Income Protection

I agree that IP seems setup to benefit the administrator rather than the patient.  Mine was part of my super, so you would think that was straight forward - NOT for a minute - here's my story

I was given conflicting information about how & when to claim. Made to use up most of my saved sick leave.  Had to fill in timesheets, for my one day per fortnight working,  that ran on a completely different pay system and dates.  It took 5 months, so I was already on leave with out pay,  before I knew they would pay my claim.  They did pay 3 months worth, so then received that payment at the end of 6 months.  Was then told, I have to apply for extension for next 3 months, even tho I was having 6 months chemo, than 6 weeks rads.  The 2nd claim (for the same disease & treatment) took another 6 weeks before approval.....

it was unbelievably & totally incompetent management of a claim, was more stressful than the disease and I will not trust them to assist me in the process in the future.

So my tips on claiming on income protection.  Get your forms and complete as soon as possible(keep copies of every single page) and lodge immediately, do not wait 30 days.

Check and double check (ring at different times and also review their websites for different forms and instructions) 

Understand if you can use your sick leave, save your sick leave,  or have to use "Leave without pay -- sick leave" ** this is important,  if you take the "wrong" kind of leave they can invalidate your claim. (I could have saved 4 weeks of my sick leave for later surgery, but they refused to use the 30 day start date, because i worked 2 half days  after recovering from my mastectomy.) - should have lied!

my IP provider insisted that my employer stop paying me, so that I did not double dip(by getting $$ from both while I waited).  Great theory - but when I had to wait 6 months for the first payment, that would put some people into bankruptcy. (see how your payroll people can help if you need to wait - I returned my pay, once my claim was approved)

They also would not pay promptly, so I ended up with 6 weeks pay in the next tax year and they refused to do the ATO paperwork, that could fix that.

I had to chase them to get some kind of pay slip, when I moved onto "graded return work hours". 

It seems there are 2 kinds of IP - I have heard that some BC girls get a dream run, and its all settled and paid with in few weeks or its really difficult, like the issues I had to deal.  But i did get thru it, and the $ that were due and I am thankful that I did not have to work 14/15 days  of each chemo session.

Just dont rely on them (insurance companies to do you any favours because you have BC)

cheers Bardoe