Insurance companies are run to make a profit. To them, having to pay long term disability benefits to a policyholder who's become too ill or injured to work is a loss. To avoid a loss, the insurance company will often go to great lengths to show the policyholder is not disabled and can work, even spying on them while at home or out in public. They'll clutch at any straw — even quoting the unsubstantiated gossip of friends, family or neighbors — as an excuse to avoid their responsibilities to their policyholders.