Tips for Disability Claimants #1 – Maintain Regular Treatment

Ensuring that you maintain regular care and treatment for your disability greatly assists the strength of your claim. This means visiting your doctor on a regular basis, being examined and treated by specialists when necessary, and ensuring that you take medication as prescribed by your treating physicians.

Undergoing regular treatment and visits to your doctor help to demonstrate to the insurance company that you are suffering from a valid disability and are therefore unable to work. Also, many short-term and long-term disability policies contain clauses that require claimants to be under the regular care of a qualified physician in order to qualify for disability benefits.

It is important to continue getting medical treatment even if your disability claim has been denied. A court or tribunal is much more likely to find a disability claimant as being credible if there is evidence that he or she has been regularly seeking treatment for their sickness or injury.

Family physicians are critical as the first-line of treatment for a disability. However, it is also important to seek the care of a specialist when appropriate. For example, while a family doctor is trained to treat a patient suffering from depression, a disability insurance company will likely expect that a disability claimant with severe depression receive treatment from a psychologist or psychiatrist.

Of course, the largest and primary benefit to maintaining regular treatment is (hopefully) an improvement in health and function such that you can resume your life and career.