With all of the drama that I've shared on here with my Long Term Disability claim and then denial...I feel I must share this with you.
The morning that my claim was denied, I saw my Ophthalmologist for a routine follow-up and the next day, I saw my Neurologist for a follow-up. The Ophthalmologist confirmed that the pressure was returning behind my left eye this time...which I completely suspected based on how I'd been feeling and my recent symptoms.
Of course, that evening, Matrix called to let me know that they had decided to deny my claim...after 3 months of completely dragging out the process for me. I was devastated, to say the least. The phone call that I had left me feeling like I was being looked at like one of those people that abuse the system and try to get disability when they really are capable of working...except I knew that I wasn't. I knew in my heart that I had a valid reason to have not been working and that something had gone wrong or something was missing.
Speaking of those people...how the heck do they do it??? Seriously?!? They find doctors that will write them off work for bogus back pain or something like that...I've known people like this. My ex-stepfather was/is like this. My husband works with people that have admitted to doing this as well. How do these fake illnesses get approved when I can't even get them to believe that even with my doctors backing me up, I was unable to work due to my recent diagnosis.
The day my denial letter came in the mail, I read it over and over, finding myself fuming over the things in it that were completely not true, the absurd way my illness was downplayed to "self-proclaimed blind spots" in my vision and headaches. There also appeared to be an overwhelming amount of information MISSING from this letter. As if they had only pulled a month's worth of my doctor's records when this had been going on for over 6 months.
I consulted an attorney that after looking over my stuff decided the case wouldn't be worth it to either of us. He said he'd only be able to go after 3 months of backpay and the process could take months and months. He did, however, encourage me to still appeal their decision on my own w/out the assistance of an attorney and gave me some suggestions on how to do this.
In the last week, I've been writing down things I've remembered. Comparing my notes to that of the notes in my denial letter, and dreading the fact that I was going to have to call all of my doctors and ask for a copy of my medical files. What the hell would be in these files? It really scared me.
But I didn't have to...
On Monday, I received a call from the person at Matrix that I'd dealt with all along the Long Term Disability process, the same one that had the unfortunate job of calling me to tell me that I'd been denied. She told me that she was excited because she had great news and it was rare for her to be able to call someone with good news after they'd been denied.
Apparently, my doctors had sent in updated records to Matrix after my September follow-up visits. When she received this information a few weeks later, she forwarded the records to the on-staff doctors that review files for approval/denial just to be sure she'd done all she could for me.
After reviewing these records, they reversed their decision and approved my disability application! I can't even tell you how ecstatic I was. I told her if she was in front of me, I'd kiss her. Seriously...I can breathe again. I feel confident again in my being off work for 6 months. The denial had made me start to wonder if I had been exaggerating or something and didn't really need to be off work. It had me questioning everything. No more. :) You know what makes me even happier? This means they will be cutting me a big fat check for 3 months of disability payments and might even cover the 10 hours/week that I'm missing because of my doctors restriction on my hours.
A-freaking-MEN!
♪♫♪ Currently listening to ♪♫♪
New Soul by Yael Naim
Looooooooooove it! Have loved it since I heard it on a tv commercial.
3 comments:
Good for you!!!!!! I am so happy that your stress has been relieved a bit!
That is absolutely fantastic!
I'm glad to hear that it all worked out. I had to read back some posts but after reading what you've been through, there's no way they should have disapproved your application. So YAY for that working out :)
And also, I'm with you when it comes to people who are abusing the system. I have had co-workers who would call in sick just because they had a runny nose or a soar throat and stay home for a week... I mean, seriously? That's just wrong!
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