September 30, 2015: Long Term Disability Insurance Seminar – Resident Doctors of BC
Kirk Wirsig and Martin Willemse, as counsel for the Resident Doctors of BC on insurance matters will be presenting a seminar to members of the Resident Doctors of BC on long term disability insurance coverage. Discussion topics will include what policy riders are available when purchasing an individual long term disability insurance policy, for example:
- Own Occupation rider – a rider that insures against a disability from your own occupation for the lifetime of the policy, as opposed to the usual coverage which provides long term disability coverage for a numbers of years, often two, of your own occupation and then switches to coverage for long term disability from any other occupation after the first two years of own occupation coverage;
- Future Income Option rider – a rider that allows the insured under a long term disability policy to increase the monthly benefit amount annually for a set number of years to a set maximum monthly benefit amount, without having to provide further proof of good health; and
- Cost of Living Adjusted Benefit rider – a rider that provides for periodical increases in the monthly long term disability benefit amount based on rate changes in the Consumer Price Index and other factors.
October 28, 2015: Long Term Disability Seminar – BC Psychological Association
Martin Willemse and Kirk Wirsig have been invited to present a seminar on Long Term Disability claims at an Ethics Salon hosted by the BC Psychological Association. The seminar will focus on long term disability claims based on subjective conditions, such as mental health illnesses including major depression and anxiety disorders. The opinion of treatment providers, in this instance a psychologist treating a long term disability claimant suffering from a mental health illness, is often crucial to the claim. However, a treatment provider should be wary not to be seen as an advocate, as this will influence the weight a trier of fact may give to his or her opinion.
Martin Willemse has presented papers and power point presentations on these conditions at other conferences which can be viewed here:
- Medical evidence in “invisible” conditions cases – a case law review
- Mental Health Disability Claims: Case law and Developments