Have you been denied health, disability or life insurance benefits
through your employer-sponsored health plan?
Have you been to told you have an ERISA plan and must follow the claim
and appeal procedures in your ERISA policy?
If so, you may need a Knoxville ERISA lawyer to help you understand the ERISA
claim and appeal process.
ERISA stands for the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of
1974. It was designed to protect the
interests of employees/participants and their beneficiaries who depend on
benefits from private employee benefit plans.
Unfortunately the law is often used to successfully deny needed health
insurance benefits. ERISA sets rules and standards for how
insurance companies and/or businesses administer ERISA-based health, disability
and life insurance plans. These
standards include clearly written rules and procedures for denial of claims or
benefits and an appeal process to challenge such denials.
If you are denied health insurance or other benefits, your ERISA plan
administrator must give you the reason for denial in writing and in a manner
you can understand. It also must give
you a reasonable opportunity for a fair and full review of the decision. An employee or plan member must exhaust the
appeal process before any lawsuit can be filed for benefit denial. Generally any such suit must be filed in
federal court following a complex procedure to prepare the case for judicial review.
If you believe you have been improperly denied benefits under an
ERISA policy or plan, how you build the record during the ERISA appeal process is
key to whether you win the appeal and to whether you win an ERISA lawsuit. The Law Office of Stephen A. Burroughs
handles ERISA appeals and suits and can give you advice on how to proceed
during the appeal phase. You may also
want to view the following for information on your ERISA plan and the appeal
and lawsuit process.
http://www.michbar.org/younglawyers/pdfs/erisa_materials.pdf
