Irene M. Rodriguez, P.A.

Before you start worrying about unwanted attention, it should be noted that disability insurance surveillance is unlikely if your claim results in payments of less than $2,000 a month. This is because surveillance is expensive and typically is not worth the disability insurance company’s time if the cost exceeds the amount of your benefits.

Records surveillance, however, is not as expensive and is easier to track. Assume that the insurance company has access to all your records. Don’t try to hide income that you have stated you are unable to earn. Uncle Sam and the insurance company will find out.

As far as physical surveillance is concerned, if you believe someone is watching you and feel threatened or uncomfortable about it, do call the police. If you feel safe enough to confront the person on your own, you can do that as well. In either case, the surveillance is likely to end.

If surveillance found you doing things you claimed you were unable to do, the results may be presented to your physician who may change his or her diagnosis based on new findings. In this case the disability claim would be restructured or overruled.

Rule of thumb: Be honest about your disability. If there are no skeletons in the closet, they won’t be found.