You don't look sick

I am currently reading this book, http://www.amazon.com/You-Dont-Look-Sick-Selak/dp/1936303426, although she does not have IBD, she has a ton of issues that is pretty painful.

I am half way through. Read a chapter on how disability insurance folks treat her, pretty appalling. They seem to have legal right to videotape you and sorts. I knew these insurance companies are worse as it is but I never knew they can follow you like a personal detective or something..

If you get a chance, read through pages 37 onwards.

She hires an attorney and channels all communication through him. Any idea how much such attorneys cost?
Anybody has such experience?

DW has disability insurance but this is how it is going to go, I may want to drop it altogether..

Yeah my brother had this issue after he had a stroke that paralyzed him and resulted in him having no sensation in the left side of his body. It took months for him to get up and walk and when he did he got lots of comments for taking elevators in public places (people in wheelchairs even gave him dirty looks because they were more entitled than he was to use them apparently). He still has no feeling in that side of his body and says that even 12 years later people at work still question why he needs a special chair or why he takes slightly longer to type out a report etc. He's never had an issue with discrimination luckily in fact he's been promoted many times and is now at an executive level, which is promising, it's just stupid comments. They don't particularly bother him (but they make me angry!) I even picked a fight with a guy in a wheel chair over the elevator thing I must admit.

Actually, author of this book did the same thing. She got a call from a personal risk assessment person at the insurance company and the conversation flows as it should. How are you? I am good thank you (She should have said, I am so sick that I can not even talk to you and blah blah but good thank you worked against her). She asks about her yacht (when she has a boat) and how many times they ride it blah blah (after the surveillance)

They had to ask for the tapes for review and it had the footage that nobody can conclude anything from i.e. senseless footage but the transcript remark says that the woman is a fraud (in diplomatic language). She contacts the local police and gets a kind of restrain order on that surveillance.

Pretty sick. They don't hesitate when they collect the premiums so why these mtfkers make it so difficult? I admit, that there are people who fake it. DW sees such kind quite often but these are really easy to detect (for the professionals) but still the doctors you go for mandatory evals always report that the person is just fine and should start working the next moment. W T F? Where is the hippocratic oath or it was something they read and signed when they were p1ssed drunk?
Seriously, it so annoys me..

janey47 said...
I had a 23 year old assistant who went out on disability right at the time I was beginning radiation for breast cancer. She had carpal tunnel. The night before she was supposed to return to work, she emailed HR and me to say that she had fallen and hurt her knee and would be out on disability for that. She conveniently reinjured herself over and over while -- according to a woman at my office who was FB friends with her -- she was posting pictures of herself at the gym and out dancing. Her mother was a doctor who apparently was aiding her in all of this.

Action taken? Nothing. Our counsel said that an investigation would violate her privacy rights and that juries lean in favor of claimants over companies. She goldbricked for over a year while I worked through cancer and UC.

That is disgusting.

Janey,

I totally get it where you are coming from. And what she did was totally disgusting. Actually, I blame more her mother than her for misusing her license. (I wonder if you can give anonymous tip of this thing to the authorities.)

DW is a physical therapist and she tells me that even before the patient tells her about their plans of disability application or something, 90% of the times, she makes a right guess about such people. On the other hand, there are so many people like you (and us) who work though their pain and treatment.

She has 2 classical examples of patients, one is a correction facility officer, got badly beaten up by the inmates, injured spine pretty badly. She can literally feel his injuries (for some reason, these guys have very sensitive hands and can sense if muscle has issues or something) and still he goes to work every day. DW suggested him to take days off for recuperation but the guy denied (because it is not ethical !!!). On the other hand, there is another patient, who is absolutely all right and she keeps complaining of all sorts of things. Finally, DW told her that her case is 'too complicated' for her to handle it and she should check other therapists.

So I get it where these insurance agency's suspicion comes from and legitimacy behind their actions but come on, there are few people who are really in pain. Its just they do not have broken hand or amputated leg (that could actually be better sometimes because at least you could do some work if it does not keep exciting your nerves for pain signals) but how can someone with IBD in worst case or fibromyalgia or something should 'show' their pain. Its not like there is some Pain-o-meter that you could stick on your forehead to show them the pain. Thats what really annoyed me in this book.

Disability insurance is like any other kind of insurance, you pay for it many years but have lots of trouble collecting when you have a claim. Insurance companies are not in the business of paying claims, their business is collecting payments and paying large salaries to themselves.

It's smart to hire a advocate to protect your rights if you need to make a claim. Sad though.
UC is very invisible to others. In my worst flare I got compliments on how "trim" I looked because I'd lost lots of weight (and was not overweight to begin with) and I felt like crap.

I have a relative who got Social Security Disability. I didn't pass judgement on her, she had heart problems, most likely from smoking, and could not do most jobs. It wasn't a lot of money however and she took odd jobs for cash that just required sitting and answering the phone.

The worst examples drive conservatives crazy and they want to terminate all social programs. And yet we don't put bankers in jail who have caused untold loss of life (suicide, depression) because of what they did to this county's economy.

Most people are honest and hard-working. I wish everyone good luck with their UC disability claims. Perhaps the person interviewing you will know someone with IBD and have some understanding.