If you have a medical condition that is stopping you from earning an income for your family members, you may consider filing for long-term disability. However, while you prepare for your claim, you should know that disability insurance companies do not make the process easy. Nowadays, it has become extremely common for them to spy on claimants’ social media.
Social media is a platform where you can post updates about your daily life. Since social media is open for anyone to access, you should be careful about your posts. Attorneys from The Law Office of Nancy L. Cavey recommend not mentioning your disability on your Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter profiles at all.
Is your social media being monitored by your disability insurer?
Traditionally, surveillance involved the insurance company hiring a private investigator and following the claimant around, monitoring their moves and the places they are visiting. However, the horizons have expanded now. The insurance company does not only monitor your actions in real life but online as well. Anyone with a social media presence is vulnerable to being spied on by the insurance company.
Disability insurance companies typically target the most popular social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. If they get to know that you have an account on other websites, they will definitely look into them too.
Online surveillance is being used so commonly among private insurance companies because of the affordability factor. Spying on people through the Internet and discovering damaging information is extremely easy.
Tips for safe social media use
Just because you are applying for disability benefits, that does not mean you need to stay off social media altogether. However, there are a few things to keep in mind.
- Do not post about your long-term disability claim.
- Limit the amount of personal information you put out on the Internet.
- Do not update everything about your daily life.
- Switch to a private account if your social media presence is public. Popular social media apps like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter lets you turn your account private so that only your followers or friends can view what you post.
- Think twice before posting anything on the Internet. Think about how a screenshot of it would look in the courtroom and if the insurance company can use it as leverage to deny your claim.
Indeed, the best way to protect yourself online is not to have a presence at all. Therefore, if you can do that, you are more than welcome.