In Missouri. After my motorcycle wreck, I got a letter from Ünum, which is the provider of my short and long term disability insurance, purchased through my employer.

The letter states that any money they give me is a courtesy, and that I am expected to pay it back from any settlement I get.

The question I have, is this normal? I've never had to go through any of this before.

Not unusual at all . My wife was in a serious accident with injuries . We have retained an Attorney and he said all of the medical expenses will have to be paid back to Medicare and the supplemental insurance when there is a settlement .

What? That's the craziest thing I have ever heard of. I would ask them to double or even triple the courtesy money then. Since it's just gift money and not coverage that I paid premiums for through my employer. Any settlement should be for pain n suffering so I can't imagine those funds having to be given back, but maybe I'm wrong. I had a really bad T-bone accident that paid my truck off. I had no doc bills other than my Chiro and they sent me $10k to not sue them later. I would imagine Medicare wanting funds back though, if it were for paid doc bills but pain n suffering settlement or to sign off preventing future suits shouldn't have to be given back. I'll wait for a legal response from someone smarter than me in this area. Great Question!

You don't give back EVERYTHING . You have to reimburse your Medical Insurance carrier for what they paid out IF there is a settlement .

quote:

Originally posted by selogic:
Not unusual at all . My wife was in a serious accident with injuries . We have retained an Attorney and he said all of the medical expenses will have to be paid back to Medicare and the supplemental insurance when there is a settlement .

quote:

Originally posted by selogic:
You don't give back EVERYTHING . You have to reimburse your Medical Insurance carrier for what they paid out IF there is a settlement .

Are you reading the man's post, man? Or just on a 9-minute repeat cycle?
He's not talking about medical claims costs.

I've never heard of this on disability, but headed to check our group policies details now.

I'd expect this to be governed by specific policy terms rather than one "legal" set of laws/regs.

I have personal experience with UNUM and their short term disability. They will make every attempt to deny your claim, drag their feet paying it, attempt to shut off payments before a doctor gives you permission to return to work, and generally be as unhelpful as possible. In my case, my HR Department had to get involved to intervene on my behalf.

The next time I could have used the "benefit", I told the HR manager and the president of the company that I would take as much PTO and unpaid time off as needed before I ever applied for short term disability benefits from UNUM again.

As an aside, know this if your company uses Navia for FSA benefits: Because your company paycheck ends when disability begins, so does FSA auto-pay. In my case, Navia denied the use of my FSA for the surgery I had planned and paid to use it for. Their policy is to shut off all FSA use during the period of time they are not getting paid. This includes FSA claims not only for you but your entire family as well. Don't know if anything has changed over the last eight years since I had this situation, but they don't go back and reactivate FSA coverage for the time period even if you update your payments. I ended up not being able to use any FSA funds for the surgery.

My last bit of advice: Take copious notes when you're on the phone with UNUM and your FSA provider. Dates, times, names of who you talked to, etc. You'll need them when things go sideways. Good luck!

I have heard of this before - that an insurance company might ask for re-imbursement of expenses due to injury if you sue and receive a settlement.

In my wife's medical malpractice case, she did receive a significant settlement. I asked our attorneys if this could happen.

Their response was that the insurance company could indeed ask for costs to be reimbursed back to them, but they also said not to worry, because we had expended a lot of money up front in order to sue and therefore receive a settlement. Those expenses would be deducted from anything we had to pay back to the insurance company, so the net cost to us would be close to zero.

Of course it’s common. You don’t get to double dip. That is, receive $$$$ for being unemployed from your disability carrier and then a second time from the guy who hit you and his carrier.

That being said, an attorney can generally get them to accept a lower amount as payment in full.

I've been off work since January for separate shoulder replacement surgeries.

The short-term disability (6 months) and the long-term disability (up to 2 years) are with employer-paid separate companies.
They both asked the general questions: was there an accident, is there litigation, etc.

Short term was easy, being that they are also my medical benefit provider.

Long term not so easy, took them 45 days and a sh!te load of paperwork to get approved.
Long term said I may have to apply for social security disability benefits, and if approved, it will be deducted from what the insurance company pays.

They left a voicemail about filing for SS, but I haven't called them back.
I'm retiring at the end of the month anyway..

quote:

Originally posted by 1lowlife:
I'm retiring at the end of the month anyway..

This is likely irrelevant to your decision. Look at the specifics of the group LTD policy. In almost ever instance, it will pay beyond when you would have worked once it is triggered. IOW, if you planned to retire at 62, it will likely pay until at least 65. Maybe longer - our pays to normal retirement age as definite in the policy or 48 months, whichever is greater if younger than retirement age when disabled.

If instead you are already 65 plus, there will still usually be some benefit period set as a max from date of disability. For example ours pays for 18 months even if you are 69 or older when coming starting disability.

You or your employer have been paying for this benefit all along. Unless you just feel magnanimous towards the insurer, take the benefits you have coming.

quote:

Originally posted by BB61:
Of course it’s common. You don’t get to double dip. That is, receive $$$$ for being unemployed from your disability carrier and then a second time from the guy who hit you and his carrier.

Ahh , somebody get's it .

Mrs. Mike just said what BB61 said (she’s in HR) it makes sense. If you don’t get anything you get to keep what ünum sent you

Thank you for your replies,everyone.

quote:

Originally posted by Georgeair:

quote:

Originally posted by 1lowlife:
I'm retiring at the end of the month anyway..

This is likely irrelevant to your decision. Look at the specifics of the group LTD policy. In almost ever instance, it will pay beyond when you would have worked once it is triggered. IOW, if you planned to retire at 62, it will likely pay until at least 65. Maybe longer - our pays to normal retirement age as definite in the policy or 48 months, whichever is greater if younger than retirement age when disabled.

If instead you are already 65 plus, there will still usually be some benefit period set as a max from date of disability. For example ours pays for 18 months even if you are 69 or older when coming starting disability.

You or your employer have been paying for this benefit all along. Unless you just feel magnanimous towards the insurer, take the benefits you have coming.

My full-time company benefits end when my employment ends.
It clearly states that in the separation agreement.

My point was that the long-term insurance company want me to apply for SS disability for one reason.
If I were get it, the insurance company will pay me less.

But I'm not going to be disabled for 12 months, the minimum for SS disability.
After my PT is finished, I shouldn't be disabled at all, I'll simply choose not to work anymore..