FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 2, 2003

Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders Issues New Publication

PROTECTING PRIVATE DISABILITY BENEFITS FOR PEOPLE WITH HIV

(Boston, MA) Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD), New England’s leading legal rights organization dedicated to ending discrimination based on sexual orientation, HIV status and gender identity and expression, recently released its newest publication: “Private Disability Benefits: What People With HIV & Their Doctors Should Know About Getting Coverage & Taking the Right Steps To Keep It”. Long-term disability benefits can make a huge difference in the lives of people who are unable to work due to HIV or AIDS.

In this recent era of greater longevity and improved treatments for people with HIV, disability insurers are more aggressively scrutinizing benefits claims and terminating payments, even for people with HIV who, while significantly improved, continue to be unable to work due to severe fatigue, side effects from medications or other significant effects of HIV disease. Now, more than ever, people with HIV and their doctors must understand how disability benefits work and what to do today to be in the strongest possible position if an insurer attempts to terminate benefits in the future.

“Termination of private disability payments wasn’t even on our radar screen as a problem five years ago,” said GLAD AIDS Law Project Director Bennett Klein. “Insurers once assumed that anyone who went out on disability due to AIDS wouldn’t live very long. Now, insurers are using the good news that life spans are increasing to unfairly terminate benefits even for individuals with HIV who remain unable to work. There is no need for people with HIV receiving private disability benefits to panic, but people need to take the right steps to protect themselves before an insurer attempts to terminate benefits.”

The “Private Disability Benefits” publication explains how long-term disability insurance works, what the term “disabled” means under these policies, the need for proper documentation in medical records, how symptoms such as fatigue and side effects from medications can be the basis for benefits, and how to challenge a denial or termination of benefits.

The practical steps outlined in “Private Disability Benefits” are based on GLAD’s successful experience fighting insurers who have terminated benefits for people with HIV. The publication is available on GLAD’s website, www.glad.org, or by calling GLAD at 1-800-455-GLAD.

GLAD is New England’s leading legal rights organization dedicated to ending discrimination based on sexual orientation, HIV status and gender identity and expression. GLAD operates a legal information hotline Monday through Friday from 1:30pm to 4:30pm. People with HIV or their service providers with questions about any legal issues should contact the hotline.