Congratulations President Obama: Now Please Fix ERISA Disability Claims Law
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First and foremost, congratulations to our new President - Barack Obama. His historic election will forever change the way opportunity and entitlement are viewed in the United States. He has tremendous challenges before him, but with our support and shared sacrifice, perhaps we can right this dangerously leaky ship we call America. Godspeed, Mr. President.
In the midst of this country's many problems, and on Inauguration Day especially, perhaps it seems a bit parochial to ask the new President to consider fixing the Employee Retirement and Income Security Act (ERISA). However, since the stated goal of the New York Disability Law Blog is to provide "information, help and support" for disabled workers, and given that ERISA often times provides more security to "employers" than "employees", causing untold human suffering and economic despair, I will not apologize for focusing this one little post on the plight of the disabled. After all, if you look at the amount of "pork" already stuffed into the current economic stimulus bill, you will clearly see that less important narrow interests are already swarming like vultures around Washington. And it is highly unlikely that CNN will pick this post up today.
Therefore, I implore the new President to ask but one aide to investigate the wholesale problems with ERISA that force so many with disability claims into bankruptcy. Long before the mortgage meltdown, disability claim lawyers like myself saw families consistently go down the economic drain while fighting for their disability benefits under the "employee unfriendly" ERISA. Let us, with the hope inspired by our new President, resolve to fix ERISA disability claims law in the next four years so that it actually does what it was intended to do - protect employees!
thanks you very much for bring up how screwed up ERISA is. I am in a constant battle with the insurance having them jerk me and my doctors around trying to keep and explain my benefits, only to have my benefits jerked without warning. The insurance companies really know how to play wonderful game they have created to pressure doctors and patiants into making a mistake only so they can cancel benfits. The insurance doesn't have any kind of penalty if they are proven worng, so why not!
I really do appreciatethese comments. I am a single mom of a 12 yr daughter and I am presently losing everything that I currently have. I Never Knew that these INSURANCE COMPANIES AND PAST EMPLOYERS WERE SUCH BEAST!!!!!!!!!!They dont care, we are just a number to them. These insurance companies trick these doctors into saying things and then turn whatever they say around to justify their needs and because of that i am a CULPRIT of losing my LTD & LIFE insurance both because both benefits were thru HARTFORD here in NC and I am trying to find an attorney that will represent me against HARTFORD and their nasty tricks & edited surveillances. So, those of you who dont know these things , learn from your mistakes, hire an attorney from the time you are told you are gonna be out of work decause you never know what is going to happen. It would also be nice if Pres. Obama would extend the subsidiary to those people who lost their jobs after may 31,2010 so that we would only have to 40 % for Cobra instead of 80 % and those of us could continue to keep longer but again this ERISA.WE SHOULD HAVE BEEN ABLE TOKEEP OUR BENEFITS AS LONG AS THE DOCTOR SAYS WE ARE DISABLED and by the way, insurance companies should not be allowed to over rule a doctor. They dont know the patient and dont see the patient on a day to day basis. get to know the patient as the doctor does so how can they judge by what is on a piece of paper. You cant write everyting you know about that person down and sometimes that is why these doctor dont have time to write it all down.