Great-West Life Disability Insurance Reviews

My experience was horrible with GWL. The case manager was ignorant, rude, illogical, unfair, deceptive. Despite my medical MRI with severe neural stenosis, they reject my case with deceptive, barbaric, sub-standard and uncivilized policy. Shame on my employer, the worst authorities to work for. I regret paying 20 years to this reptilian, greedy, inhuman company. We live under dictatorship and chaos. No wonder why we have a chronic shortage of skilled workers :( Our history is full of abusive policies which puts Canada down in the eyes of "well-developed" countries. The medical system is doomed to crash and if nothing else, suffering will do the job to wake us up.

I started getting dizzy and sick spells at work, so went to hospital! The first diagnosis was vertigo, so they put me off for 2 weeks until I could see my family physician! His first diagnosis was vertigo and he referred me to ear Dr and sent me for tests and put me off for a month until my next appt! All this being sent to my work and Great-West Life! Dr appts blood tests, ear specialist - ear tests, CT scan etc. Went on for next several months with everything being sent to Great-West Life and they kept making excuses why they couldn't approve my claim! It wasn't until my CT scan came back with a spot showing up that they decided to review my claim which was 12 weeks from the time I started feeling ill! They had 3 Drs' letters telling them I was sick but yet they said they had to send to their in-house Dr who denied the claim! I had to appeal 2 times and finally it went to upper management for review and they approved my short term after 13 weeks! I was so far behind on my bills and my house had gone to mortgage holders' lawyers to foreclose on my house! To total amount owing to save my house because I missed some payments due to Great-West Life giving me the runaround was 8500 dollars and needed to be paid in full! 3200 for mortgage and 5300 thrown out the window for lawyers' fees! Not to mention my credit ruined also! Totally ridiculous. People pay into this insurance company for security just in case something happens that they are unable to work but yet when the person needs help, they do everything they can not to pay! I'm still ill and had an MRI and something has shown up, so need to go back for more head scans yet Great-West Life is saying I have to wait for all the results for them to even consider my claim! It's been another 12 weeks with no money and now bills are slipping again and I had to ask the Dr to write a note saying I can work when I'm still very ill! I can only make it to work for a few hours on some days and have to go home to lay down and some days I can't even function to drive there! I'm not sure how other group insurance companies are but if your employer is using Great-West Life, they should change companies for their employees' sake! I'm wondering how many lawsuits they have had to deal with over the years because as soon as I find out there is something seriously wrong with me, if there is, I will def be going to a lawyer for the hardship they have caused me! I wish there was a zero or - rating for this terrible company because it's def the worst company I've ever dealt with!

I was put on disability by my Dr. Over the course of the first two years, I was made to jump through numerous hoops, have numerous forms filled out by my Dr. (which I had to pay for), had to meet with GWL's third party assessment group (weekly), who push you to return to work, and so forth. I was incredibly ill, couldn't drive and could barely hold an intelligent conversation due to chronic pain reducing my cognitive ability. I found I had to be VERY careful what I said on the phone ... VERY.

Now, finally, all had been well with them (3 years later). I will never be able to return to work. THEN: They encouraged me to apply for CPPD, which I did, and was granted (no issues). I have received a 17 month retroactive backpay from CPPD. GWL says I have to pay this back to them as it is an overpayment and will cover payments made by GWL.

This is INCORRECT in my case. I hold a premium policy which states: if the monthly CPPD payment in combination with the monthly GWL payment does not exceed what my monthly salary would have been, then no deduction will be taken for overpayment.

Therefore, the 17 month retroactive payment is NOT an overpayment and I should not have to pay a penny - when broken out into the 17 months and summed with the monthly payments made by GWL - the monthly amount(s) NEVER exceed what my monthly salary was. So, no overpayment made.

I will seek legal counsel if needed, but the GWL representative is this cold, disconnected, robot like person who has the personality of a rock. I don't feel listened to. And I would advise that all conversation be followed up with an email for tracking purposes!

I had been told, numerous years ago, that insurance companies will say No, No, No, No ... to hopefully get you to just stop asking. Eventually, they will pay, in most cases. But, you have to wait, while you are ill and not working for sometime, in many cases. Which then forces people to go back to work!

So disgusting ... all about THEIR own bottom line .. and never really about You and all the money you paid to be taken care of if something medical should occur in your life. Ugh!

In response to the other reviews, notably the one made by the reviewer on September 6th... I have had the exact same experience with the Winnipeg Office! They have told me they haven't received forms, which I have returned to them and if they didn't receive them, my benefits would cease. I have received nothing but threats on how they would close my file if I can't get information to them by a particular date. The latest was after not receiving my benefits because my file had been transferred to someone else , hence I was not paid and received payment 5 days late after inquiring. Following my inquiry, I asked if I should provide the same update, I had given my old case manager, by calling my new one. I was told there was no need and my message would be passed along to him. I clearly stated that I would be happy to provide further information upon request and was still told that would not be necessary. That same day, GWL drafted a letter and put it in the mail and I received the letter 8 days later since it had been mailed on a long weekend. I was told I had until October 1st to have my doctor provide them with a consolation report... pretty vague. Obviously due to mailing time, I had two weeks to reach my doc or get an appt and have the paper work submitted or else my benefits would cease as of Oct. 1. Why the new case manager would not have picked up the phone to introduce himself and let me know that the letter was being sent an this what would be requested. I asked him why GWL wouldn't contact my doctor like they had in the past and he said, "I guess I could fax her the letter I sent to you." They play head games with you and do everything to break you down... it's completely unethical!!!!

Just a terrible experience. Severely injured my back years ago, had a successful short term disability claim, and a semi-successful long term claim. The 2 years of long term coverage was nearly up at which point I was sent for a physical assessment. It took me 2 months to get the results which are extremely innacurate, they seem to describe another person.
My appeals have all since been denied, information I know has been submitted goes missing, phone conversations are incorrectly documented and I am continually told that anything submitted is lacking details.
To be fair, the agent I deal with seems to sympathize but is left hanging by company policy.