My change of definition date was approved (yes the insurance company will continue my benefits past the two year mark).
Sadly I am not ready to return and still am not stable.
Since it’s been two years coming up I’m going to lose my great job. With good pay, flexibility for my health and family, and pension and benefits.
Has anyone been in this situation? Did you go back and just tough it out even though you weren’t healthy enough to? Did you end up working somewhere else when you were ready? What did that end up looking like?
The insurance company still wants me to work eventually and says they will keep reevaluating me and get me into a new position once they determine that I’m medically stable.
If it’s a pension through your work place .u don’t loose your pension that u paid into …and what if u go back to work and down the road u realize u can’t do it …Then u have to fight LTD again to get back on …
Why do you think you’ll lose your health benefits/job?
Employers may terminate you at 2-4 (average) years on disability for “frustration of contract” (eg. not coming to work) but they may not.
It’s normal to be depressed. I remember the 2 year mark was depressing for me too. I was in the same boat. Honestly, for me, it wasn’t until I accepted (to myself) that I was likely disabled for life and would never return to work, that I found peace and true happiness. Hope is good to have but for me it caused immense guilt and anguish. If I do get better one day and can go back to work then great, but if I don’t that’s okay too. For what it is worth, I found years 2 to 4 much easier than the first 2 years.
I think the hardest part for me is seeing a lot of stuff I fought so long for finally get implemented at my work and I am no longer a part of it. I still crave that work environment but I am not able to do it. I eventually had to stop logging into my work email and just cut it all out of my life. I havent logged into it in over a year. I have moved on fully now.
Thanks Adam this is so true and so helpful. Before I became sick I made comments about people on disability thinking they were living their best lives not working and on vacation. It is no vacation! And comes with a stigma.
Do you still keep getting hounded by insurance? It’s very stressful always feeling like you’re being followed. I am legitimately sick and I’m not hiding anything, but it still comes with guilt and feelings of emptiness being off work.
My insurance place left me alone after the 3 year mark. They said I am on maintenance and I haven’t heard from them since. From what I have gathered, it is pretty common for most insurance places to leave you alone the longer your claim is, although this varies. They simply don’t have enough staff to monitor and harrass everyone.
I never did except initially.
I have a chronic physical disability that will never get better.
I fill out a form once/year (basically confirming I’m still alive :-)).
It probably depends on your insurance company, type of disability, and length on disability.
If you’re lucky. My employer wanted me out like 6 months in. Instead of 1 year contract renewals that are the norm and that my colleagues were offered, I was renewed 3 months, not knowing what would happen then. Then 3 months. The whole time It was just insecurity for me. They started trying to terminate around the 1 year mark, with a subtle ultimatum. Basically choose your health or your job. It was awful because as much as I badly wanted to keep my job, I was sick!
I tried my best to fight it with the help of an amazing union rep but six months later it was all over.
I worked for The Government of Canada,
Imagine that. You’d think they would be trying to be a good example for other employers. Nope. It was really quite disappointing. And sad. AND UNBELIEVABLY stressful.
So true. It feels like you’re continually punished and given such a hard time because you had the crappy bad luck to get sick. People don’t realize it could happen to them just as easily. They would have more empathy and compassion. We didn’t choose this!