Approved!

So relieved. About a week ago I got a call from the long term disability insurance people (United) saying they finally have all the info they need to decide if I’m eligible for the insurance, mostly because I started it, through my employer, within a year of making a claim on it. They wanted to screen for pre-existing conditions. And while this was probably a pre-existing condition strictly speaking (cancer generally doesn’t just spring up overnight) neither I nor my doctors had yet figured this out. So anyway, I was finally able to prove that I hadn’t seen the gyn-onc before their window of pre-existing-ness.

So then I heard shortly thereafter that the representative was in fact recommending approval of my claim, but that it would need to go through her manager.

Today I got the call which said it was approved, and basically, “How do you want the money?”

More specifically, do I want them to withhold taxes or not? My understanding, based on some early basic internet perusing, is that these kinds of benefits, if the premiums were paid for by an employer, then they are taxable like wages, whereas the short term disability policy I paid for myself from AFLAC would not be taxable. The woman I spoke with at United said they are not sure if that is actually true, but would release the funds, retroactively (yay!), to me directly if I want to basically, take the risk, while they figure it out. I said, yes, I’ll take that risk. So, three months worth of “back pay” is soon to be heading my way, and not a moment too soon. I will be stocking away a percentage for said taxation.

It has been a long arduous process and I wasn’t really up to task for most of the time that it was being arduous. Too much recuperating from chemo and surgery. But now that I’m “weller” it was not so laborious. Amazing how that works.

In any case, thanks to you who have helped financially in the meantime. Tiding me over has been greatly appreciated. This won’t completely cover me, as it will only pay half my previous salary, and in some ways, lots of ways, really, I have more expenses than I did before. But at least it gives me and Grant some breathing room. Now as Dad says, it’s time for re-evaluating expenditures for necessary belt-tightening. Also easier to do now that I’m “weller.” Of course, the other option is to begin to re-earn money. More on that later.

Signing off, with gratitude!