Canadian Ladies... any issues with Short-Term Disability?

[2Pups4Kids]

I have been fighting with Great West Life for over a month now to get a status on my claim. I have made virtually NO income since the beginning of February and am freaking out... they keep saying that their doctor on staff is reviewing my file and they'll be getting back to me 'very shortly'. Yeah well very shortly has turned into weeks now and I can't help but get stressed out as I wait here in limbo.

Anyone else experience issues with GWL and short-term disability claims?

 

[Literati_Love]

Eeek...I don't have experience with this but that really sucks! I am with Great West Life too and I've always found they're extremely prompt with processing claims/payments. I hope they finally finish things soon!

 

[2Pups4Kids]

Thanks so much. Just sent them additional results showing cervical shortening. Hopefully that'll be enough to hurry up the process.

 

[greenpear]

I myself did not have direct experience with short term disability but had a friend who had to go on one 2-3 months before due date. She said it was a long process trying to get money out of the government. Eventually things got sorted out but there were few stressful weeks. We're in BC. My family is in Quebec and I hear things move even slower there. Sorry you are stuck in this situation. I really hope that soon your claim will be resolved and you'll be receiving your benefits.

 

[tryfor2]

Yeah. They are usually very prompt when it's something like a dental claim, but really drag their feet with the big stuff. I made a claim after a car accident several years ago and they took months to pony up any $. Wasted my time sending people out to my home for a vague two-hour interview when I could barely move just to ensure we weren't trying to commit insurance fraud! They eventually did come through, but it was a long wait and I was still dealing with paperwork an entire year later. I hope you have better luck. Insurance companies are so slippery.

 

[2Pups4Kids]

Yeah. They are usually very prompt when it's something like a dental claim, but really drag their feet with the big stuff. I made a claim after a car accident several years ago and they took months to pony up any $. Wasted my time sending people out to my home for a vague two-hour interview when I could barely move just to ensure we weren't trying to commit insurance fraud! They eventually did come through, but it was a long wait and I was still dealing with paperwork an entire year later. I hope you have better luck. Insurance companies are so slippery.

Wow! That's incredible. Well this does give me some hope though haha. I was lead to believe that it was taking so long because my claim is probably not going to be approved and that the medical consultant checking out my file was really just to confirm that.

Thanks for sharing your experience!

 

[LilFooshFoosh]

We don't have GWL but we had our insurance company delay a claim saying we filled out the paperwork wrong and then telling us someone was reviewing it... it turned out they lost our forms. After submitting them for the 3rd time and hounding them about it everyday we got the claim paid out fairly quickly. That was just for drugs not for STD.

Can you ask to speak to a supervisor or something when you call in? Usually if it is causing financial hardship you can get it pushed through. (Sometimes it is the words you use that get you results, for example if you just complain about something the call centre person will just listen to it and it won't go anywhere, but depending on where you call, if you say "I want to make a formal complaint" all of a sudden you start to get somewhere)

 

[2Pups4Kids]

Yes, I actually demanded to speak with a manager yesterday and they said they'd make my case top priority...

Then I finally got a call today to say my claim had been accepted and I'll be receiving the back pay up until today by Wednesday! SO HAPPY!!!

I'm sure the fact that I called yesterday helped in speeding up the process. Thank goodness for this. It takes SUCH a load off. Now I can put 100% of my focus on worrying about my baby's health and stop worrying about silliness like money.

Thanks for your help ladies!!

 

[Literati_Love]

That is wonderful! I am very happy for you!

 

[Starry Night]

I'm glad you got it worked out. I'm just a bit confused that you're going through a private insurance company and not with government unemployment. When I had to go on bed rest with my son's pregnancy the HR department at my work set it up for me and when I received calls about the status of my disability it was always someone from the Canadian government (it's been 3 years so I forget which department). I was on leave the whole pregnancy so I maxed out before my son was born. It is possible that HR had to do it that way if our benefits company (Blue Cross) didn't want to cover it without raising the rates for everyone in my company (sounds about right).

 

[2Pups4Kids]

I'm glad you got it worked out. I'm just a bit confused that you're going through a private insurance company and not with government unemployment. When I had to go on bed rest with my son's pregnancy the HR department at my work set it up for me and when I received calls about the status of my disability it was always someone from the Canadian government (it's been 3 years so I forget which department). I was on leave the whole pregnancy so I maxed out before my son was born. It is possible that HR had to do it that way if our benefits company (Blue Cross) didn't want to cover it without raising the rates for everyone in my company (sounds about right).

Yeah, that was definitely my plan B if my claim didn't go through but EI coverage would have only covered 55% of my weekly salary and my private insurance company covers 70%. And I work for a fairly large company so I don't see why they'd raise the rates just because of little old me haha.