Hartford has financially crippled us. I was so mislead

Hello, my name is Linda VanDenHeuvel. I’m a Registered Nurse who worked in emergency departments for 32 years as a Trauma Nurse Specialist. For 13 years, I paid premiums for Hartford Disability Insurance when our hospital offered it. Being the sole provider of our family, I wanted to make sure financial bases would be covered in the event of any catastrophic injury or illness. My husband was severely injured in an auto crash when his first wife and only daughter were killed. He can only work limited hours, so is self employed. I’ve also had custody of my 11 year old great-granddaughter since she was 22 months old. Melany has epilepsy, so it was paramount we remained financially stable. In December 2010, it was discovered I had an abdominal aortic aneurysm along with 3 compression fractures of my thoracic spine and a subluxation of two vertebra in my lower back,which impinge on my spinal cord. I had a life threatening surgery to repair my aneurysm, but cannot address my back because I don’t have enough money. Instead, I live with constant pain, refusing to take narcotics since Melany requires constant observation. While still in Critical Care, my hospital attempted firing me since they said I would never be able to return to work at 100%. I had to resort to my Long Term Disability. Hartford approved my claim, but said I would be cut off from any further payments if I did not apply for Social Security within 45 days. Not only was I critically ill, but now also in a state of panic. I never expected this. Their insurance was to provide 60% of my income. It was a significant drop, but enough for us to get by. (By the way, in no way was I ever provided a policy for my insurance. This was all word of mouth.) Fearful, I immediately applied for Social Security Disability, which I’d never wanted to do. As an ER nurse, I’d always despised system abusers. I was approved without the help of the group of attorneys in Illinois Hartford wanted me to use. Social Security sent me my first check, and I notified Hartford. But they told me, they’d already released my June payment. My first Social Security payment and their payment would overlap. So they said they had overpaid me. In order to clear this up, I would not receive further payments from them until the $2,500 June payment by them was deducted. So, from July until now, I have received no further payments from Hartford, and instead,rely soley on Social Security – only 50% of my previous income. I called them. They said they are only willing to pay the balance of the difference between of what I receive from Social Security to total 60% of my income. But now, they’re questioning whether they should pay anything, and want me to prove my disability again. In addition, they told me if I was approved, they would only pay a total of two years before they referred me to one of their therapists who could verify I was ready to return to work. What are they thinking? I’m 61 years old and have a significantly broken back. This will never improve. Besides this, with the AAA, I have a pre-existing health problem. No employer would ever hire me. I am a health risk. The only way I can prevent paralysis is with very scrutinized levels of activity. I must guard myself. Hartford has financially crippled us. Without their payments, all my outstanding medical bills have gone into collection. We had to borrow money from our family to keep up our house payments. All the while, I’ve been waiting for Hartford to finally pay the lousy monthly $500. I feel everything they’ve done is fraudulant. If a person has an insurance policy and a valid claim, then why all the hoops? If I would have known any of this, I would have stuck my $226/month premiums to them over 13 years in a bank where it would have been more secure. I was mislead. Am I to become just another of their statistics?