Doctors play an integral and vital role in disability claim approvals. Doctors’ medical expertise and documentation are pivotal in proving the extent of your disability. It should come as no surprise, then, that insurance companies most often deny disability claims due to insufficient medical evidence. However, it’s important to remember that you have a right to dispute an insurance company’s decision.
If you are feeling alone or too overwhelmed to start the process of claiming disability benefits, know that — statistically — many Canadians have been in the same situation.
The
2022 Canadian Survey on Disability
showed that 27 per cent of Canadians aged 15 years and older, or eight million people, had one or more disabilities that limited them in their daily activities. The rate of disability in Canada has actually increased by five percentage points since 2017.
In 2022, nearly one-quarter (24 per cent) of working-age adults (ages 25 to 64) had a disability in 2022, an increase of four percentage points over 2017, when the rate was 20 per cent.
Any Canadian claiming disability insurance benefits will soon learn that as part of the application process, they will need their doctor to complete a form known as the attending physician’s statement. This provides the insurance company with specific medical information about a claimant’s condition as well as the expected time to recover.