Do you need to win long-term disability benefits for Lyme Disease in Canada? Does your illness leave you struggling in everyday life and unable to fulfil your duties at work?
If you started to apply for long-term disability benefits or are considering it to lift the financial weight off your shoulders, you might already know that you are in for a bumpy ride.
Insurance companies consider Lyme disease an invisible medical condition; diagnosis is difficult and often inaccurate.
Additionally, many employers are unfamiliar with the disease and the profound effect it has on those suffering from it. What should be a simple and straightforward application process can turn into a lengthy and frustrating ordeal.
A bureaucratic nightmare is the last thing you need when you are trying to cope with a difficult long-term illness. This article discusses the unique challenges Lyme disease victims will face when applying for long-term disability benefits. We can help you take the first steps toward securing the support that you are entitled to.
This article is part of our series looking at medical conditions and disability benefits.
Disability from Lyme Disease: You’re Not Alone
If you are struggling with headaches, fevers, fatigue, heart palpitations or pain in your joints due to a Lyme disease infection, you are experiencing some of the many symptoms of an illness that is as complex as it is elusive. Lyme disease, a systemic disease, can affect your entire body if left untreated.
The serious long-term effects of Lyme disease can make you feel isolated from the rest of the world. However, it is crucial to remind yourself that you are not the only one battling this illness.
Lyme disease on the rise in Canada
In fact, the risk of contracting Lyme disease — once limited to parts of Ontario — is on the rise in Canada. Lyme-carrying ticks can now be found in all Canadian provinces along the U.S. border. Along with that, Lyme disease cases are increasing too. From 2009 to 2021, provincial health units reported 14,616 cases of Lyme disease across the nation, with the majority of reports taking place in the last couple of years. The preliminary data for 2021 recorded 2,851 cases, which is the highest year yet.
The disease is spreading slowly but steadily across the country. And, with more and more reported cases and numerous unreported or misdiagnosed ones, Lyme disease can no longer be brushed off as a dangerous exception. The numbers will continue to rise.
These are shocking numbers, and they show that you are not alone in this battle. Unfortunately, the support available to those suffering from Lyme disease has yet to catch up with these worrying developments. Canada’s health and insurance systems are lagging way behind the disease.
One thing I have learned both as a health professional and a disability benefits lawyer is you need to figure out how to play the system to get the support you need. Getting financial and medical support should be given in a country like Canada. I am hoping that the situation will change in time. But for now, you have to work within certain restraints – and we will do our best to help you.
Lyme Disease Diagnosis
Lyme disease is an inflammatory infection caused by tick bites. If caught early, you can treat Lyme disease with several weeks of antibiotics. Infected patients usually make a quick recovery. But if left untreated for longer periods of time, the disease can progress into a chronic one. Treatment becomes more difficult, and diagnosis becomes unlikely as time passes.
Devastatingly, diagnosis often doesn’t happen in time for the simple antibiotics course to be effective anymore. If you are looking to claim long-term disability benefits for Lyme disease, then you must be all too familiar with the difficulties of diagnosing it.
The symptoms of Lyme disease vary. They also mimic the symptoms of other illnesses. So, misdiagnoses are extremely common. If you had a bull’s-eye rash after the tick bite – supposedly the most reliable indicator of Lyme disease – then, bizarrely, you might be one of the lucky ones. Many infected people never develop the rash and are not aware a tick has bitten them either. Arthritis, Fibromyalgia and Multiple Sclerosis are only a few of many illnesses that Lyme disease victims are regularly misdiagnosed with. Symptoms are often not connected to their real cause until it’s too late.
False Negative Tests
Did you falsely test negative for Lyme disease at some point during this exhausting journey? A lot of controversy surrounds the diagnosis, especially when it comes to the tests that ought to reliably detect Lyme disease and give you peace of mind.
Canadian tests are notorious for misdiagnosing the illness, and a great proportion of those affected falsely test negative. For this reason, many patients turn to laboratories in the U.S., especially in California. This is because U.S. tests are capable of detecting more strains of bacteria than their Canadian counterparts.
If you have been struggling to support yourself financially and are turning to disability benefits, you are probably one of the many people who went undiagnosed for years – and maybe still are. Left unrecognized and thus untreated, Lyme disease turns into a chronic disease with long-term implications for your health and well-being.
If you are struggling with Lyme disease, you never know what the next day will bring. Will you be able to make it out of bed, or is the pain going to be too much? So, you shouldn’t have to worry about how to make it work on top of that.
Disability Benefits for Lyme Disease
When it comes to claiming long-term disability benefits for Lyme disease in Canada, you might be eligible for one of two types of disability benefits if you are a worker. These are the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) disability benefits and the long-term disability insurance benefits.
CPP disability benefits for Lyme Disease
The CPP, designed to support you after retirement, also covers disability benefits that start once you become disabled. These payments last until you are 65. After that, these disability benefits are converted into regular pensions. To qualify for the CPP disability benefits, you have to have worked for four out of the past six years and paid payroll taxes. To get CPP benefits, you have to prove that your disability is both prolonged and severe, leaving you unable to work.
Long-term Disability Insurance Benefits for Lyme Disease
Group disability insurance policies are the most common types of disability insurance in Canada. If your employer has insured you as part of a group, you are receiving your disability insurance through your job. These group disability insurance policies provide both long-term and short-term disability benefits.
If you are suffering from a chronic form of Lyme disease, you can apply for long-term disability benefits. If successful, you will be provided with monthly income payments during long absences from work.
How to Win Disability Benefits for Lyme Disease
I’ve already touched on the difficulties of getting a firm diagnosis. Unsurprisingly, this translates directly into how insurance companies and the CPP will handle your disability claim. You’ve probably already guessed — or even experienced yourself — that benefit providers aren’t exactly eager to give out disability benefits for an illness like Lyme disease, which is often treated as if it was “all in the patient’s head.”
Another point to consider is the different stages of Lyme disease. You will have to prove that your illness has progressed into a chronic disease. Meaning it doesn’t allow you to lead a normal life anymore. In short, you need to prove that you are legitimately disabled from work.
The nature of the illness and the inadequate testing system makes this difficult, however. The most difficult challenge is to get an official diagnosis of Lyme disease. As mentioned previously, Canada has yet to improve the screening test to detect more than one strain of bacteria.
So, insurance companies will have no qualms about debating you on this. And they will crush your hopes of receiving disability benefits if they can find a hole in your application. Insurance companies have to make a profit, and your disability claim reduces that profit. Therefore, every single claim will be scrutinized and eventually denied if it’s not 100 percent bulletproof.
There is a crucial difference between being disabled and being able to prove your disability. Your benefits provider may still deny your claim even if your doctor is on your side and will testify for you. Citing that, they need more proof. Insurance companies are notorious for only believing what you can prove, even if your doctor supports you. They will work to undermine your claim to avoid the payment, acting in their own rational best interest.
What to Do if You’ve Been Denied Disability Benefits for Lyme Disease
You’ve filled out the forms, and you’ve compiled as much evidence as you could get. And yet, the letter you receive in the post a few weeks later denies your claim for disability benefits.
This is a tough time, and I know that – I’ve seen it over and over again with my clients. You don’t know what you’ve done wrong, and a rejection can feel like a slap in the face. Getting told your condition doesn’t warrant financial support adds humiliation and frustration to the chronic pain.
The good news is that you don’t have to simply accept that your rightful claims have been denied. You can appeal the insurance company’s decision instead. I have years of experience with disability benefits claims, including many cases of Lyme disease. I know what you are going through, and I’m confident that I can help you. You have a choice. You don’t have to let insurance companies get away with denying you the support you are entitled to by law.
For more information on how to navigate disability benefits denial, download a copy of my books. These books are free and will help you consider all your options. You can also book a free consultation below to learn more about your options.
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