Hi, I just wanted to recommend that if your communications with the insurance company are done via secure/certified emails stored in their own system, you should save each and every email/attachment in your own computer.
ALL of my communications with the insurance company are done via email. I just had 2 years worth of communications and documents suddenly disappear from the secure inbox and my new (4th or 5th since May 2021) case manager just advised me that emails are deleted from the inbox “after a certain amount of time”.
No one ever mentioned this to me, which is pretty important. Since the entirety (almost) of the emails were purged at once, it’s not like an automatic deadline based on the emails date, they seem to go in and delete everything. They left only the very last email I had received.
I’d saved up until May or June 2021 but missed everything since then. Had tons of important info, like who to contact to get a copy of my file to get a copy of those emails back. It sucks. And it’s ridiculous. I’m tempted to use my own email account from now on. At least I’ll have a copy of outgoing messages and only have to save the incoming.
Anyway, save everything in your computer. They can and do wipe emails from your secure inbox.
And honestly, I’m getting so sick of the revolving door of case managers. Got lucky and had the same person who was amazing for almost a full year. Since then, they’ve assigned 4 different people. It’s like starting over each time.
Wow that’s fast deleting current emails as well. Make sure you get a written record that that’s what happened. I guess the good news is that they must not be contemplating being able to get you off of your benefits any time soon or they would have kept it for litigation.
Hi Caro, thanks for your reply. I’m wondering if you could explain what you mean:
Also, is the case managers reply saying they delete the emails after a certain amount of time good enough or I should be seeking something more in writing?
I requested a copy of my file. It’s all there. It was amazing what they sent me (helps me in my civil suit against my former employer mind you). They have to provide any and all documents/notes/scraps of info/internal emails. Medical info goes to your doctor on file (she just gives them to me as she has her own files)
I’ve requested my file a few times over the years. They pick up the next request on the date the last one left off.
The email reply is good enough, I wasn’t sure if they had told you on the phone.
Re the other thing when companies are expecting a dispute that might end up in court they start preserving evidence for later, so if they didn’t preserve the evidence then it’s safe to assume they aren’t expecting a dispute.
Stay on your toes…call me cynical, but if their plan is to cut you off, then it would be in the LTD insurers best interest to blow away the correspondance from the correspondence server to further frustrate a claimant and make a claimant feel like they don’t have the information they need to fight against a denial. I personally believe LTD insurers use these databases to control the situation since most denied claimants have no idea they can use a legal claim instead of internal “appeals” to get their benefits reinstated.
For litigation purposes the correspondence database may have been purged, but their claimant file database tracking all correspondence should have all this info still intact. If I were you, I’d asked for a copy of my complete file since you can’t access the correspondence anymore. If your claim file doesn’t show your correspondence or they only kept the correspondance that favors them then I’d raise hell. I trust insurance companies as far as I can throw them, and as I’m a bit crippled that’s not very far.
Good you requested your file. Going forward, when you go into their email portal, forward each new email to your personal email. When you send them an email, cc your personal email.
Sorry for the delay in responding! I haven’t logged in for a long time.
My insurer, along with my ex-employer, worked very aggressively to terminate my benefits. Neither wanted to pay LTD for 17 years. My ex-employer blindsided the insurer and terminated their longstanding plan with a 30 day notice. It just so happened to be the same month I was to transition from STD to LTD.
Because of this, my insurer wrote/spoke to my ex-employer I deliberately double dipped 7 weeks of employment income and STD benefits.
My case manager and that office intentionally provided my ex-employer financial misinformation, which got me fired (not legal btw), did not update the ex-employer when it came to light it wasn’t true (and their own miscalculation), they communicated with them even after I revoked authorization (in writing numerous times). She has gas lit me numerous times, ignored my requests for information, stopped and delayed my payments and I ended up not taking their calls.
I was terminated for “…appearing happy at a doctor’s appointment 5 months prior…” THAT was the last straw. My doctor not only sent a letter ripping apart all their lies, she put in a complaint. I also included every email address outside that office in corresponding about that termination. It happened around the same time my insurer merged with two other insurers, so I emailed those company people too LOL and their ombudsmen.
That happened in February 2020. Within two weeks, I was assured by a completely different office and person that my benefits would never been terminated again. Since then, my payments have never been late and I have heard zip from them except for my legal requests and my lawyer handles that now. I have a wrongful dismissal against my ex-employer.
There is more LOL one day I think I need to write a book!
So sorry to hear all this. Glad to hear you have a doctor in your corner and that you have assurance will not be terminated again. Let us know how the wrongful dismissal case goes, and good luck with it.
I’m really frustrated at this point. There are a few reasons but this one is really a little overboard. So last summer I realized that my older emails were being deleted. I played around with the settings and found there’s option for the amount of time before a message expires. It was set at 3 months, and there was no longer option.
This is obviously new as in the past, my entire inbox would be wiped out, now its individual emails when they get to 3 months. I have no idea who set it up like that or why. And when I was looking at the support documents for whatever system they’re using, the deadline can be set for longer times, it’s sunlife who chose to limit to 3 months.
I think it’s a bit ridiculous. Any idea why they would do that? It’s not because of space, messages hardly take up any. Is there any rule somewhere on how long these emails have to be saved before they’re deleted? 3 months is nonsense.
That’s kind of wild. There’s a rule that they have to keep anything related to litigation, and another privacy rule that they can only keep private information as long as they need it. But I would have thought that an active LTD claim needs the information for as long as the claim is active or can be revived after return to work. I don’t know if they are moving them to some kind of archive system or they are completely being deleted but definitely you keep a copy of the correspondence.