Disability Insurance

A Plot Point of Another Kind

Multiple airlines have been using mental health as a tactic to remove pilots who report safety, stand up for what's right, or just piss off the wrong person. The airline does this because they cannot fire someone for reporting safety, especially if the pilots have no performance problems. I've been writing a series of posts about this over the previous few weeks, and will be using much of this research in the next novel: Flight For Justice.  

• Criminal Activity in the Airline World.  
• Aviation Thrillers, That Read like Mysteries, where fact is stranger than fiction!
• Mental Attack on Pilots. 

Disability Insurance

This week I was advised by a pilot that an airline's on staff doctor falsified records of a disability, and submitted those forms to the insurance company. While the pilot has been out for three years now, having just realized those false records existed, without any idea what to do, the pilot contacted the FBI who advised that pilot to contact the FAA. Another pilot contacted the Deputy Flight Surgeon, and he told the pilot to report the doctor to the medical board. There might be a little "passing the buck" because either nobody knows what to do, or they all know what is happening and avoidance is the best strategy. Time will tell on that. 

Another pilot, from a different airline, was told that when the company pulls the pilot for any reason, that pilot can access the disability funds without being disabled. So, the pilot lined through the forms where it said disability and wrote "medical hold status", and then the pilot's doctor wrote, "No diagnosis" on the forms, confirming the pilot was fine. The pilot wrote a cover letter that began with: 

"My name is (   ) I am a pilot for (  ) and I am in a medical hold status, awaiting release back to the flight line. To ensure there is no misunderstanding, I do not have a disability, and in no way claim to have one. However, as indicated by the below email from (    )she advised to fill out the paperwork and apply for benefits, as I am in a medical hold status"

The above pilot was placed on disability insurance (which is a better option with half-pay, than no pay) for 3 months. But there is something wrong with this entire process, especially when there are people who need help for serious illnesses that are not being covered. But I digress, as did the following conversation: 

Harvey Watt Agent: "Every quarter your doctor must fill out the form that you still have the disabling condition. " 

Pilot:  "But I don't have a disabling condition. I have a first class medical, and my doctor wrote a letter stating I had no condition." 

Harvey Watt Agent:  "Okay, then your doctor needs to write a letter stating no status change."

Pilot:  "You're telling me that I have to see a doctor, to fill out a form, to verify I'm fine in order to continue my disability payments?"

Harvey Watt Agent: "Yes!"

Truth is Stranger Than Fiction

Disabling Condition: 

This pilot contemplated the process and decided to make another call. The pilot had filled out the forms and submitted them to the insurance company that stated no condition, supported by the pilot's doctors and the FAA. Thus, the pilot wondered how they were able to send a disability check. The pilot contacted Harvey Watt & Co. and asked the agent what condition was in the pilot's medical records, all the while expecting to hear "Medical Hold Status."  

Pilot: "Can you tell me my condition?"

Harvey Watt Agent: "Bipolar disorder."

Pilot: "But that's not what my forms stated. I filled them out. Who made that claim?"

Harvey Watt Agent: "The airline." 

Pilot: "Who specifically at the airline?" 

Harvey Watt Agent: The Airline's on staff doctor, Dr. (   )" 

Thus it appears that even though the pilot is fine, confirmed by multiple specialists, punctuated by the FAA issuing a first class medical certificate, the Airline can pull the pilot, then the Airline's doctor will send a message to the insurance company with a fraudulent and false diagnosis, and the insurance company pays the pilot. The question is: 

Why would an Insurance Company Pay 

a disability claim for a healthy pilot?

It appears that this is the same at all airlines, as they use the same insurance company: Harvey Watt & Co. Now the expense for the insurance company is limited, as there is an interesting way the airlines are coding a mental health disability, and limiting the liability for the insurance company. They categorize mental health under substance abuse. Yes...

Mental Health, in the eyes of the airlines 

is equivalent to being an alcoholic. 

I hope you get pissed about this and call the American's with Disabilities, the FAA, your local senator... whomever you call to express your grave concerns. But this is wrong on so many levels. Another issue that will find its way into Flight For Justice.

There is just another little twist. One of the pilots is collecting disability insurance from the airline per Harvey Watt without a disability, yet Harvey Watt also manages a mutual aid that the pilot has paid into with the union. However, the pilot cannot not receive benefits from the mutual aid portion, because they pilot does not have a medical issue and holds a first class medical certificate. The question has to be asked, why one, and not the other, especially since the same insurance company is behind both groups?

Back to the insurance... I am now aware of over a hundred of these events, at many different airlines. Thus, a hundred events for 2-3 years of half pay adds up to a large piece of change. Something is amiss with all this, and will be addressed in the novel too.  

What do you think the connection is? 

Why would the insurance company be complicit by paying pilots disability insurance who are perfectly fine, yet are being pulled for fictional mental health issues? 

For whomever comes up with the best, most creative, and sinister reason as to why this insurance issue is occurring will be credited in the novel for their idea, and receive an autographed hardback of Flight For Justice. If you know the truth, all the better. The airlines are funding this insurance plan, and they are pulling pilots. But why is the insurance company paying? 

Enjoy the Journey

OX Karlene