Canadians In Need of Disability Leave Increasing

A new survey on disability leave conducted by RBC Insurance found that the number of working Canadians who need time off due to a disability is increasing, yet disability coverage through workplace benefits or personal insurance continues to decline.

The study notes that 50% of Canadian workers would have taken time off work for a disability, but couldn’t afford to take the time off, up a few points from RBC’s 2018 disability survey. The number of Canadians who actually have disability coverage through either a workplace or personal plan declined by 5 points from 2018. That means that half of working Canadians do not have any disability coverage at all.

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• Long-term disability denied by RBC in Ontario?

This RBC survey on disability leave reveals additional information:

• More than half of Canadian workers (56%) say they were forced to go back to work earlier due to financial reasons
• 45% say they were forced back to work earlier because they were pressured by their workplace, up from 33% the year before

Why is there no mention of the fact that insurance companies often force Canadian workers who are on long-term disability back to work, despite evidence from their doctors that they are not yet healthy enough to return to employment?

Disability Leave: Why Long-Term Disability Claims Are Denied

Insurers often unjustly deny legitimate disability claims for overly technical or ambiguous reasons.

For instance, they sometimes deny legitimate claims because the claimant missed the deadline to apply for disability by mere days. Courts have ruled against insurance companies in such instances in the past, concluding that insurers suffer little to no prejudice when an individual submits a claim late by mere days. In addition, insurers often deny legitimate claims by taking the position that there is insufficient medical documentation supporting the person’s disability, when in fact it is clear from the medical documents submitted that the individual’s doctors agree that the person is disabled.

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Disability Leave: Forced Back to Work

Insurers often force people back to work against medical advice simply because their hired “consultants” review the claims file and decide “unilaterally” that the claimant should be ready to go back to work when in fact they are not, according to the individual’s own treating doctors.

Disability Leave: Assessments & Treatments

Insurers often demand that disabled individuals subject themselves to various assessments and treatments by doctors and clinics hired by the insurance company, and insurers even hire private investigators to videotape and take photos of the disabled person, thus leading the individual to feel increased levels of stress and anxiety while receiving disability payments. This, in turn, leads them to want to simply abandon their legitimate disability claims so that they don’t have to deal with the insurance company’s aggressive tactics, which are quite frankly designed and deployed to “shake them off” claim.

An Insurance Company’s Main Objective

Insurance companies, including those that sell disability leave policies, sell “peace of mind”. That’s the product they advertise everywhere – on TV, radio, newspapers and online.

Their motivation, however, is not your well-being and delivering peace of mind. Their motivation and number one objective is making a profit, which is done by taking in premiums and paying as little to nothing when a person makes an insurance claim. That is true for any type of insurance, be it disability leave insurance, house insurance, travel insurance, car insurance, mortgage insurance, etc.

That is the reality of the game they are playing; a high stakes game for individuals and their families who are relying on the safety net they think they bought and have, only to find out that this net is non-existent and that they are in financial free-fall when the worse happens.

If your long-term disability claim is denied, or your disability claim is cut off by the insurance company and you are forced back to work before you are actually ready to do so, contact us for a free consultation. Find about more information about your rights and how to push back against the insurance company by going here.