Friday Q & A

Can Sun Life garnish my SSDI check if I don’t pay back an SSDI overpayment?

No, but it can reduce your monthly benefit to $0 to recover what’s owed and depending on what you promised to do via a signed Payment Option Form you may be subject to further action to recover. Sun Life may not be able to garnish your SSDI award without a court order, but it can make you wish you had repaid what you promised to repay.

I don’t want to deal with Unum anymore. How can I withdraw my claim?

Although DCS does not recommend withdrawing claims across the board, a Unum claim can be withdrawn by simply writing a letter to the claims handler stating you are “withdrawing your claim as of a certain date and that beyond that date no relationship between you and Unum exists.”

Then, we suggest writing a letter to your state insurance department informing it of why you decided to withdraw your claim. Unum shouldn’t receive a financial reserve profit hit without some consequence.

Do insurance companies use private investigators to investigate claims?

Of course they do. I am surprised that more people aren’t aware that due to technology insurers probably know more about you than you do. Private investigators are routinely used to conduct insurance investigations.

Does the Social Security Administration conduct surveillance?

Yes it does, but not in a general sense. SSA may conduct surveillance in special circumstances when information relative to fraud is reported or received. This is why we don’t want a company such as Unum providing information to SSA because much of what its Internet “snoop dogs” find out is inaccurate. By the way, Unum has offered its help to Congress to flush out fraud from the SSDI review process. Do we really want a private corporation running or influencing a government entitlement program?