Chronic degenerative conditions are common reasons for people to apply for long-term disability benefits based on cognitive or physical impairments resulting from the conditions. While much will be unknown about the course of the disease, that the conditions will ultimately result in inability to perform one’s job is unfortunately an inevitability, particularly for those who are years away from retirement. Many chronic conditions such as Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, degenerative cognitive disorders such as early-onset Alzheimer’s disease or other dementias, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (“ALS” or Lou Gehrig’s Disease) all lead to increasing fatigue, cognitive impairment, and physical impairments which make a long-term disability claim inevitable for many. Knowing that one is likely to become disabled in the future without knowing the extent or timing of the disability must be one of the hardest parts of dealing with a chronic condition like these.
One benefit of knowing that one is likely to be disabled is the ability to plan, to take actions now while you are still working to smoothly transition from work to disability, and to increase your chances of being awarded long-term disability benefits. While all these conditions differ in many ways, there are some things that commonly affect almost everyone who applied for long-term disability insurance benefits.
This site has a series of articles dealing with this common issues in apply for long-term disability for chronic conditions like multiple sclerosis or Parkinson’s disease Below are links to these articles:
As a Connecticut ERISA – LTD attorney who has represented many claimants in long-term disability appeals, I know that actions you take now can make a huge difference when you finally make your application for long -term disability benefits. I hope this series will provide guidance to employees with chronic degenerative diseases to make this transition from working to disability as smooth as possible.