Truman Talks Law - Great Day Live - 2/1/12
 

Video Transcript for the Hearing Impaired:

Speaker 1: ssa.gov says a 20-year-old worker has a 3 in 10 chance of becoming disabled before reaching retirement age.

Other Speaker: If it could happen to anybody, so what do you do if you become disabled and are unable to work? Among many federal programs, the largest is, of course, Social Security disability and attorney Karl Truman is here with us today to –

Other Speaker: – talk more about that. Hello.

Karl Truman: Good morning. Yes, Social Security is one of those things, you know, you can get your paycheck stub and there's a deduction for Social Security; a lot of people just, all, all they think about is Social Security retirement. Well, when I turn 65 or 67 or whatever, but, uh, that also includes a disability benefit if you are unable to work.

Speaker 1: Unable under, under what window are we talking about, uh, physically only, emotionally? What are we talking about?

Karl Truman: Well, it could be a combination of things, you know. If you're physically, you become injured and we, we see a lot of people who come to us for workers' compensation, get hurt on the job, and then they become totally disabled and then we help them apply for, dis, uh, Social Security disability benefits. So it can be physical, could be, uh, psychological, uh, different type of psychological injuries. So, uh, you know, if you're medically unable to work – and it has to be unable to work because sometimes clients will come and say, well, I can't do my old job and I can't find a job so I wanna be, you know, on disability and it just doesn't, unfortunately it doesn't work that way. You have to be able to show you can't do any type of gainful employment.

Other Speaker: Yeah, there are certain stipulations to it –

Karl Truman: Right.

Other Speaker: – and you help people apply for it so do you care to walk us through the steps, the process –

Karl Truman: Sure.

Other Speaker: – to apply for Social Security –

Karl Truman: Well, the first –

Other Speaker: – disability.

Karl Truman: – the first thing is, you have to apply and a lot of people can apply on line. We do help, like, people with initial applications also and, you know, they're gonna, Social Security's gonna wanna know your past 15 years of work history and all of your medical providers, all of your doctors and hospitals, all the medicine you take. So the more you can get that information together before you apply, the easier the process is gonna be to actually fill out the forms because that, you know, they want all that information.

Speaker 1: And on your paychecks you can also have withdrawal for, um, long-term disability, short-term disability. Is that insurance and that's not government? Is that – those are payments in case –

Karl Truman: Right, the, for short-term disability, long, those are typically private plans or company-sponsored plans; that's not through the government.

Speaker 1: Okay.

Karl Truman: Uh, the Social Security doesn't have a distinction between short-term and long-term. Actually, to be eligible you have to show that you cannot work for at least 12 months. So, if you're off work for six months and then can go back to some type of job, then you're not eligible.

Other Speaker: It's interesting because with Social Security disability you say 80 percent of people that apply for it are denied.

Karl Truman: Yes.

Other Speaker: 8 out of 10 people, that's a lot.

Karl Truman: That is a lot.

Other Speaker: What do, where do you go from there? What do you do if you're denied?

Karl Truman: After the initial application, then we file for what's called a request for reconsideration. And most of those get denied too, I mean, because you're going back and asking the same person to –

Other Speaker: Same info again…

Karl Truman: – change their mind and so sometimes, you know, sometimes they do get approved at that level but still, most of them do get a, uh, denied on the request for reconsideration level and then after that, if it's denied again, then we request a hearing with an Administrative Law Judge and that's where we actually go before a judge in a hearing room and the client testifies and then, you know, all along, of course, you know, one of our jobs is to make sure that we present the best medical evidence and medical proof to support the claim.

Speaker 1: And you also have to illustrate again that you can't have worked for 12 months.

Karl Truman: It's a minimum. You have to show that you cannot do any type of uh, it's called, the, the term they use is 'substantial gainful activity'. So basically you can't work any type of job even if it's a sit-down, sedentary job.

Speaker 1: All right, Karl, I appreciate your time again. As –

Karl Truman: Great.

Speaker 1: always, great to see you.

Karl Truman: All right, thank you.

Speaker 1: Karl Truman talks law every Wednesday here on Great Day Live.

Other Speaker: You can reach attorney Karl Truman at 232 2222 or online at trumanlaw.com.

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Video Transcript for the Hearing Impaired:

Speaker: Truman Talks Law on Great Day Live with Karl Truman, local attorney.

Next Speaker: I’ve heard all the talk this December about Santa Claus, our next guest wants to focus on another clause, the legal clause, “Weasel”.

Next Speaker: It’s a legal clause in some disability insurance policies and one of the topics in a book co authored by local attorney, Karl Truman, our guest today for Truman Talks Live. Welcome.

Next Speaker: Thank you very much.

Next Speaker: Now let’s talk about this legal clause and how often that occurs in disability policies.

Next Speaker: Well, this is a, talks about a book that I co-authored with some other attorneys and it’s called Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing, what your insurance company doesn’t want you to know until it’s too late. Talks about a lot of different, uh, aspects of the insurance, whether it’s disability, automobile insurance, dealing with insurance company doctors, about, uh, trying to settle cases. Uh, we’re now talking about the, what the disability, uh, clause is. For example, if your disability clause may, by definition, allow the insurance company to decide as a exclusive deci, decision, are you disabled. But, what is the definition of being disabled? You know, can you do any type of work? So, there’s a lot of, of little nuances in their policies that, uh, are a little one sided in their favor, you know?

Next Speaker: If a disability comes into play in someone’s life, should they call a lawyer first?

Next Speaker: Well, there –

Next Speaker: What’s the order of events?

Next Speaker: Well obviously, the first thing you have to do is file your application and there’s several steps that you have to, you have to go through to file your application for disability. And, there’s a difference too, is it a private policy that you purchased yourself or is it sponsored through an employer? There’s a lot of different variations there. And, some of them under, uh, federal law, uh, the way that it, how they’re written, you may not even have a right to a jury trial. If, uh, you have a disagreement, if the insurance company says no, you’re not disabled, uh, you may not, and there’s…so that if you’re denied, then you should consult with an attorney who does disability claims.

Next Speaker: Now you also co authored another book, The Truth About Lawyer Advertising In Indiana and Kentucky. I mean how many of those ads have we seen? What do those ads really say?

Next Speaker: Sure. In, of course, I’m a, I do advertise and all lawyers advertise. To say, you know, some lawyers advertise, some lawyers don’t, I think is, is misleading itself. So, you know, certainly I do a lot of advertising, but the, the truth is is you’ve got to be an educated consumer. See I believe in educating because if, I think that an educated consumer makes the better client. And for example, one of the first things you have to know is is the lawyer you’re calling on TV been licensed to practice law here, because, believe it or not, there are lawyers on television here in Louisville who are not even licensed to practice law in Kentucky or Indiana. And, they may not even be a lawyer. You know, there’s, there’s chiropractors that look like lawyer ads and so, you’ve but to be educated. And that’s what the book is really about.

Next Speaker: Another thing kind of came up in the Sheep’s Clothing book is about uninsured motorists. You’re driving along having happy holiday thoughts. All of sudden the person that pops you has no insurance.

Next Speaker: And that is very common. That’s very common and many insurance companies might be surprised to hear me say that most people don’t have enough insurance. Because if you try to save a few dollars by not having any uninsured motorist coverage, well that car that hits you, uh, may not have any coverage themselves, so if you have a very bad injury, may not have enough coverage. So, it’s very important to look at your policy and know what you have because one of the big things, you know, clients will always come tell me, I’ll ask them what coverage they have and the, the response is always, well, I have full coverage. And I’m like okay, what coverage do you have? Oh, I have full coverage. So that doesn’t really mean anything to say I have full coverage. You’ve gotta look at, uh, your insurance policy to know what coverage you really do have.

Next Speaker: Well, Karl Truman, thanks for the rocking holiday tie.

Next Speaker: I like that.

Next Speaker: Taking pressure off me…And Karl Truman’s books are listed on amazon.com for $19.95 and $16.95. He’s offering a free copy to Great Day Live viewers to call his office and ask…as long as you are not with another firm or insurance company.

Next Speaker: ****.

Next Speaker: You can request his free copy by calling Karl Truman at 502-222-2222