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IBM staffer posts pics on Facebook, loses benefits


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IBM staffer posts pics on Facebook, loses benefits

by Chris Matyszczyk

Insurance companies want us to be healthy. Really, they do. They have our interests at heart, and they defend those interests with an unusual zeal. This is why I am wondering which details might be missing from the tale of Natalie Blanchard.

According to the Associated Press, Blanchard, a 29-year-old IBM employee from Bromont, Quebec, was suffering from depression and took time away from work, relying on sick-leave benefits from her insurer, Manulife Financial.

The monthly payments were suddenly halted. When she called Manulife to ask why, she says she was told that it had espied photos on her Facebook page that showed her cheerful. Ergo, the argument allegedly went, she was able to work. Which led to the second ergo: no more payments.

The pictures, about which I am sure you are already wondering, were of her at a show featuring those tensing torsos, the Chippendales, as well as at a birthday party and on a beach holiday.

Depression is a nasty business. Cures are not exactly logical. And Blanchard says she went on three trips, each of a four-day duration, after consulting with her psychiatrist.

Manulife, while confirming (footage from Sky News embedded here) that it does use social-networking sites to, well, check up on its customers, also said, "We would not deny or terminate a valid claim solely based on information published on Web sites such as Facebook."

Perhaps you, too, have some questions. What sort of a life is it when you spend your days trawling social-networking sites to sniff around your customers' personal existence? How is it that Manulife observed Blanchard's photos? Did she leave her Facebook page entirely open, or could it be that she had her insurance agent as one of her Facebook friends? Was she, indeed, already under suspicion before the Facebook trawling began?

December 8, this case will be heard in the Quebec Superior Court. Surely, we will learn a little more about Natalie Blanchard and a little more about Manulife. Perhaps Facebook could provide a live feed from the proceedings?

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Hopefully there is more to it than FB, but I've seen/known more than a few people scamming disability insurance so while I hate insurance companies, don't really blame them for checking into some of this stuff. Especially with depression, yes I know its real and some people are worse than others but its also the catch-all for attention whores.

As for how they got in?? Huge mystery there, sent a request w/ "farmtown" or "fishworld" or "mafia wars"

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Here's the point, private investigators have been hired for decades to investigate people getting disability. This is no different than if a PI followed her and took pictures of her at a party... only she did it herself like a moron.

Noone is saying she can't have some fun, but crippling depression is different than depression. If it's so bad you can't work, you can't go out and party.... sorry that's not how disability works.

Think about it this way, if you call off sick from work today, and you're on TV during a baseball game (a la Ferris) and your boss sees it, can you be fired? Yes most likely.... So same thing applies if you call off sick then post your Facebook status as "Hahaha I called off today, going to the mall l8r"

Edited by Likwid
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Here's the point, private investigators have been hired for decades to investigate people getting disability. This is no different than if a PI followed her and took pictures of her at a party... only she did it herself like a moron.

Noone is saying she can't have some fun, but crippling depression is different than depression. If it's so bad you can't work, you can't go out and party.... sorry that's not how disability works.

Think about it this way, if you call off sick from work today, and you're on TV during a baseball game (a la Ferris) and your boss sees it, can you be fired? Yes most likely.... So same thing applies if you call off sick then post your Facebook status as "Hahaha I called off today, going to the mall l8r"

Well said.

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