Sometimes an insurance adjusters voluntarily pay
you some benefits. You might ask, “What’s wrong with
the insurance company doing what it is supposed to
do?” What’s wrong is that they do it in order to catch
you unaware and then you are in danger of permanently
losing your benefits. Many times, insurance adjusters
will voluntarily make payments and will never inform
the claimant of the fact that if they don’t file a claim
for benefits form and get an Award order, they will quit
paying them when the statute of limitations runs out,
which is two years from the date of injury. This is part of
their “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. This occurs with entire
claims and it also occurs with specific body parts. Here is
an example. You have a shoulder and neck injury but the
paperwork only lists your neck. The insurance company
pays for your shoulder and neck medical treatment and
after two years they stop your shoulder treatment. You
are out of luck because every body part must be listed
in the paperwork within two years of the accident for
them to have to pay it. What bothers me so much about
this is that most people don’t want to “file a lawsuit” or
“sue” their employers and they think a claim for benefits
is filing a lawsuit against their employer. They don’t
understand that it is a requirement. The problem is that
the insurance companies know this about hard working,
loyal employees, and take advantage of these individuals
who don’t want to make waves and want to get back to
work as quickly as possible. The number of times people
have come to me with this problem breaks my heart,
because there is nothing I can do for them at that point.
