Winter 2008
We take the very best care of your customers.
by Steve Brady,
Second Vice President, Individual Disability Insurance Sales
What potential does the experience of disability have to define the lives of your customers? It could be a defining moment because of an accompanying financial devastation. Or, it could be an anomaly that gives claimants the opportunity to view the resilient self within. With the financial buffer provided by disability income insurance benefits, there is support for disabled claimants’ financial and emotional well-being so they can focus on recovery.
Most of The Standard’s disability claimants recover, return to self-sufficiency, and lead productive lives. The caring professionals at The Standard are part of the recovery process, helping your customers through disability.
The Standard’s 650 claims personnel have a unique role in your customers’ lives. The most important staff members are the claims analysts who have the one-to-one interactions with the claimants from the beginning. There are also support staff the analysts tap into for assistance. Three groups merit a special mention.
Nurses
The Standard has 35 registered nurses who work closely with claims analysts to understand claimants’ conditions. Our nurses have years of experience in a variety of clinical settings, from oncology to surgery to rehabilitation. They review medical information and consult with analysts to clarify the claimants’ medical conditions. The nurses are also available to contact treating physicians to obtain updates on the claimants’ latest treatment and on their recovery. The nurses also work with The Standard’s vocational staff to identify and resolve barriers to return to work.
Vocational Rehabilitation Specialists
The Standard has 30 licensed vocational rehabilitation specialists who help claims analysts understand specific occupational duties. Our vocational specialists have years of experience helping individuals with disabilities return to work.
Physician Consultants
The Standard works with 29 physician consultants that help the claims analysts understand expected impairments resulting from claimants’ medical conditions. Most of The Standard’s physician consultants also maintain active practices in their specialties, such as:
- Internal medicine
- Psychiatry
- Orthopedics
- Neurology
- Cardiology
- Rheumatology
- Ophthalmology
- Occupational medicine
- Physical medicine and rehabilitation.
The Standard’s physician consultants are up-to-date on the latest in treatment and diagnostic protocols. They are physically located within the claims department and are available five days a week to consult with analysts and nurses on complex medical conditions.
You can count on The Standard to provide the very best individual, expert care to your customers
There are 32 stories behind this list of Recently Paid Individual Disability Insurance Claims (form 14319). The vast majority of The Standard’s claimants recover and return to work. We tell three of these stories in this issue.
The amount of time it takes disability claimants to recover varies. Recent industry statistics show that the length of disabilities lasting longer than ninety days, has increased significantly for all age groups — including the younger ages — since prior statistics from 1981. Please see the table at right for more details.
Having individual disability income insurance can make the difference between coping financially during the recovery period, or having a drastic change in lifestyle. The author of a Harvard study reported that every 30 seconds someone files for bankruptcy in the aftermath of a serious medical problem1 and the study itself noted that among those whose illnesses led to bankruptcy, nearly 76% had medical insurance at the onset of illness.2
Disability income insurance can have a significant positive effect on the financial and emotional outcomes after a disability.
Dollars for dignity
At The Standard, each month we pay out millions of dollars to people who are disabled and own individual disability insurance policies, as well as to those who own group LTD and STD. The people identified on the Recently Paid Individual Disability Insurance Claims referenced earlier represent only $90,000 of those millions of dollars of monthly benefits.
Each disability benefit dollar is more valuable than any dollar they have earned prior to disability. Each dollar allows the claimant to focus on recovering from disability instead of focusing on surviving financially. Each dollar represents a benefit in what could otherwise be a financially devastating crisis.
When you sell disability, you sell a promise we keep
As you sell disability insurance and recommend the company that will take the best care of your customers, remember that with 650 claims personnel who specialize in caring for each individual claimant, you could not choose more wisely than The Standard.
We make our living providing both quality disability insurance protection and expert, compassionate care. Your customers count on us to be there for them. It is what we do. Nothing is more important at The Standard than disability insurance.
Can any other company make that claim?
1 Dr. Elizabeth Warren, “Sick and Broke,” The Washington Post, February 9, 2005, p. A23.
2 “Illness and Injury as Contributors to Bankruptcy,” David U. Himmelstein, Elizabeth Warren, Deborah Thorne and Steffie Woolhandler. MarketWatch Health Affairs. ©2005 Project HOPE. The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.