Disability claims for hearing loss are routinely denied by long-term disability insurance companies. Hearing problems brought on by accident or disease can life changing. People suffering from incessant or recurring dizziness and balance problems, or the limitations of hearing loss, ringing in the ear and other chronic symptoms, have real problems functioning at work.
If your long-term disability claim for hearing loss has been denied, call us. We take on big insurance companies every day. We will fight for you to make the insurance pay the benefits you need and deserve.
Causes of Hearing Loss
Hearing loss can be caused by a variety of different things. Congenital defects anywhere in the hearing apparatus or brain can result in hearing loss. Infections and other diseases account for other cases. Allergies that cause fluid in the middle-ear can also result in hearing loss, if allowed to persist. Other causes of hearing loss are drugs, trauma, immune diseases, cancers, circulatory, genetic and degenerative disorders.
Most hearing loss results from problems with the cochlea or auditory (acoustic) nerve. This is called sensorineural. Hearing loss due to damage to areas of the brain cerebral cortex used in hearing is called central hearing loss. Hearing loss due to damage to the bones of the middle ear is called a conductive hearing loss. Mixed hearing loss means there is a combination of sensorineural and conductive hearing losses.
Hearing Tests
Audiologists perform hearing tests in the diagnosis and treatment of hearing loss. Hearing tests are used to gauge your ability to hear various frequencies and to test your level of hearing disability. You do not need to be completely deaf before you qualify for long-term disability benefits. In fact, hearing problems such as tinnitus may not have any hearing loss associated with it but can be disabling all the same.
Disability Insurance Claim Denials for Ear Disorders
If you have filed a long-term disability claim for benefits for ear damage, hearing loss or any form of vestibular disorder, do not be surprised if the insurance company denies the claim. Insurers will take many approaches to avoid paying disability benefits for ear disorders. They may reject benefits by alleging:
- the tinnitus is a subjective complaint (not supported by objective medical evidence)
- your vertigo is not a real problem,
- your symptoms are caused by something you did (and not related to ear disease),
- hearing loss can be overcome by corrective steps taken at the work place or hearing aids, etc.
Insurers may also be very “selective” in the evidence they choose to consider – known as “cherry picking” the evidence. They may make unreasonable requests for additional objective evidence and fail to fully consider a claimant’s complaints.
We are prepared for these and other tactics disability insurance providers use to avoid paying claims.
As your attorneys at Mehr Fairbanks Trial Lawyers, we go the extra mile to prepare an original LTD insurance claim that is set up for success. We will appeal a denied disability claim with the legal arguments needed to counter every wrong allegation submitted by the insurance company. Please give us a call toll free today at 800-249-3731.