Short Term Disability Insurance

[Irina]

When you have scoliosis surgery, I assume you qualify for short-term disability insurance. How does it work? Where do you start – with your employer or some government office? For how long do you have STD coverage?

As usual, I am getting ahead of myself, but want to have all the question marks crossed off before I make this big decision. My current benefits say that I have 67% coverage for STD and LTD – does it mean that my employer will pay my disability insurance? I work for a very small company, and don’t want them to know anything yet.

[leahdragonfly]

Hi,

I think this varies by state and employer. Some states, CA for instance, have state-sponsored state disability insurance for all employed people. You pay automatically through payroll deduction, then if you want to file a claim, it is through a state agency. Other states (for instance Oregon where I now live), do not have any state disability insurance system. Some employers offer either employer-paid or voluntary employee-paid disability insurance. You should be able to poke around through your paystubs and benefits info and find out who the provider or insurer is for your disability insurance, as well as tell if yours is paid by you or the employer. If you have to pay yourself for voluntary coverage, you want to make sure it is in place before you are advised to have surgery, otherwise you will probably be denied coverage.

Good luck,

[LindaRacine]

Hi Irina...

Here's information on filing a claim. You should bring the form to your next appointment with Dr. Hu. Jo-An can help you complete the form, and she'll get it signed and mail it in for you. (Unfortunately, they charge $25 for this service.) You'll get a debit card from the EDD, and they'll load it weekly. Benefits are approximately 55% of your salary. The amount, however, is not taxable. You'll need to let them know as soon as you return to work.

Regards,
Linda

[Irina]

Hi Irina...

Here's information on filing a claim. You should bring the form to your next appointment with Dr. Hu. Jo-An can help you complete the form, and she'll get it signed and mail it in for you. (Unfortunately, they charge $25 for this service.) You'll get a debit card from the EDD, and they'll load it weekly. Benefits are approximately 55% of your salary. The amount, however, is not taxable. You'll need to let them know as soon as you return to work.

Regards,
Linda

Thank you, Linda!!! You're the best!

[mdtaffet]

Irina,

It depends on what company you work for and what state you live in. I live in New York, which has a statewide Short Term Disability Plan. The form was a statewide form, but my employer had to fill in the first section. I then filled in the second section, and my doctor's office filled in the third section. Then I had to send it back to my employer so they could review it before filing it with their insurance company.

After that, all dealings were with the insurance company.

-- Good luck,
Mary

[mbeckett]

Short-term disability

I work full-time so before I went out to have spinal surgery, I talked with our HR department to get all the details about short term and long term disability insurance. Also, I talked with them about the timing for letting my boss know that I would be out of work for three months. HR gave me a few papers to fill out and to submit back to them and they took care of the rest.

During my recuperation phase, I have stayed in touch with both the short term disability folks and now the long term disability people. Our workplace goes through Cigna and it can be annoying because every couple of weeks, they want the doctor's office to complete paperwork so I have to stay on top of things in order to make sure the doctor's office complies or I don't receive my checks.

I don't know what your work situation is but I would check with your HR department first as they would have the knowledge of how you should go about filing.

Good luck with both the insurance and your spinal surgery.

Marjorie

[always smilin']

Also, be careful about returning to work too early. Once you are back at work you lose the option of the disability insurance. So, if you go back and find you can't handle it...your life could become even more complicated financially speaking.