Hi everyone, I have been a long time lurker and this is my first post. I’m looking for some advice regarding my LTD claim.
I’ve been off work due to mental health issue since September 2023 and my claim is now at the “any occupation” stage.
Here’s my timeline:
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Approved for change of definition in December 2025. Received the COD approval letter.
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Benefits were forecasted to continue until June 2026
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At the end of March 2026, I received an update form form my case manager and my benefits were extended to January 2027
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After receiving my medical update, she sent me an email yesterday that she is going ahead for a vocational assessment.
Can someone tell me if they have experience about this? I am really freaking out since yesterday, I can’t sleep, I can’t eat and all I do is cry. I thought everything was good but now this.
My psychiatrist is very supportive and do not think I am ready to go back to work. I have a monthly appointment and biweekly psychotherapy with an RN psychiatrist. I am compliant with my treatment and never miss an appointment. What can they do to help my case at this point? Sorry I am rambling and spiralling.
Please help!
Thank you for reading.
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I can’t really help here but I’m curious who is your insurer?
I find it extremely strange that they approved you for change of definition and then now you’re going through this. It certainly sets the stage for a claim of bad faith if this were to go to litigation unless there’s been a meaningful change in your health lately. Has there?
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Sunlife. Health wise nothing changed, I can even say I am declining since we haven’t found the right medication yet and the constant worry from LTD.
I am surprised with the vocational assessment request, maybe my psychiatrist was too vague 
I am planning to ask my Dr for an updated more detailed medical note related to my functional limitations and symptoms, hope that will help.
I was recently approved for DTC but that may not even matter to my insurance.
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Even though they applied the COD they are still actively managing your disabilty as evidenced by the fact they are still approving you in time frames, you still have a claims manager, and they haven’t moved your file to be managed by the Sun Life LTD financial team.
[Edit: the COD isn’t a set in stone indefinite label]
A vocational assesment is part of claim’s manager role to actively manage your claim. Try not to get too stressed; it’s normal to have this done for an actively managed LTD mental health claim that has the possibility of recovery.
I would ask that your medical team be copied on the results of your vocational assesment as soon as it is completed.
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Thank you so much for your reply. I will follow your advice and will try not to worry too much… Do you know what the vocational assessment entails by chance?
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My vocational assessment (not sure if they are all the same) was just a paper exercise where they had an occupational therapist look at my restrictions and try match it up with a possible job I could do as gainful employment (gainful means earning at least 60% of your pre-disability income). They weren’t able to find anything.
I actually had no idea they had done a vocational assessment until I asked for a copy of my claims file a year later and saw the report in there.
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@OP: Have you been approved for CPP-D? Has the insurer made you apply? Did you tell them you were approved for DTC? If not, I’d tell them ASAP about DTC. That is a very difficult thing to get approved and if this goes to litigation a judge and/or jury would laugh Sunlife right out the door as a LTD denial with DTC approval is just stupid. It’s right up there with a LTD denial and a CPP-D approval.
My guess is “After receiving my medical update” ←-there must have been something here for the insurer to react the way they did.
@Buckets: I’m still very surprised at the vocational assessment post COD. I mean, the insurer would have acknowledged the claimant is unable to do “any” occupation (based on commeasurate income, education, etc), and then they’d turn around and say “well, time to see what jobs you can do”.
Why wouldn’t they have done this prior to COD? By waiting until after COD they are opening up themselves to multiple legal landmines including bad faith claims…
This is the first I’ve heard of an insurer waiting until after COD!
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They haven’t asked me to apply for CCP-D.
I haven’t told them yet about DTC but will do on Monday. It was much easier and smooth applying for the the DTC than dealing with LTD, honestly!
I suspect something in my medical questionnaire too because my psychiatrist can be vague if I am not there with him when he is filling out the forms ( which I wasn’t this time). He is pretty adamant that I can’t go back to any job right now due to the severity of my illness so I will be following up with him on Friday and will submit more detailed updated medical report. Hope that will help. I just feel so tired and defeated every time Sunlife contacts me…
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I suspect your insurer will promptly shut the F up once they find out you were approved for DTC. Just make sure you send them a copy of your DTC approval letter. I wish you well! Keep us posted!
As an aside if I were you I would apply for CPP disability immediately. The latter carries significantly more weight with respect to your LTD claim and because you are approved for DTC you should be able to get approved for CPPD easily
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@anonymous1 I will definitely keep you posted and thank you for your advice!
@David_Brannen Could you please provide some insight into my current situation, particularly regarding the vocational assessment from your professional experience? Thank you so much for your time.
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@anonymous1 things sometimes get “weird” when the disabilty is mental health related. I think insurers see mental health claims as dynamic (aka not permanent). The majority of people I’ve come across with mental health LTD disability claims that are past COD (some currently have DTC and/or CPP-D) still have their files actively managed with frequent update requests, along multiple IMEs and assessments.
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That’s a good point. I re-read this thread a ton of times. I think the key is in the line from OP “After receiving my medical update”. I wonder if the insurer/case manager read it and thought to him/herself that the functional limitation changed “for the better”.
In general it’s always, as you know I’m sure, important to highlight functional limitations and this is why, I think, CPP-D approval carries way more weight than DTC even though the latter is harder to get. Functional limitations is the basis of all things LTD after all
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I had an IME and was forced into what turned out to be a return to work program a month after I got approved for CPP-D. These companies are not following logic nor do they seem to care that the government has accepted a person’s limitations.
I repeatedly told them I was approved for CPP-D, and they didn’t care. They also ignored me and my doctor when we told them the program was causing me harm for months.
Their intention wasn’t for me to get better it was to either get through the program, at which point they’d say I was ready to work, or it was to have me quit the program and drop me for noncompliance. It was awful. I still haven’t recovered from how much worse I became.
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@CornFlakes I am so sorry to hear about your experience:(
Did they give you a reason to why they thought you were ready for work? Also, do you mind telling me what kind of program it was and how long? I can’t help but worry so much right now which is affecting my health.
What happened to your Ltd case at the end?
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This is terrible. I hope you litigated. Baker vs Blue Cross was a blowout from a precedent perspective. Blue Cross was ordered to pay out millions in bad faith, etc.
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@anonymous1 Just got an email from Lifemark for a virtual psych vocational evaluation lasting 4-6 hours… I thought my insurer would take their time but I guess they really want this done I guess.
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Are you able to do 4-6 hours? If not get on record immediately that 4-6 hours far exceeds your current abilities.
Also get on record with life make and your insurer that you request that your medical team gets a copy of Lifemark’s report at the same time it is sent to your insurer. If they say they can’t, let the know they are required to do so under federal PIPEDA legislation.
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They didn’t think I was ready for work, they seemed to think they had a miracle program that could force people to become ready for work. It didn’t work for me at all.
Mine was 9ish months and it was terrible. I’m still in LTD, but not that program, because it became clear that I was doing significantly worse than before.
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@CornFlakes 9 months?! What type of program is that! I am sorry you had to go through that. I wish I could win the lottery so I wouldn’t have to deal with them and just focus on my health.
@Buckets365 I sent them an email, l will update what they say. Thank you so much for your help, it can be alone going through this situation so talking to people that have been through the same helps a lot.
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