You Should Know: Overdoses Soar with Drug Company Profits
Bryant Legal Group’s October 2016 “You Should Know” newsletter was distributed last night. It is available online here. In this issue: “Addiction Explodes with Sales,” “Abuse, Addiction Prevention Checklist,” and “Track Pharma Dollars to Docs.” If you would like to subscribe to our newsletter, you can do that here.
Social Security Disability News by Joni Beth Bailey
For new and updates relevant to Social Security disability, we recommend visiting attorney Joni Beth Bailey’s blog page. Recent topics include: “Famous Last Words—’I’ve got this! I don’t need an attorney at my Social Security disability hearing!’” and “SSA’s mySocial Security: New Online Security Update” Ms. Bailey is an experienced attorney representing individuals since 1984 …
Insurer Required to Defend Insured
The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed in part and reversed in part the district court’s decision regarding insurer’s duty to defend. Cincinnati Insurance Company brought action seeking declaration that its policy did not apply to the underlying claims against insured, arising out of automobile accident which resulted in death of insured’s wife. The United …
Limits to Bad Faith Discovery in Illinois?
Zagorski v. Allstate Insurance Company, 2016 IL App (5th) 140056 (May 16, 2016) St. Clair Co. (CATES) Affirmed in part, reversed in part, and vacated in part; remanded with directions. (WELCH and GOLDENHERSH, concurring.) Plaintiffs filed suit against their insurer, Allstate Insurance Company, alleging vexatious breach of contract and common law fraud, under Section 155 …
Social Security Agency Rules Proposal
The American Bar Association’s House of Delegates recently approved Resolution 106B. The Resolution proposes various reforms to the rulemaking provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”), many of which embrace principles endorsed in past Administrative Conference of the United States recommendations. This project identifies points of overlap, and offers the Conference’s views on non-overlapping portions of the Resolution. …
Does ERISA Cover My Church-Affiliated Disability Insurance Plan?
If you work for a religiously affiliated organization, different rules may apply to your disability insurance claim. ERISA does not cover many church plans due to an exception in the law, so it’s important to understand whether your plan qualifies as a church plan before you proceed with a claim. To learn more about church plans and your long-term disability claim, keep …
ERISA Preemption in Case of Liberty Mutual Health Insurance Plan
The Supreme Court ruled that ERISA pre-empts Vermont’s statute as applied to ERISA plans in Gobeille v. Liberty Mutual Insurance Co., decided on March 1, 2016. Liberty Mutual maintains a self-insured employee health plan and some of those employees reside in Vermont. Vermont maintains a health-claims database (an “all-payor claims database” or APCD) that requires …
Skilled Nursing Facilities Increase Therapy Minutes while Federal Fraud Enforcement Plays Catchup
The Medicare and Medicaid programs were established to ensure the health and medical needs of our nation’s aging and disabled populations. Unfortunately, a small number of doctors,hospitals,nursing homes,drug companies, and other health care providers have taken advantage of our tax dollars by making false claims to Medicare and Medicaid.Common fraudulent schemes include billing for unperformed …
Are Workers Compensation Benefits Affected By Other Benefits?
Whenever other benefits are involved in a WC claim, questions arise. If a client gets Vet benefits, is there a reduction? If Service Connected, no. If Non-Service Connected, yes. If client is getting UC & WC, will Social Security deny benefits? Not necessarily. 820 ILS 405 Section 601(b)(1). If client has another WC claim pending …
Helpful Medicare Resources
Coordination of Benefits & Recovery: http://go.cms.gov/cobro Attorney Services: http://go.cms.gov/attorney Beneficiary Services: http://go.cms.gov/bene Insurer Services: http://go.cms.gov/insurer