what is your take on her situation?
Yumyum00 - my take is they’re trying to get her off insurance. When I hit the 2 year mark (April 2016) the Client Rep must have been busy because all of a sudden I get a call saying she was going on vacation and they were approving me for “can’t do any job”. Don’t be fooled by that. 3 months later they set up an appointment with a “Chiropractor " for a 2 day physical assessment. What he’s qualified to do is: first they spend a couple hours talking to you regarding your situation. He/she (I’ll refer to the Chiro as “he”) sits with you. Now I had to get up a couple times because there was no back on the chair and I hurt. He didn’t acknowledge that. Then they put you thru a series of memory tests. These were similar to what I got with my Specialist. Then he attached a heart type monitor on me and had me run up and down some stairs to see how fast I recovered. I used to be a runner so my heart was trained to recover fast - downfall for me. We had a lunch break where I really just wanted to lie down on his couch but was a chicken to ask so ended up going outside, walked around and lay on a bench. Afternoon he puts me thru more physical tests. Cane back next day looking like crap. He took one look and told me to walk around the block a few times. Came back after maybe walking part way around slowly. Went thru more physical tests like starting with lifting a 10 lbs weight, then it increased until I couldn’t lift any higher. Then we did it over again but I had to walk 3-5 ft with it. Kept increasing the weight until i couldn’t walk with it any more. We did strength-grip testing. Everything he had me do he had this algorithm type of program he put in his computer. Those are some of the things I remember doing. A month later he sends it to Manulife without noting any of my fatigue commentsof pain experienced. His recommendation was I could do a sedentary job. Which was stupid because my job was mostly a seated desk position anyway. Manulife sent the report to both my Specialist and my Family Dr. Unfortunately my Specialist saw no value in responding to the results because it wasn’t his opinion but the fact that he didn’t respond may have been my undoing. My Family Dr. fought hard for me and spent over 90 minutes on the phone with the Client Mgr asking if they would be providing a bed so I could rest every couple hours. She got nowhere with them. She wrote a scathing report to Manulife. My Specialist, the next time I saw him, determined my health had really deteriorated. I told him what I went thru at the Chiro and the threats from Manulife. He apologized for not commenting on the report from the Chiro but said he’s not obligated to. They just ask if he had any comments. Anyway he reviewed the report in front of me and with my health deteriorated he also wrote a scathing letter to Manulife. Didn’t work - Manulife cut off my benefits that August. I appealed. In October 2016 my employer cut off any medical and pension benefits they were providing while on LTD and terminated my employment under Frustrated Contract”. We now only had my CPP-D payments and Christmaswas 2 months away. January 2017 Manulife denied my appeal. I hired a Disability lawyer. We went thru Hell after that. Bills piled up. We paid what we could but didn’t have enough each month for Mastercard. Eventually it went to a receivership (sorry I can’t remember what it’s called) who harrassed us several times a day every day except Sunday’s for months. I still made a payment of $100/mth but if course it wasn’t good enough. We depleted my husband’s RRSP to keep up the mortgage pymts and utilities. We saw both a Bankruptcy company about a Consumer thingy (again my memory fails as to what it’s called exactly) and a place that works with Debt Mgmt. We looked into selling our home but rent here is pretty much the same as a mortgage. We thought well we’d live in our trailer at an all season campground. However they were too far away plus they wouldn’t allow more than 1 animal. We had several. It seemed we were going to end up on the streets with nothing. I was still working with the Lawyer. I was also educated as a Legal Assistant therefore I helped him out somewhat which is why I think things happened quicker. I also had one of only two Lyme Literate Medical Doctors/Specialists in Canada to fight for me along with my Family Dr. In Feb 2018 Manulife decided instead of going into Discovery at our next meeting that we prepped for they asked if we would settle. I stayed in my Lawyer’s office while he came back and forth btwn me and Manulife in his conference room. Now I started high and he felt it was unlikely that I would get anywhere close. However he presented it and we worked from there. I wouldn’t give much but we did agree on a total. After all was said and done I got most of our debts paid and started my retirement because I had turned 55 the prior Fall after being employed at the same Company for 36 years. This is the first summer I have felt much better. No where near being able to work but I have achieved more this summer than normal so I’m hopeful.
Looking back on the Manulife transcripts I didn’t see anywhere that I had been surveilled. Now I don’t know if they didn’t disclose that but there was no mention. However, I was always prepared as if I was. I didn’t do gardening, mowing the lawns or anything outside that would be visible to them. My neighbors weren’t spoken to by strangers or they would have said something. I only went shopping with my husband driving and pushing the cart and carrying stuff inside. I felt trapped in my home and always felt like I was being watched or followed. I trusted no one. After all was settled it took me a long time to stop being paranoid and housebound. Had Manulife just left me alone I would probably have recovered faster. My recommendation is always be aware of what you do and how you do it when outside your home or visible through windows. Do not tell neighbors etc. When you have good days. Just say not much has changed. Personally I don’t know if someone from Manulife or any other Insurer isn’t on this platform also.
My last recommendation is to have your partner’s medical team be very specific in relation to the disability they’re facing. Examples like “the chronic pain doesn’t allow for so-and-so to be able to sit for X number of minutes or hours”. Every report from the medical Doctors need to Express exactly how it is affecting the patient physically and not just organically or mentally. That’s very important because that’s not the normal way a Dr. reports things. Always appeal Manulife’s decision if they cut your partner’s benefits off. To appeal you will need additional support that they haven’t seen that proves why you’re appealing.
Should they deny the appeal, make sure the lawyer you hire is a Disability Lawyer. You usually get a free session to describe your situation and see if you think they will fight for you and you’re comfortable with them. If not, keep looking for that right lawyer.
Sorry for the book guys! Hopefully this will help.