Lincoln National Corporate Office

Comments

1. Tammy s Wilson says

   August 2, 2018 at 4:22 pm

   Hello. My name is Tammy Wilson, I am a registered nurse employed by Pinnacle Home Care in Tampa, Florida. I have been an RN for close to 33 years. I value my license and my reputation in the community as a nurse. In my career, I have never collected unemployment or any disability. I do have Depression, for which I was diagnosed over 40 years ago, and throughout my life, had many adjustments on my medications to treat my Depression. If you want to use the term “pre-existing”, I guess it qualifies. I was diagnosed 2 years ago with Heart Disease, and have also been on medication. In April, 2018, I was hospitalized for a cardiac catheterization and had a stent placement. I returned to work within 1 week. Until May 13, 2018, I have never reported a claim for a work-related injury, but unfortunately, severely strained my neck and upper back lifting a patient with a Hoyer Lift. I recovered quickly with physical therapy and was paid 67% of my salary until July 2, 2018, when I was released. Due to the worry and stress of my injury, along with my recent cardiac stent placement, I had an exacerbation of my Depression. I had an appointment on July 3, 2018, and my physician recommended FMLA and also short-term disability while she adjusted my medications. It is very stressful not only being out of work with an injury, but to receive less money. I am a very honest person and have never abused the systems in place for adverse issues that may occur during our employment. This year I had my 60th birthday and had no idea that I would endure such hardships. I have a 98 year old Father with severe dementia and an 84 year old Mother with CHF. I spend most of time off from work attending to their needs. It has been rough and I am so disappointed in our health care industry. I realize there are rules and regulations that govern us all but, the lack of empathy and compassion is beyond words. I started this process of short-term disability on July 3, 2018. I have exhausted my PTO at work and had counted on the 60% disability checks until I am back on my feet. I feel like a beggar and a loser. All this scrutiny and time to try to deny my claim. It’s like an interrogation to make me, the insured, feel terrible for even asking for a benefit that my employer offers, that I pay for. I had a follow-up visit with my PCP yesterday and told her about what was going on with this lengthy, de-humanizing process and she was really perplexed. She said that it is rare that they have denied STD claims, especially with the doXXXXentation and my medical issues. This whole process has left me financially struggling and more depressed than when I first saw my PCP. As a health care associate, I am appalled by the processes and lack of empathy by your adjustor. Not everyone that files a claim is lying or dishonest. I certainly would rather get my full pay than 60%! The worry I have is waiting so long and then Lincoln Financial will just deny it anyway. I sincerely hope that someone hears everything I said and maybe a little compassion can be felt by your insured. I will forward my letter to corporate and see if they care. I feel bad for others that have been treated the same. Shame on your objectives to deny people that are in crisis.

   Sincerely,

   Tammy Wilson RN

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