Many people who pay for disability insurance never need to make a claim. However, some who do are met with denial from their insurance providers.

Policyholders have responded to Unum denied disability claims by appealing to federal court to get the benefits they believe they are entitled to.

Unum and Unum Provident provide coverage for about 40 percent of American disability insurance policies and is considered the largest disability insurance provider in the country. As many as 17 million United States citizens are insured by Unum for their disability coverage.

However, many policyholders who file disability claims with Unum are finding that Unum denies their claims.

In fact, an episode of 60 Minutes in 2002 uncovered the fact that Unum denied disability claims regularly and systematically. Unum has been accused of creating a “denial quota” for each month and for giving rewards to claim adjusters who regularly denied claims.

Additionally, the television show spoke to a doctor who was originally employed by Unum to do in-house reviews of medical claims. The doctor claims his employment was terminated when he told Unum he would not unfairly deny legitimate claims.

Other doctors have come forward since this time with reports of similar requests by Unum to maintain that a policyholder was not disabled when in fact, they were. This, they say, perpetuates the practice of Unum denied disability claims.

The personal stories of those to who Unum denied disability claims number in the thousands. For example, one business owner in Alabama, after being diagnosed with a rare and fast growing brain tumor, found that he could not work. Seizures kept him from being able to function at the business which he owned.

He filed a disability claim with his insurance provider, Unum, because of his inability to work. He claims he was initially paid by Unum, but later, because of a loophole with salary combined with the fact that he was a business owner, Unum saw fit to deny his disability claims. Alarmingly, instead of paying him for the disability he believed he was owed, Unum decided they had overpaid him and charged him $21,000 in overpayment.

This is only one of thousands of similar claims, lawsuits and stories of those on the receiving end of Unum denied disability claims. Sadly, many other individuals find them in similar situations where the insurance coverage for which they have paid for months or years is denied or terminated.

Other insurance companies that do business under Unum include New England Life Insurance, John Hancock, Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, Provident, Paul Revere Life, Colonial Life and many others.

If you believe Unum denied disability claims in error, or that they may have terminated your disability insurance unfairly, you may benefit from speaking to an experienced attorney. An attorney can help you determine if filing legal action is the right option for you.

Do YOU have a legal claim? Fill out the form on this page now for a free, immediate, and confidential case evaluation. The bad faith insurance attorneys who work with Top Class Actions will contact you if you qualify to let you know if an individual lawsuit or Unum class action lawsuit is best for you. [In general, Unum bad faith lawsuits are filed individually by each plaintiff and are not class actions.] Hurry — statutes of limitations may apply.

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