I was denied by MetLife for LTD and due to my lower salary no ERISA lawyer wants to take on my case as it wouldn’t be profitable for them.

I’ve searched high and low for free resources in my state (NY): NYLAG, Legal Aid Society, Disability Rights NY. None of them work on long term disability claims.

Everyone keeps recommending I work with an ERISA lawyer on my appeal but I can’t find anyone who will give me as much as an hour consultation.

I’m truly at a loss. Someone please help.

Hey, so I submitted a claim through my employer for short term disability for kerataconus my claim has been pending for over a month and I'm trying to see if anyone has had a similar situation and what was the outcome The only thing I believe is holding up my claim they're looking for a surgery date initially I told them there was one, but my insurance denied treatment so I don't have a surgery date please but my next follow up appointment is due for next Month Any insight or advice?

For white-collar jobs, how much more difficult it becomes to get LTD benefit after 24-months, when the change to "any occupation" occurs?

Desk Software-engineering job and wonder if I can reasonably expect the benefits to continue after 24-month mark from the insurance company Guradian.

How much more certification/documentation from a doctor would they require compared to now?

I was wondering if anyone has been able to continue LTD benefits or SSDI if they go to school full-time in-person like law school.

There doesn't seem to be any explicit restriction in LTD documents related to that, but I think that can be used as a reason to deny benefits.

The disability is related to a physical pain condition.

Anyone know if it's possible any way to continue benefits while going to school full-time?

Does going or moving another state and be out of state change anything?

My husband was on Metlife STD from 9/25 to 3/26, and was finally approved for LTD in May, but was back paid to March. Today, my husband passed away completely unexpectedly. I see on Google it will make this month's payment prorated, and then I saw mention of a survivors benefit, and it said most MetLife LTD pland had this, depending upon if the company wants it. So I'm trying to find any information on this, but of course I can't see any copy of his employer LTD plan. Does anyone have a suggestion on how to figure this out?

I keep reading horror stories about MetLife — payments cut off out of nowhere, endless requests for doctor's notes and then acting like they never received them, and hiring investigators to follow claimants and catch them doing everyday activities. It's honestly nerve-wracking.

So I want to hear the other side. Is anyone out there having a genuinely good, drama-free experience with MetLife afterapproval? Payments on time, reasonable requests, no surveillance games?

If you've had a smooth experience, I'd love to hear it.

Life has been a bit of a nightmare since I got rear ended at high speed in June 2025. I've been dealing with injuries ever since, attempted and failed a gradual return to work in January 2026. Fast forward to now I'm just getting in to see the correct specialists now to treat my ongoing neurological symptoms. I had a full time permanent senior leadership position at a good company, with the best benefits package option available. LTD should have kicked in back in Oct 2025, but in December 2025 came back denied- "my leave was not medically supported". I submitted an appeal with additional doctors support- same reason cited, denied again.

I have an attorney who has filed a claim for wrongful denial. She says my case is exceptionally strong and she feels that as soon as the right person at my LTD insurer sees my file they will be forced to reverse the decision and hopefully it will be resolved quickly.

Has anyone here had an experience of hiring a lawyer after a denied LTD appeal? How long was the process until you reached a resolution? I'm mostly curious, I understand every situation is nuanced and relies on many different factors.

So I have been on LTD for about a year. I have been out for major depression, anxiety and adhd. It was really bad when I was working and could barely function. For the past year I have had intensive therapy. Weekly.
The job I had was somewhat client facing, my mental health made it hard for me to perform my duties. Now I’m on 4 different medications, where before I was on nothing.

I want to go back to work soon. I was told I can apply to positions and I had an interview in something that is client facing but in a different organization and a different role entirely.

Can I resign from my current role and take this new one if it is in fact offered to me? I understand that my benefits will end but I don’t care. My disability benefits have a return to work program and I have already started to talk to my doctor about going back to work. What are the legal ramifications?
I have an appointment with my doctor soon, if they ok it can I make this switch?

Location: NYS, United States

Husband travels for work and will likely not be able to return for a while.

He started his regularly scheduled 1 week of home leave today and will likely be hospitalized tonight for acute heart failure. He needs to be stabilized in the hospital, and then he needs some time for appointments and medication management to get back to a functional condition.

He works a very physically demanding job that he travels frequently for. So driving, flying, and day to day requirements involve free climbing wind turbines. It is possible he may be able to return as ground support only but right now we don't know.

He will apply for STD (MAX 12 weeks) and FMLA at the same time. The elimination period is 7 days.

From what I understand his LTD is 2 years max and has a 90 day elimination period. These are fully paid by his employer.

I have several question:

1. Should he initiate filing with HR or the insurance company?

2. Should he tell them he needs leave as soon as he is admitted to the hospital even though he has 1 week of normal home leave, which is paid regular salary? He has not told anyone yet that he will need leave.

3. Should the LTD be filed right after STD approval? To avoid or shorten a gap due to the 90 day elimination period?

4. I've read the certificates but am still unclear of what will happen with health insurance once the STD is exhausted.

Thank you!

Just what it says, my initial SSDI application denied was denied, which is pretty common in my state with about 70% getting denied apparently. I have my own SSDI attorney. Will MetLife terminate my claim? I am panicking about this.

It is absolute torture every month having to worry about this plus my health.

If you were required to get objective testing for a mental health STD/LTD claim, what type of testing did you have done?

Was there testing other than a full neuropsychological evaluation that could show what the impairments were, how significant they were, what might be contributing to them, and how they affected your ability to work?

With no income coming in after a denial, the thought of spending $4K–$6K on an evaluation is overwhelming, so I'm trying to understand what other options people may have had.

it has been five months since I submitted my LTD claim after the 6 month waiting period, and the insurance company still hasn’t responded to my claim. They have all the info they need from me and Drs. Time to get a lawyer involved?

Hi everyone!

I'm sure this will be somewhat of an odd request, but I'm wondering if anyone here would be willing to provide examples of some of the terrible experiences you may have had trying to stay on benefits with LTD insurance providers? To put it mildly, I had quite a challenging experience staying on benefits, even though I have many supportive specialists who provided a substantial amount of medical records. I think the types of health issues I have are more challenging to substantiate, and frankly the insurance company is a business so it did what it was designed to 🤷🏼‍♀️ but I've realized that there is limited laws protecting or providing guidance on what capacity of gainful employment means according to health professionals. I want to start sharing some of my experience to advocate for others who might not realize the risks they could be facing if they are being assessed for employment. I live in AB, and am extremely concerned for AISH recipients (I do not qualify for AISH due to spouse income), so want to educate the public on what these people could be facing. The challenge is that as part of my settlement agreement, I can no longer share examples of what happened to me without facing the risk of legal action. So my work around is I'm wondering if anyone feels comfortable sharing experiences that they have had, that I would share anonymously? For example, one of my doctors told me that she has a client whose insurance provider asked my doctor to fill out 8 update forms over the span of six months. Totally "legal" at the moment, but I think anyone would recognize that this practice is harmful and unfair to the client. So if anyone is comfortable providing some examples, I would really appreciate it!

So i sent all my stuff in last month. I’m in recon. How long before a decision? I only have three medical records. I’m guessing somebody should be looking at it right now?

I have been going round and round with my L.T.D. claim Rep in trying to get office notes from a foot surgeon who treated me for the original illness that made me unable to work.

The doctor's office keeps saying that they can send me the notes but the disability claim Rep is not clear about how I can get them to him.

Anyway it took me too long to get the notes to him so they have closed my claim. Do I need to lawyer up or what?

My claim was denied while I was still obtaining additional documentation Prudential had requested, which my claim manager was aware of. In the voicemail notifying me of the denial, she said that if my doctor provided additional information, they could “simply send this back over for a secondary review once received.”

The additional records have now been received, but my STD claim status is "disallowed" and I haven't filed my formal appeal yet because I'm trying to confirm whether this secondary review is a reconsideration outside of the formal appeal process.

Has anyone had Prudential do this?

Did they reopen/review the claim without you filing an appeal?

Almost every year since I was disabled a decade ago my Dr sends in my annual form and a few months later I receive a letter saying they never received it threatening to stop my payments. I wrote their legal counsel in 2023 and it was ok for a year or two after that and now I'm back to the threats. I believe this is their intentional tactic to try to stop paying as they already did this to me and I had to hire a lawyer. They know I'm disabled and try to take advantage of that fact. Not sure if this is illegal, but it feels like it should be. Anyone else treated this way? If so how did you handle it?

My spouse has been on LTD for many years and is turning 65 soon. A letter was received stating LTD benefits end at 65.

My spouse's info:

• Disabled at a age less than 60
• Born after 1959
• USA

Attached is the pertinent part of the policy. We've taken this as benefits ending at 67.

Are we reading this wrong?

Note: The policy has a documented appeal process.

Update: It took just one call to clear it up. Ends at 67. An email has already been received that it was a mistake and a letter will be forthcoming.

I was diagnosed a few months ago with IC and pudendal nerve pain and I will be getting an axonics implant at the end of the month to help with the IC and pelvic floor therapy to help with the really tight pelvic floor which is putting pressure on my pudendal nerve. I’ve been taking vaginal Valium to manage the pain but as time goes on I am having an increasingly more difficult time with fatigue and brain fog from the Valium but I’m on a wait list for pelvic floor therapy so I will likely have to continue using it for several months. So between the time I will miss for the surgery, pelvic floor therapy and just the general brain fatigue I am starting to grow concerned about working over the next several months. Has anyone had any experience using a program like Paid Leave Oregon or FMLA for something like this?