My long-term disability insurance policy requires me to apply for SSDI, and reduces my monthly benefit by the amount I get from Social Security. OK fine, I get that. I applied for Social Security disability, I had my approval letter before my long-term disability kicked in, and they started paying benefits in December. The company that carries my disability policy ought to be pretty happy about that, because it's that much less they have to pay each month. Maybe they are. Hard to tell, with insurance companies.
Anyway, in the course of getting all this coordinated, the insurance company paid more than they owed me, and I have to pay it back. OK fine, I get that. But can they straighten this out by withholding what I owe them from my next benefit check?
Noooooo...
I have to send them a check for the amount of the overpayment. "Future benefits will be withheld until [my] full reimbursement is received."
"A pre-addressed envelope is provided for [my] convenience."
So thoughtful.
Posts
Hello world!
10 months ago
Here we go again trying to apply logic - how dare you - and they say our minds go all foggy.
ReplyDeleteJan
But is the envelope "no postage required"?
ReplyDeleteOh, I dread the day.
gag. I was so lucky with my various ins. policies, they worked together so well I never missed a single payment---it was as if I was still working. I read blogs and realize how SUPER lucky I was. John Hancock, Standard, Met---and SSDI. It CAN happen, but seems to be the rarity. (They even called ME first!)(one of them)
ReplyDeleteThis is a cruel joke the insurance company is playing. If they'd overpaid your pension, they'd allow you to pay by reducing future payments. Have you called them to negotiate?
ReplyDeleteThis is the second time I've read this post. I couldn't make a comment after the first read because the arrogance of the insurance company was making my blood boil. They make a mistake and then they hold your payments hostage while they wait for you to repay them the money they sent you in error. Grrrr!
Sigh.
ReplyDeleteAnd life is already difficult enough.
Sigh.
Oh- and NO it does not make sense to me.
ReplyDeleteUpdate (because I knew you'd want to know) - For the last several days I've been playing phone tag with the insurance company's Overpayment Recovery Unit. Just for grins, I thought I'd suggest that they recover the overpayment by withholding it from my next benefit check. I have a name and an extension number, so theoretically it should be possible to talk to a real person. I just haven't managed to do it yet. Stay tuned...
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me that LTD insurance companies have almost no incentive to practice good customer service for those of us collecting from them. They only need to have good customer service for the companies that they sell to. For example, no tax withholding. No online communications at all. No direct deposit. Really! No direct deposit. This handicapped person needs to sign a check and take it to the bank every month until I am 65.
ReplyDeleteMitch - No direct deposit? Really? How archaic. Not to mention a total pain in the butt.
ReplyDeleteMy LTD company doesn't do anything online (except sell) and doesn't withhold taxes, but they have figured out direct deposit.
And get this -- my bank (Boeing Employees Credit Union, to which any Washington resident can belong)-- has recently made it possible to deposit checks by scanning them on your home computer. How cool is that? I can't wait to try it... except... all my checks are deposited directly into my account...