CPPD approved Canada Life still pushing for back to work

Hi all. I really appreciate the information here. I’ve been on LTD with Canada Life for 12+ months. I’ve just been approved for CPPD but the rehab consultant at Canada Life is still pressuring me to return to work next week. I went off work due to extreme exhaustion and fatigue. Diagnosed with GAD PTSD MDD and recently fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue. I also have Hashimoto’s disease and am solo caregiver for my adult daughter. What do I need to do to get Canada Life to stop? This is the second time in a year. Thanks.

Hi Nicol. I know how stressful it can be to be contacted by them or be pressured into things. It causes immense anxiety. Unfortunately CPPD is not always a magic bullet, they may still keep trying to pester you. I find this to be true especially for older folks (55+) because they have a higher chance of frustrating them and getting them to say “Screw it! I will just retire and take my pension, I can’t deal with these guys!!!”. If they are asking you to go back to work next week then there is some major miscommunication going on. I would simply ask them “What makes you think I could work next week?”. Then inform them you are medically unable to work. Provide them with documentation from your doctor if they aren’t clear. If they keep harrassing you then pull out the “No more phone calls, mail letter or email only” card and make them put stuff in writing. Phone calls are not a good idea because they can spin things any way they want.

Thanks for responding Adam! I learned during last years fiasco to communicate only by email. You’re right though. I do feel like “who needs this hassle”. I’m currently changing medications so my Dr. Is going to respond as such. Once I get my complete file I think that I’m going to have it reviewed. I appreciate your suggestion that the next time that they try to start a back to work plan I’ll ask “what makes you think that I can go back to work?”

Thanks.
Donna

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Canada Life. Oh yes LOL aren’t they lovely? 3 psychiatrists,2 psychologists, 1 psychotherapist, 1 social worker, 1 OT and an ongoing communication with my family doctor for 18 months, approval of CPPD and they still wanted me to attempt to return to work. I never had one medial professional supporting return to work.
My doctor did not approve a rtw, but I did attempt a rtw rehab program after suffering bouts of agoraphobia. I didn’t finish (surprise!) and my doctor documented everything. She wrote letter after letter supporting my inability to work and referenced the constant ignorance of medical diagnosis. On the last attempt of benefits termination I “appeared happy at a doctor’s appointment 5 months prior”. This was after the IME psychiatrist sent them a scathing report on their harassing behaviour towards me (which they never referenced)
Med changes, IBS, agoraphobia, hyper/insomnia, the list goes on.

I not only requested my files (which I did every 6 months anyway), going forward I cc’d the ombudsman from both insurance companies (they merged with other companies), every single person I dealt with in the entire company and my lawyer (who was working with me on my wrongful termination with my former employer). It might have been the merging of companies (it was GWL for me before the merge), someone else reviewing my file or the universe aligning, but my file was not only sent to the LTD department, I was approved in writing until 65 within 4 weeks of the last termination attempt. It’s been nearly a year since then and it’s been peaceful. I am still waiting for the other shoe to drop of course LOL but hopefully that lessens over time.

Patience, perseverance and more patience. Document, document, document.

MarilynM wow! That is quite the story, thank you for sharing. I have never heard of anyone being approved in writing until 65. That must have taken a huge load of stress off your back. Like you, my LTD company has not bothered me at all in a year other than asking a short questionnaire. Ever since I got CPPD they stopped harrassing me but I see this is not the case for everyone. Do you mind me asking how old you are? Or if you don’t feel comfortable sharing that, an approximate age? I was just wondering if they approved you to 65 because you are so close to that age, or if they would ever approve anyone who was in their 30s or 40s. Take care.

I am now 48. I was approved at 47.

I believe there were other factors involved and it was cheaper for the insurance company to continue to pay me rather than risk a public backlash of their ignorance toward mental illness. Plus, of course all the file documentation they actually provided me LOL
My lawyer told me that as long as they continue to pay the plan I cannot sue them. All my medical professionals have stated that the disability insurance company harassment greatly contributed and furthered my mental illness/recovery.

Thanks to documentation within my insurance files, there were privacy violations, deliberate misinformation between the insurance company and my former employer (deteriorating my mental health even further), outright examples of the desperation of my caseworker to get me terminated from the disability plan (counting each of my contributing hours for a year prior), and an overblown contentious overpayment that, after 7 months settled only because it was kicked to the collections department (I was fired 5 months before this overpayment was finally clarified to be a lesser amount than what was claimed). The caseworker ignored all the supporting medical professionals. My file was held for a year by her after it was supposed to be transferred to a different department.

Because of misinformation on both sides, I am now involved in a wrongful dismissal case with my former employer (Sept 2018) It’s been even more stressful.

There was more (seemingly) crazy stuff and luckily, it’s all in writing. Honestly, telling the entire story sounds so ridiculous “And THEN they did this!” and I came off like a mad woman. Until I got my entire insurance file. It was even worse but validated my crazy (my husband quips, “Well, some of the crazy.” LOL)

Three insurance companies merged at the time of my final attempt at termination. I truly believe that my cc’ing both companies (the old and newly merged name) someone new reviewed my file where it was finally approved and transferred.

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