How to apply for Long-Term Disability Benefits
The first step in applying for short-term or long-term disability benefits is for you to contact your employer or the insurance company and to request an application package. The application package will usually include three forms.
- There will be a form for you to fill out, usually called a Claimant’s or Member’s Statement Form;
- The second form is one for your employer to fill out, usually called anEmployer’s Form;
- The third form is a form for your doctor to fill out – it’s usually called theAttending Physician’s Statement or a Doctor’s Medical Report Form.
It’s your responsibility to make sure that everyone fills out these forms and that they’re all sent back to the insurance company. The insurance company won’t start reviewing and processing your claim until all three forms are received.
Once they have received all three forms, they typically have between 30 to 60 days to make a decision and get back to you. The exact time they have will be specified in your insurance policy.
The response you get back will typically be one of three things: there will either be an approval for your benefits, a denial, or the most common is that they can’t approve benefits at this time and require more information to make a final decision.
