conversation. Many of my clients are on so much medication that they cannot remember what they talk about on the phone, so if that is your problem, explain to the adjuster or investigator that is why you want to record the call.
2. Speaking of medications, make sure you tell the adjuster about the impact of your medications and their side effects. Give examples. You should also make sure that your doctors are recording this information, because a lot of adjusters will not just believe you...they need to see it in your medical records.
   
3. No matter how nice they are to you, do not volunteer information when answering their questions. Just answer their question. If they ask you, "Do you drive?" The answer is "yes" or "no," NOT "Yeah, I have a 1968 Mustang that I restored.
4. Do NOT speak in absolutes. For example: never say, "I cannot sit" unless you truly can never sit down. Instead, say explain how long you can sit before you have to move positions because of pain, and then you have to lay down after so many minutes, and so on.
5. Do not tell them about your sexual dysfunction unless it relates to your job (and it almost certainly doesn't), because they do not care. If it relates to your depression, maybe tell them, BUT keep the next tip in mind....
   
6. Be wary of talking about depression if you have serious physical problems that keep you from working, because many disability insurance policies have limited pay periods for depression and anxiety. Your adjuster may try to classify your claims as a "mental or nervous" claim to cut off your benefits or shorten how long you can get paid.
7. Give examples to bring your limitations to life. Instead of saying, "I have back pain," consider something like this: "My back pain is constant. It changes in intensity. When I get up in the morning, sometimes I cannot straighten upright. It is painful to sit on the toilet, but more painful to get up, and last week I actually got stuck sitting on the toilet and I needed my wife to help me get up....that was so embarrassing. It takes me 20 minutes or so to get moving in the morning, but even then I can't bend over to tie my shoes...I had to have my son tie my shoes for me, and now I bought these velcro shoes......" You get the picture. Make a mental picture for the adjuster so they realize how limited you really are. It works much better than "I have back pain."
8. Make sure the adjuster has all of your medical records. Ask them. If they don't, offer to get them for the adjuster. Then, you go get them, and read them before sending them in, so you know what the adjuster is looking at.
9. Ask the adjuster if they need anything else for your file. The last thing you want is for your claim to be denied because you did not send them something which you did not know they needed.
10. Do not offer to go to a doctor that the adjuster picks for you. 9 times out of 10 they will pick a biased doctor off a list of dependable doctors they use all the time to write reports shooting down disability claims.
11. Don't give details about where or when you go outside of your house. They will use this information to set up surveillance on you.
12. NEVER tell an adjuster that you "don't go out." Of course, you go out. When they get you on surveillance going to the store, they just caught you in a lie. Lying is the worst thing that can happen to your claim.
    
13. If someone knows about your problems other than your doctors, tell the adjuster who they are and their phone number and ask them to call that person. You should tell your friend ahead of time that you will be doing this, and tell them to follow the previous 12 rules. Make sure your friend understands that their role is to help you explain your disability, so the best thing they can do is to give real-life examples of the times they have seen you have problems. Ask the person what they remember seeing, and if they can describe significant problems, then tell them that is what they want to talk about if they are called.

BONUS TIP: If you have an attorney, tell the adjuster they may only speak to your attorney about your claim. If they have to interview you, do it at your attorney's office. If you do not have an attorney and your claim is being paid, consider hiring an attorney just to make sure you don't to anything to cause your claim problems. It will not be as expensive as you think, and it could save you thousands or tens of thousands of dollars if you avoid getting cut off.

In tough economic times, more and more disability claims are being denied and more disability claims are being terminated. Be careful about how you talk to the adjuster that calls you. They may want you to think they are your friend, but keep in mind who pays their salary. They will get fired if they pay every claim. Don't be the person whose claims lets them save money for their company.


Copyright (c) 2008 by John V. Tucker and Tucker & Ludin, P.A. All rights reserved. For assistance with your Long Term Disability claim, ERISA Disability benefit claim, Social Security Disability claim, or Veterans Disability compensation or pension claim, call Disability Lawyer John Tucker at (866) 282-5260.