I was diagnosed in 2004, and had PD when I hired on at my
current job. I reached the point where my Dr. said I should have DBS surgery. My symptoms and side effects were making it very difficult to perform the duties of my job. I started off by taking FMLA and STD. I didn't think that I had LTD because of my PD, but after checking, turns out I had been paying for it since I hired on. I am currently in the last weeks of my STD and I applied for LTD, when I realized surgery was not going to allow me to be able to go back to work. I am 47 years old.
I just found out recently that I was approved for LTD. So on September 17, my STD will be up and I will be terminated, however, I have LTD and am waiting on approval of my SSDI, which I am fairly sure I will be.
I would go ahead and file for LTD, because even if my SSDI ends up being as much or more than my LTD, my LTD still has to pay me 10% of my awarded amount as a minimum.
I hope this helped. Please feel free to ask me any questions. The DBS surgery helped alot, but it takes a long time to get everything adjusted correctly.
Thanks
Linda

and it was a long way down
http://youtu.be/Oy7rNDNwJxk

Bob, thank you for this info.

I am on vacation right now but will be going back to work in a week to new office duties and a very stressful/unfriendly environment because of the reorganization of the department. Noting like learning new things, while being watched, to "steady your shaking hand and improve your typing" . I already type with mostly one hand. My previous position was quite independent so I could hide my PD but I won't be able to do it for much longer. The attached video clearly shows that there will be another battle to face when I have to go on LTD as I don't expect much sympathy from my employer after 17 years of service.

Bo

Your employer and “Acme Insurance” have worked together to develop this package of benefits to meet your needs. These benefits are an important part of the financial security provided by your employer.

Exclusions

This policy does not cover losses or expenses related in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, to any of the following:

Committing or attempting to commit an illegal or criminal act;
(I won’t be able to work for Big Pharma.)

Suicide, or self-inflicted injury, whether or not you are sane.
(Okay, so insane suicides are the same as sane suicides. I am glad they cleared that up.)

War, invasion, declared or undeclared hostilities, Civil War, rebellion, or revolution.
(Do they know something that we don't know?)

Terrorism or any activity or decision of any government agency to prevent, respond to or terminate terrorism.
(Any activity? Of any government agency? I'm scared.)

Participation in any sport as a professional or national athlete.
(No danger of that happening to me. Unless they start up the Movement Disorder Olympics).

Participation in any motorized or mechanically assisted racing or speed contests, defined as an organized activity of competitive nature in which speed is a determining factor in the outcome of the event.
(That's an excellent definition of racing. Well said!)

Medication, drugs, alcohol or toxic substance abuse or overdose, whether or not you are sane.
(They keep coming back to the sanity clause. You know, he wears a red suit and comes down the chimney at Christmas. Even little kids these days know that there really is no such thing as sanity clause.)

If the date of your total disability begins within 12 months of the effective date of commencement of this insurance policy, and your disability is a pre-existing condition for which you received medical care or prescribed drugs before this insurance policy came into effect.
(By which they mean, Parkinson's Disease, among others.)

(Yes, I understand that insurance companies must calculate risk, and they do not, for example, sell life insurance to murderers on death row, unless the bookies are betting the Governor will issue a pardon just before they pull the switch. But just say on the front page of the booklet, that criminals, terrorists, drunks, race car drivers, the suicidal, and the Parkies, need not apply. Don’t make us read 65 pages of legal jargon just to find out it applies to the financial security only of employees wise enough to avoid wars, professional sports, and Parkinson’s.)

Q: What was the date of the health event that caused your disability? As of what date did you become unable to perform your regular daily work tasks? Did you take any medication or medical treatment for this disability prior to the date that this long-term insurance policy came into effect?

A: I was walking in the forest in the afternoon of Oct. 1.

At 3:41 p.m. (Eastern Standard Time), I got bitten by a Parkinson’s mosquito – the little sneaky ones that carry the Parkinson’s virus. I was rushed to hospital and placed in quarantine, because as you know, Parkinson’s is highly contagious among genetically inferior specimens.

They gave me lots of anti-biotics and the doctor said I could go back to work the next day, as long as I didn’t sneeze on anybody.

My boss asked the doctor what made him think I would be able to go back to work after catching Parkinson’s, and the doctor said, well, the only thing Parkinson's does is make their hands shaky and so it’s not serious, but my boss said, we don’t want him back because with those shaky hands he might spill coffee on the control panel of the nuclear reactor and blow us all up. The doc said he never thought about that, so they drove me out of town and threw me into a swamp where there were lots and lots of Parkinson’s mosquitoes.

I thought I was insured for that, but apparently not.