Supreme Court Takes Major LTD Case

Folks who work at Social Security may not notice it, but there is a major interaction between Social Security disability benefits and Long Term Disability (LTD) benefits under employer pension plans. The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a major case about LTD. From the Associated Press:

The Supreme Court on Friday said it would rule on an appeal by MetLife Inc. in a case that could make employee benefit plans more expensive. [Obviously, the "more expensive" bit is from MetLife. The other side would say "more fair."]

The dispute centers on whether insurance companies such as MetLife have a conflict of interest when they both administer employee disability plans -- which requires deciding whether employees are eligible for benefits -- and pay benefits under them. If the court rules that handling both functions constitutes a conflict, that could encourage employers to hire separate companies for each function, potentially raising the plans' costs, lawyers for MetLife argue. ...

The case is MetLife v. Wanda Glenn, 06-923. Oral arguments in the case haven't yet been scheduled.