Anyone know what the hell this is about? I was approved for the 2 year definition about 1 year ago. I’ve had to provide updates 2 or 3 times to 3 different claims manager since then. Last one was in November. I asked a few questions at the time and never got a response.
Then I get this email.
What’s The Claim Lab? What’s the deal with this ‘questionnaire’? Has anyone received this before?
Well I looked it up.
Welcome to the new insurance claims algorithms…
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This is not good news…
Not good news at all.
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Congratulations, because you’re now one of Sun Life’s long term claim guniea pigs for their psychologist in a computer initiative. It’s weird they are doing this after the COD. Did they ever send you to an IME (independent medical examination)?.
If it was me, I’d let them know it’ll take much longer than three days as you’ll be filling out this psychological profile survey with the help of your psychologist. Your master policy likely says you have up to 90 days to provide information Sun Life requires to administrate your claim.
Also request that all unredacted reports generated by this survey/algorithm are to be sent to your psycologist for review, as that is the only reasonable thing to do if Sun Life is serious about improving your mental health. Also, make sure you take screen shots of everything they ask for and how you responded.
Most importantly, if the quetions seemed loaded, or require yes or no answers without you able to provide context then ask them to send you the questions over email so you can provide thorough answers that they can’t use against you in the future.
I would withdraw my consent to work with this supplier myself.
Well if SunLife was serious about improving my mental health, they would have at the very least responded to my request to cover part of my therapy fees because I was having a difficult time. I’ve stopped since January and I just know they are going to give me a hard time next time I need to provide an update. But I asked for their help and they never bothered to even respond with a no.
So, no, they don’t actually care much about improving my mental health.
This thing is creepy.
No, I’ve never had to do an IME.
3 days is completely unreasonable IMO. I received this at 9pm on a Friday evening. Do weekend days count as days?
I’m really not comfortable with this. I find that at the very least SunLife could have discussed it with me beforehand. Explained and allowed me to ask questions. Nope, nothing. I actually don’t even know if my claims manager is the same one I spoke to last time since I’ve had 4 or 5 in the past year.
I’ve been living with so much anxiety about when they would resurface and start asking for updates again. I really didn’t think they’d send me this.
It feels like I trap. I’m not data. I don’t want to be reduced to a set a data put through algorithms or who knows what. I’m not happy about this.
I can?
What will happen if I do that?
It says you consented on your form which means that you can withdraw consent. I would say that I am not comfortable having that amount and type of personal information held in a third party’s database and ask them to have your claim manager contact you directly for any updates they require. Ask them in the same message to respond to your previous query.
Make sure you are doing some therapy that would be appropriate/reasonable for your condition. If you’ve stopped all therapy for your mental disability, that could likely be sufficient grounds for them to legally terminate your LTD payments. Getting appropriate treatment for your disability is a requirement by all LTD policy contacts.
Maybe they’ve already realized you’ve stopped your therapy and this is a way to get you to confirm it so they can then legally cut you off. Please tread carefully.
OK i will most likely go that route. Thank you for the feedback!
Yes, I am starting again even though I can’t really afford it without their assistance.
I don’t think there is any way for them to know as I haven’t had to provide an update during this period of time and they’ve never communicated with my new psychologist before. But who knows.
Thank you for the advice!
There are programs to deal with anxiety offered for free in many cities.
I would look into that.
Well I tried to email my claims manager about this - well the last one that was assigned to me and that I was in contact with in January.
I used my personal email instead of the secure inbox because they deleted my entire inbox (almost 2 years of emails including throughout my dispute to get my claim approved) some months ago, so I’d rather use my personal instead now.
I got a delivery failure notice in my spam folder (good thing I just happened to check before deleting) so I logged in to my secure inbox to find that my emails had been once again completely deleted. Sending an email to my claims manager via the secure inbox resulted in an email notice of delivery failure to my personal email (but no error in the secure inbox).
It’s crazy to me that they keep deleting important communications. Even if the emails I send are from my personal email, I still have to go to the secure inbox for any email they write.
So I don’t know. Maybe I don’t have a claims manager assigned to me at the moment. I’ll wait a few days and write the supervisor directly. Hopefully she’s still there.
This is giving me so much anxiety, I tell you…
are you on CPPD as well?
No, I’m in Québec. And it was never requested.
Just to provide an update.
I was worried unnecessarily. After tracking down my new claims manager (who seems very nice), she advised that the questionnaire was not mandatory and that after 3 reminder emails (which I’d received), nothing further would be sent.
The Claim Lab email kinda made it seem like I had to complete it but apparently not. Thank God.
Make sure you have some emails stating you don’t have to fill it out. That’s great news.
Every time I had a call with the insurance company I emailed myself my recollection of what was said. Using email put a time and date stamp on it. Another option is a notebook beside your phone if you prefer to go analog.
Totally agree with Caro. I usually just type up my notes in an email and send it directly to the claims adjuster after every phone call.
I also end my emails to the adjuster with: “If I’ve captured anything incorrectly please let me know right away”. I have yet to get a reply, but this way I guarantee my side of things is always captured in the official claims file if any legal action is ever to be taken.
I communicate via email only. I requested it. No phone calls at all, so it’s all documented. Only problem is that they’ve now wiped my secure email inbox twice. I had some saved but not all. I’m in the process of getting a copy of my file and seeing if I can actually get the emails back in my inbox.
I just received an email from this “The Claims Lab” as well… They most certainly suggest that this is NOT a voluntary thing, but in fact, if you don’t complete it within the specified 3 days - your LTD will be discontinued. After reading this discussion / forum, I’m ready to just hit delete.
