Executive’s Weight Loss, Safari Trip Doom Disability Pay Appeal

A pharmaceutical executive with chronic back pain lost his appeal seeking disability benefits when a federal appeals court said USAble Life validly ended payments after learning of his weight loss, exercise regimen, and African safari trip.

USAble reasonably deemed the executive capable of performing his job duties based on his loss of 70 pounds, his domestic and international travel, and his regular workouts and pickleball sessions, the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit said Wednesday. The executive said the insurer flouted the recommendations of his treating physicians, but the court disagreed, saying USAble appropriately grappled with the recommendations ...