Unum Lawsuit Details New Claim Denial Tactic: Social Security Disability

Unum Lawsuit Details New Claim Denial Tactic: Social Security Disability

By Andrea Gressman

Reverend Bob Hutchinson thought he was one of the lucky ones when it came to Unum and their history of denying legitimate benefit claims. When he fractured his spinal column and was completely disabled as a result of it, Unum approved his long-term disability claim. However, just nine months later, Mr. Hutchinson received a call from his Unum representative, which asserted that Mr. Hutchinson needed to apply for Social Security disability right away.

According to a recent statement by a long-term disability lawyer, Unum, as well as other long-term insurance providers, consider it common practice to have their policyholders apply for Social Security disability benefits to offset and then reduce the amount of Unum benefits they pay their disability benefits policyholder. Although many Unum policyholders have expressed a great deal of concern about this common Unum practice, the long-term disability lawyer says  it is legal for Unum to require this of their policyholder but adds more flame to the fire when it comes to Unum’s history of shady practices.

In Mr. Hutchinson’s case, Unum directed him to their in-house “Genex”. This program provides disability case management for Unum’s policyholders. This includes things like vocational rehab and also helping the policyholder apply for Social Security disability. Mr. Hutchinson reported that Social Security now pays him $1600, while his Unum policy was to pay him $2700 per month total. So now, Unum would only be required to pay the Unum policyholder $1100 to make up the difference that Social Security won’t pay until Mr. Hutchinson reaches the age of 72. However, to this day Unum still has not made up the difference.