pressured to go back to work

[jgcr]

I've been on LTD for 2 yrs now and my Blue Cross is really wanting to get me off and back to work... they are now pushing me to see some Occupational Therapist to do some office financial analyst work similar to my real work tasks... I haven't started yet... I have my first appointment on Wednesday... I'm seeing a Psychologist who is focusing on my emotional and psychological state about getting back to work, since she is employed by Blue Cross and they are pushing real hard... I feel her therapy doesn't even scrape the top layer of my depression... My Pdoc doesn't think I'm ready yet... but I'm feeling bullied into it... the more they push the more I break down, have severe anxiety episodes, and can't sleep due to the anxiety I feel about prepping to go back/going back. My bipolar depression is starting to plunge even though I'm undergoing monthly ECT maintnance treatments now (I've had 3 so far) but I'm feeling so panicked and so overwhelmed I'm just not seeing any progress... My Pdoc and I are still working on tweeking my meds... I'm feeling so discouraged with my recovery from bipolar and starting to feel hopeless that just with focusing on my treatment I feel I have enough to deal with... I don't know what to do anymore... my appointments are coming up and I'm being pushed so hard to go back, I'm scared that i don't have a choice and that going back will plunge me back into the state I was before Christmas where I was done with everything... where the doctor had to admit me... where I was loosing my family...

Blue Cross is also telling me to apply for CPP Disability... I'm not sure I understand what that is.... and if it means if I can't go back to work that this will be my only financial support as LTD will drop me. Just worries about this add so much anxiety... I have so much trouble reading documents and processing the information to try to understand... the focus just isn't there... I have no one else and nowhere else to turn for advice... I'm not sure what to do and where to start doing it and how to not fall back into that deep dark hole again...

[paul m]

Hello Jgcr. Sorry to hear that you are having so many problems. My best advice is that you should talk with a lawyer about your LTD plan and see just what your rights are in regards to attending sessions that your doctor feels that you shouldn't have too. Many people say they can't afford a lawyer, but I can tell you from personal experience that not talking to a lawyer can cost a person 100,000's of thousands of dollars. Just ask me. I didn't talk to one when I should have. That would be about 1/2 a million in money that I have lost and still counting. In comparison a lawyer that I thought that I couldn't afford at the time would have been pretty cheap. Please note that talking to a lawyer experienced in disability claims is different than just handing over your case and asking them to work on it. Lawyers tend to bill one of two ways. 1) by the hr for advice provided 2)by the case , which usually means seeing your case all the way through and tends to be much more expensive.

In regards to "Do you have to take part in a back to work plan that your own psychiatrist doesn't think that you are ready for. Again, this is a question for a lawyer, but if you go to the following http://www.sharelawyers.com/disabili...-answers.html? and go scroll down to Can my insurance company deny my LTD claim because I refused to participate in a return-to-work program? , it may help you to understand a little more.

The following is a link that may help you understand a bit more about LTD in general http://www.mooddisorders.ca/guide/gu...erm-disability

CPPD is Canada Pension Disability Plan is part of CPP. Any one who has paid into CPP for long enough and is severely disabled is entitled to apply for it. Blue Cross wants you to apply for it because most LTD providers have a clause that after pre determined time they can ask you collect it and then pay you less. . For example if you were getting $2000 from blue cross and you were to apply for and get $800 a mth from CPPD, then blue cross would only have to pay you $1200 per mth. It's a pretty standard clause in most LTD plans and I'm surprised that Blue Cross didn't ask you to apply after 1 yr. As many people who are eligible for LTD are also eligible for CPPD, it helps to keep the cost of your overall insurance plan down for your employer(and you if you paid into it). That is why it's a pretty standard clause.

I don't know the terms of your LTD plan with blue cross, but if it does have to pay you after 2 yrs they cannot cut you off just because you are collecting from CPPD. Not all plans LTD plans pay past two yrs, but I suspect that yours does otherwise Blue Cross wouldn't care if you collected from the Gov't or not.

As I said I don't know the terms of your plan, but usually if you do not apply for CPPD, the LTD provider is entitled to cut you back by the amount you would have rec'd from CPPD anyways.

There are also long term implications, if you do not apply for CPPD if you remain disabled, as down the road when you turn 65 it is better to have 5 yrs of collecting CPPD then 5 yrs of not having paid into CPP. The following website explains a lot about CPPD and why you should apply for it and also some of the more difficult points about suing and/or appealing insurance companies decisions. https://resolutelegal.ca/cpp-disabil...ance-problems/ Take Care. paul m