No one that receives long term disability benefits should expect the delivery of those same benefits to continue for a greatly-extended amount of time. Insurance companies can point to any one of multiple reasons for cancelling a long-term disability policy.
Possible limitations on length of coverage
For certain chronic conditions, the coverage provided by long term disability benefits ends after the passing of 24 months. Still, exceptions do get made for specific, organic mental disorders.
Certain actions by the policy holder can lead to cancellation of coverage.
The insurance company could end coverage if the policy holder failed to apply for Social Security benefits. An insurance company might take a similar action, if surveillance shows that the policy holder’s activities have included some that do not appear consistent with the policy holder’s claimed condition.
By the same token, cancellation of the benefits associated with a long-term disability policy could result, if the person that has been receiving a regular benefit payment has failed to continue a prescribed treatment, or has not scheduled routine examinations.
An insurer has the right to alter the definition for disability.
The insurer seldom makes such a change until after the policy holder has received benefits for at least 24 months. The most common change relates to the extent of the policy holder’s abilities.
During the first 24 months, the policy holder must be unable to perform the tasks associated with his or her own occupation. After 24 months, that same policy holder must be unable to perform the tasks that could be associated with any occupation.
A cancellation that might be expected:
Normally, an insurance company cancels the delivery of long-term disability benefits once the disabled worker has reached the age of 65, retirement age. Still, that does not mean that the policy holder that has reached retirement age should expect a sudden cut-off of payments. According to personal injury lawyers in Trenton, sometimes the payments continue for up to 2 years.
Does that mean that no one that suffers a disabling injury after reaching the age of 65 should expect to qualify for long term disability benefits? Yes and no: The victim could still seek a type of financial assistance by submitting a personal injury claim, if the victim got injured due to the occurrence of an accident.
Yet the victim’s condition might suggest that the recipient of the assistance is not likely to live much more than 2 to 3 years. In that case, the amount of money granted to the victim might fall short of the amount needed. That would be the case if the injured victim recovers some strength, and then manages to survive for 5 or more years, beyond the date of the injury-causing accident.