Re: Has anyone receive corporate disability because of being diagnosed with NS?

February 25, 2006

Hi , Before I was diagnosed with sarcoid , I worked for the same company for 17 years. When I left abruptly , I immediately went on short term disability on March 3rd, 2003. In July 2003, I stared the proceedings for Social security disability because I knew it was a long process and things didn't look too well. My short term ran was good for 6 months and ran out in Sept. at which I went on long term disability. There was a lot of paperwork and red tape and verification from all the doctors I was seeing, rheumy, neuro, dermatologist and pcp. Long term was good for 2 years. My social security finally went through in March 2005. I had about 6 mos left off long term disability left. Well, little did I know that once I received the lump sum from the backpay back to when I orginally filed (July 2003) I had to pay this amount back to my long term disability company. So I was

left with about $1000 left from the lump sum of $28,000 for 2 1/2 years .And once you do get Social security benefits, the long term disability company doesn't have to pay you anymore. Because you can't get a paycheck from 2 places. (That;s why I had to pay back the funds back to the long term disabilty company for the 2 1/2 years ). So that's my story. I don't know if it helps you or if you can understand my blabber. If you have any questions, I am here and I will try to answer them. By the way, I got denied the first time for social security, The second time I got a lawyer that specializes in disabilty and won. I totally believe you should get a lawyer. They know the ins and outs. Good luck. Debbie" J. Casper" wrote: Hey everyone, I follow this user group and am now drawing very close to the end of my short term disability. I have been awarded SSDI benefits, this took place in October of 2005. Once I receive the notice form SDDI got in touch with my company and told them that I would be filing for Long term disabilty (LDT). Since then it has been a up hill battle. My company abruptly informed me just because I was awarded SSDI benefits, that this did not mean that I would qualify under their LTD plan. Just to let you know I have been a faithful employee of this company for 28 years. All of my reviews were steller and by all measurments I was a excellent employ. My first bouts with NS was in December of 1995 as I was hospitalized, in August of 1996 I went in for surgery and had a portion of my right lung system removed and was diagnosed with

sarcoid. I continued to have systems and high fevers daily and in 1997 after a serious of spinal taps with high ACE levels and protein I was then diagnosed with Neurosarcoidosis. Until last year in april I had continue to work the normal 50 to 60 hour workweek routine. In March and April of 2005 my body started to shutdown and I was hospitalized for 5 days. At that point my doctor stated that in all of his years of practice had not seen spinal fuild as bad as mine. Once out of the hospital he recommend that I file for disability as the stress of work and my body was telling me that I was no longer capable of working and keeping up with the long hours that I was required to meet the job requirements, infact he said I needed to stop working all together. So taking my doctors advice I have been pursuing my long term benefits from my company. So far they are draging their feet and with in 45 days all of my benefits will

evaporate unless I receive long term disability. The case worker that is supporting my request will not email or call me back with updates or status. Infact I was the one that needed to get my Social Security Records and physically send them to them for review. The third party management company doctor insulted my doctor and told him that he was not qualified to make a disability claim for Neurosarcoidosis as he was only a general practitioner (even though he was utilizing data that had come from three different neurologist, a pulmanary doctor, and a rumatoid doctor) and that he would not consider my doctors clinically assessment as being valid. So I am down to the wire and I am wondering if any of you have received long term disability from a corporate entity or if all of you only have SDDI benefits. I know that at this time that many of you have no benefits and I truly am saddened by the lack of understanding of our

illness. If any of you have managed to become qualified for corporate benefits I would like to talk with you as I would like to know the process that you and your doctor's took to gain approval. I know that everyones conditions are different, but it would be nice to know what it took to convince the company that your illness was serious enough to warrent LTD benefits. Also are any of you familar with the term ERISA and have any of you used ERISA lawyers to win your claims?Warm regards, Bob Casper~~~~ *** ~~~ *** ~~~ *** ~~~~The Neurosarcoidosis CommunityNS CHAT:- Has been cancelled for now.Message Archives:-http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Neurosarcoidosis/messagesMembers Database:-Listings of locations, phone numbers, and instant messengers.http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Neurosarcoidosis/database

February 25, 2006

I am receiving long term from my employer & SSD. When

you say talk did you mean email outside the group?

That would spare them hearing my story for 900th time

in less than a year. LOL Let me know & I'll give you

the details. I don't know the ERISA term.

grannylunatic@...

__________________________________________________

February 25, 2006

I am receiving long term from my employer & SSD. When

you say talk did you mean email outside the group?

That would spare them hearing my story for 900th time

in less than a year. LOL Let me know & I'll give you

the details. I don't know the ERISA term.

grannylunatic@...

__________________________________________________

February 25, 2006

I am receiving long term from my employer & SSD. When

you say talk did you mean email outside the group?

That would spare them hearing my story for 900th time

in less than a year. LOL Let me know & I'll give you

the details. I don't know the ERISA term.

grannylunatic@...

__________________________________________________

February 25, 2006

I might as well give you the readers digest version

before I forget what I was going to say. LOL I was

having problems doing my job correctly & making too

many errors so they called me into Human Resources

about if my doc thought I should take a medical leave

of abscence. They were still trying to decide what it

was since my neuro said it wasn't MS. The insurance

company handling it gave me to the biggest ass in the

place & he would tell me 2 different stories about

which paperwork he had & had not gotten from my

neurologist. I went on medical leave in November &

filed for disability in February. I believe it was May

when I went on long term & the same insurance guy drug

his feet like it was coming out of his pocket but when

I informed him I was awarded my SSD his attitude

changed & they passed me on to another woman to handle

the case. Since the amount social security was paying

me was less than what the insurance company was they

deducted the SSD & mail me a tiny check for the

difference. I still haven't received the backpay from

social security but I also have to pay that amount

back to the insurance company & everytime we get a

raise in our SSD checks I have to let the insurance

company know so they can deduct it from what they

pay. It sounds like it all depends on who your

employer has their disability policy from. The

insurance company had their own forms & all my case

notes were faxed to them also along with test results.

Hope you can pick some useful info out of my iv

steroid ramble. LOL I was turned down for SSD in 1997

after my shunt surgery & meningitis & 5 weeks in the

hospital. I was in pretty bad shape but it didn't seem

to matter the first time.

grannylunatic@...

__________________________________________________

February 25, 2006

I might as well give you the readers digest version

before I forget what I was going to say. LOL I was

having problems doing my job correctly & making too

many errors so they called me into Human Resources

about if my doc thought I should take a medical leave

of abscence. They were still trying to decide what it

was since my neuro said it wasn't MS. The insurance

company handling it gave me to the biggest ass in the

place & he would tell me 2 different stories about

which paperwork he had & had not gotten from my

neurologist. I went on medical leave in November &

filed for disability in February. I believe it was May

when I went on long term & the same insurance guy drug

his feet like it was coming out of his pocket but when

I informed him I was awarded my SSD his attitude

changed & they passed me on to another woman to handle

the case. Since the amount social security was paying

me was less than what the insurance company was they

deducted the SSD & mail me a tiny check for the

difference. I still haven't received the backpay from

social security but I also have to pay that amount

back to the insurance company & everytime we get a

raise in our SSD checks I have to let the insurance

company know so they can deduct it from what they

pay. It sounds like it all depends on who your

employer has their disability policy from. The

insurance company had their own forms & all my case

notes were faxed to them also along with test results.

Hope you can pick some useful info out of my iv

steroid ramble. LOL I was turned down for SSD in 1997

after my shunt surgery & meningitis & 5 weeks in the

hospital. I was in pretty bad shape but it didn't seem

to matter the first time.

grannylunatic@...

__________________________________________________

February 25, 2006

Hi Bob- this is Matt in Seattle- if i remember

correctly u live in Sacramento- i will be there in

late April for a couple of days and was wondering if u

would like to meet- Matt

--- Debbie rozebudz36@...> wrote:

> Hi ,

> Before I was diagnosed with sarcoid , I worked

> for the same company for 17 years. When I left

> abruptly , I immediately went on short term

> disability on March 3rd, 2003. In July 2003, I

> stared the proceedings for Social security

> disability because I knew it was a long process and

> things didn't look too well.

> My short term ran was good for 6 months and ran out

> in Sept. at which I went on long term disability.

> There was a lot of paperwork and red tape and

> verification from all the doctors I was seeing,

> rheumy, neuro, dermatologist and pcp. Long term was

> good for 2 years. My social security finally went

> through in March 2005. I had about 6 mos left off

> long term disability left. Well, little did I know

> that once I received the lump sum from the backpay

> back to when I orginally filed (July 2003) I had to

> pay this amount back to my long term disability

> company. So I was left with about $1000 left from

> the lump sum of $28,000 for 2 1/2 years .

> And once you do get Social security benefits, the

> long term disability company doesn't have to pay you

> anymore. Because you can't get a paycheck from 2

> places. (That;s why I had to pay back the funds

> back to the long term disabilty company for the 2

> 1/2 years ).

> So that's my story. I don't know if it helps you or

> if you can understand my blabber. If you have any

> questions, I am here and I will try to answer them.

> By the way, I got denied the first time for

> social security, The second time I got a lawyer

> that specializes in disabilty and won. I totally

> believe you should get a lawyer. They know the ins

> and outs. Good luck. Debbie

> " J. Casper " robertcasper@...>

> wrote: Hey everyone,

>

> I follow this user group and am now drawing very

> close to the end of

> my short term disability. I have been awarded SSDI

> benefits, this

> took place in October of 2005. Once I receive the

> notice form SDDI

> got in touch with my company and told them that I

> would be filing

> for Long term disabilty (LDT). Since then it has

> been a up hill

> battle. My company abruptly informed me just because

> I was awarded

> SSDI benefits, that this did not mean that I would

> qualify under

> their LTD plan.

>

> Just to let you know I have been a faithful employee

> of this company

> for 28 years. All of my reviews were steller and by

> all measurments

> I was a excellent employ. My first bouts with NS was

> in December of

> 1995 as I was hospitalized, in August of 1996 I went

> in for surgery

> and had a portion of my right lung system removed

> and was diagnosed

> with sarcoid. I continued to have systems and high

> fevers daily and

> in 1997 after a serious of spinal taps with high ACE

> levels and

> protein I was then diagnosed with Neurosarcoidosis.

> Until last year

> in april I had continue to work the normal 50 to 60

> hour workweek

> routine. In March and April of 2005 my body started

> to shutdown and

> I was hospitalized for 5 days. At that point my

> doctor stated that

> in all of his years of practice had not seen spinal

> fuild as bad as

> mine. Once out of the hospital he recommend that I

> file for

> disability as the stress of work and my body was

> telling me that I

> was no longer capable of working and keeping up with

> the long hours

> that I was required to meet the job requirements,

> infact he said I

> needed to stop working all together.

>

> So taking my doctors advice I have been pursuing my

> long term

> benefits from my company. So far they are draging

> their feet and

> with in 45 days all of my benefits will evaporate

> unless I receive

> long term disability. The case worker that is

> supporting my request

> will not email or call me back with updates or

> status. Infact I was

> the one that needed to get my Social Security

> Records and physically

> send them to them for review. The third party

> management company

> doctor insulted my doctor and told him that he was

> not qualified to

> make a disability claim for Neurosarcoidosis as he

> was only a

> general practitioner (even though he was utilizing

> data that had

> come from three different neurologist, a pulmanary

> doctor, and a

> rumatoid doctor) and that he would not consider my

> doctors

> clinically assessment as being valid.

>

> So I am down to the wire and I am wondering if any

> of you have

> received long term disability from a corporate

> entity or if all of

> you only have SDDI benefits. I know that at this

> time that many of

> you have no benefits and I truly am saddened by the

> lack of

> understanding of our illness. If any of you have

> managed to become

> qualified for corporate benefits I would like to

> talk with you as I

> would like to know the process that you and your

> doctor's took to

> gain approval. I know that everyones conditions are

> different, but

> it would be nice to know what it took to convince

> the company that

> your illness was serious enough to warrent LTD

> benefits.

>

> Also are any of you familar with the term ERISA and

> have any of you

> used ERISA lawyers to win your claims?

>

> Warm regards,

>

> Bob Casper

>

> ~~~~ *** ~~~ *** ~~~ *** ~~~~

> The Neurosarcoidosis Community

>

> NS CHAT:- Has been cancelled for now.

>

> Message Archives:-

>

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Neurosarcoidosis/messages

>

> Members Database:-

> Listings of locations, phone numbers, and instant

> messengers.

>

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Neurosarcoidosis/database

>

February 25, 2006

Yes Matt, that would be great, I would like to hook up. I will be in a Christian conference in Lake Tahoe on April 21st through April 23. The rest of the month I will be available. Hope this works for you. Bob Casper Cohen wrote: Hi Bob- this is Matt in Seattle- if i remembercorrectly u live in Sacramento- i will be there inlate April for a couple of days and was wondering if uwould like to meet- Matt --- Debbie wrote:> Hi ,> Before I was diagnosed with sarcoid , I worked> for the same company for 17 years. When I left> abruptly , I immediately went on short term> disability on March 3rd, 2003. In July 2003,

I> stared the proceedings for Social security> disability because I knew it was a long process and> things didn't look too well. > My short term ran was good for 6 months and ran out> in Sept. at which I went on long term disability. > There was a lot of paperwork and red tape and> verification from all the doctors I was seeing,> rheumy, neuro, dermatologist and pcp. Long term was> good for 2 years. My social security finally went> through in March 2005. I had about 6 mos left off> long term disability left. Well, little did I know> that once I received the lump sum from the backpay> back to when I orginally filed (July 2003) I had to> pay this amount back to my long term disability> company. So I was left with about $1000 left from> the lump sum of $28,000 for 2 1/2 years .> And once you do get Social security

benefits, the> long term disability company doesn't have to pay you> anymore. Because you can't get a paycheck from 2> places. (That;s why I had to pay back the funds> back to the long term disabilty company for the 2> 1/2 years ). > So that's my story. I don't know if it helps you or> if you can understand my blabber. If you have any> questions, I am here and I will try to answer them.> By the way, I got denied the first time for> social security, The second time I got a lawyer> that specializes in disabilty and won. I totally> believe you should get a lawyer. They know the ins> and outs. Good luck. Debbie> " J. Casper" > wrote: Hey everyone, > > I follow this

user group and am now drawing very> close to the end of > my short term disability. I have been awarded SSDI> benefits, this > took place in October of 2005. Once I receive the> notice form SDDI > got in touch with my company and told them that I> would be filing > for Long term disabilty (LDT). Since then it has> been a up hill > battle. My company abruptly informed me just because> I was awarded > SSDI benefits, that this did not mean that I would> qualify under > their LTD plan. > > Just to let you know I have been a faithful employee> of this company > for 28 years. All of my reviews were steller and by> all measurments > I was a excellent employ. My first bouts with NS was> in December of > 1995 as I was hospitalized, in August of 1996 I went> in for surgery > and had a portion of my right lung system

removed> and was diagnosed > with sarcoid. I continued to have systems and high> fevers daily and > in 1997 after a serious of spinal taps with high ACE> levels and > protein I was then diagnosed with Neurosarcoidosis.> Until last year > in april I had continue to work the normal 50 to 60> hour workweek > routine. In March and April of 2005 my body started> to shutdown and > I was hospitalized for 5 days. At that point my> doctor stated that > in all of his years of practice had not seen spinal> fuild as bad as > mine. Once out of the hospital he recommend that I> file for > disability as the stress of work and my body was> telling me that I > was no longer capable of working and keeping up with> the long hours > that I was required to meet the job requirements,> infact he said I > needed to stop working all together.

> > So taking my doctors advice I have been pursuing my> long term > benefits from my company. So far they are draging> their feet and > with in 45 days all of my benefits will evaporate> unless I receive > long term disability. The case worker that is> supporting my request > will not email or call me back with updates or> status. Infact I was > the one that needed to get my Social Security> Records and physically > send them to them for review. The third party> management company > doctor insulted my doctor and told him that he was> not qualified to > make a disability claim for Neurosarcoidosis as he> was only a > general practitioner (even though he was utilizing> data that had > come from three different neurologist, a pulmanary> doctor, and a > rumatoid doctor) and that he would not consider my>

doctors > clinically assessment as being valid. > > So I am down to the wire and I am wondering if any> of you have > received long term disability from a corporate> entity or if all of > you only have SDDI benefits. I know that at this> time that many of > you have no benefits and I truly am saddened by the> lack of > understanding of our illness. If any of you have> managed to become > qualified for corporate benefits I would like to> talk with you as I > would like to know the process that you and your> doctor's took to > gain approval. I know that everyones conditions are> different, but > it would be nice to know what it took to convince> the company that > your illness was serious enough to warrent LTD> benefits. > > Also are any of you familar with the term ERISA and> have any of you > used ERISA

lawyers to win your claims?> > Warm regards, > > Bob Casper> > > > > > > > > ~~~~ *** ~~~ *** ~~~ *** ~~~~> The Neurosarcoidosis Community> > NS CHAT:- Has been cancelled for now.> > Message Archives:->http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Neurosarcoidosis/messages> > Members Database:-> Listings of locations, phone numbers, and instant> messengers.>http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Neurosarcoidosis/database> > >

February 25, 2006