Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the senior Republican on the Finance Committee, has sent letters to nine insurers, including giants UNUM and Aetna, requesting more information about their handling of disability claims and their requirement that virtually everyone apply for social security disability payments.
(One of the deep dark secrets of why most employer sponsored plans are virtual shams is that if you get SSDI benefits it reduces what the disability company has to pay you.)
“The last thing those who rely on Social Security need is for insurance companies to be clogging up the system by forcing ineligible applicants to apply,” he said.
Mr. Grassley told the insurers to report on how many of their claimants they had compelled to apply for Social Security in the last five years; how many appeals they had required people to file; and what methods they had used to screen the people beforehand to make sure they truly had a chance of qualifying for the government benefits.
