September is National Recovery Month and is an observance held every September to promote and support new evidence-based treatment and recovery practices, the emergence of a strong proud recovery community, and the dedication of service providers and community members across the nation who make recovery in all its forms possible. Mental health and substance use disorders affect all communities nationwide, with commitment and support, those impacted can embark on a journey of improved health and…

I highly recommend the NPR series, “Bill of the Month,” which offers an expert analysis of medical bill surprises. This month’s bill concerns jaw surgery and a hospital bill of more than $27,000. The patient, Ely Bair, had a condition requiring two jaw surgeries. The first jaw surgery went very well and Bair paid his out of pocket maximum of $3,000 and his employer’s health plan with Premera Blue Cross covered the rest. Bair’s second…

Because of the number of fires in California over the past several years, there are huge shortages of labor and materials for building homes. It can take well over a year for someone who lost their home in a wildfire to secure a contractor and get permits to be able to build. The California Department of Insurance knows this. On May 18, 2019, the Insurance Commissioner issued a Notice requiring insurers to extend additional living…

On August 23, 2021 Kantor & Kantor, LLP filed a complaint against Blue Shield of California in the Superior Court for the State of California, County of Los Angeles alleging Breach of Contract, Breach of the Implied Covenant of Good Faith and Fair Dealing, and violation of California Civil Code Section 3428. After a routine mammogram in 2013, and a subsequent biopsy, Kantor & Kantor’s client, a 59-year old woman, was advised her risk of…

Many employers today provide group life insurance coverage for their employees. A benefit adjacent to group life insurance is accidental death and dismemberment (“AD&D”) insurance. AD&D insurance pays you a benefit if you lose a limb or an eye, or it may pay your beneficiary additional life insurance benefits if you die in an accident. Most AD&D policies define accident with terms like “sudden,” “unforeseeable,”  “unintentional,” and “external cause” – not exactly concrete and easy…

The United States Department of Education recently announced it would forgive the student debt of more than 300,000 disabled borrowers. Could this impact your long-term disability benefits? The topic this pertains to is offsets (amounts that can be subtracted) that insurance carriers are allowed to take from their claimants’ benefits. The “Other Income” provision of your group long-term disability policy sets forth the types of “income” a claimant might receive that the carrier would be…

Kantor & Kantor asks to file a class action against Primerica Life Insurance Company for its failure to provide insureds with the right to designate a third party to receive notice of lapse  Are there ways to prevent a life insurance policy from lapsing? Sometimes the answer is yes. However, often it requires particular knowledge of the law. On August 13, 2021, Kantor & Kantor filed a motion asking the Federal District Court for the…