Need help with claim for continued disability

Disability Insurance
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I have been on LTD for 8 years and CPPD for 6 years. The amount doesn’t cover my living costs, especially since COVID/inflation and I’ve dropped deeply into debt that I just can’t get out of. I live on my credit cards, which are getting maxed out and my line of credit is also maxed out. I’m about $20K in debt and I also have a kid, a mortgage and everything else to pay for. I’m super stressed out all the time. I live with chronic depression from my condition both physically and mentally and my financial strain puts a lot of pressure on me and my family that it causes serious problems in my marriage and just my life in general. I’m tired, struggle to get out of bed, sometimes don’t care about life because I feel like Im a drain on the system, and I binge drink about once a month to deal with my stress. Its not good but I feel like my life is shit and I’m stuck to live in poverty for the rest of my life and I’m only in my early 40’s. I can’t go on vacations, even a ferry trip is too expensive. I can’t do the things my friends are doing. Its embarrassing to be on LTD at a young age. I’m worried about my car needing repairs because I can’t afford a $1000+ bill. I will need a new car in 3 years and how on earth am I going to save $5000 in severe debt? Im so stressed all the time that I shove it under the rug and drink to numb my pain.

I need to supplement my disability income to survive. I can’t manage a lot but I can do a little. So I clean houses 1-3 times a week for 2-3 hours tops per day as that’s all I can do. It might supplement my income by $200-$400 a month, which allows me to put payments onto my credit cards and line of credit.
My LTD sent me forms in the mail to fill out for continued disability benefits and it asks if I’ve worked since last report and if yes, when did I start. I don’t want to tell them I’m cleaning because they will take all that money away from me and i can’t survive without it. My payments only increase every 4 years with the LTD and I haven’t had an increase for 2 years. Next one is supposed to 2025. So I am dealing with major increased inflation and costs with a stagnant income. My CPPD in going up by $50 this year aprox, which it something but not enough.
I don’t want to lie on my forms but i also don’t want to tell the truth for fear of losing much needed funds to survive and fear of losing my benefits. I need advice.

Has anyone worked a little on LTD without losing the benefits? If they cut me off and say I can work, I can’t live off $200-$400/month! I’m also not returning to my old job, which is high stress in the healthcare system. I just do under the table cleaning jobs. I don’t feel I can return to my old job because all the shifts are 8-12 hours at a time and I can’t manage that. I can do tops 4 but like to limit it to 3. And I’m unpredictable because I get migraines frequently and randomly so I can’t really do a daily job. I need to be able to have a job where I decide my hours and days. I don’t know any job like that or an employer that would allow an employee to be their own boss like that. I wish I could return to a regular job but I don’t feel like I could be gainfully employed. Also, CPPD allows me to make like $6700/yr while maintaining my benefits but I don’t think LTD lets me do that and they would take it all away? So I can be honest with CCPD but not LTD?
Ahhh! I don’t know what to do here.

Any one else in the same boat or have experience with this? Long LTD, want to RTW, can only do a little, not enough to be gainfully employed but can make a little? Should I lie on my forms? I don’t know what to do :frowning:

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I sympathize but I don’t have any experience with a situation like yours.
I would probably reach out to Resolute: Free Consultation
Maybe some sort of debt consolidation.
Best wishes.

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So sorry you are having such a difficult life experience at the moment…

Your situation may be nuanced, however, I think it is imperative to always be honest and truthful when writing a response for insurance reporting.

Best wishes for you <3

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I’ll give you as honest of an answer as I can. Any money you make will likely be clawed back $ for $ by your LTD company. Of course, this depends on the policy, but this is my experience. They do not care and likely won’t have any sympathy for you. That’s the best case scenario. The worst case scenario is they dig further and want to know the type of work, how many hours, etc. and then have you explain why your disability doesn’t allow you to do that job full-time (or enough for them to declare you non-disabled). You’re in a tough situation because it sounds like your LTD doesn’t earn you enough to survive, but you also can’t really work enough without it. Many people are in this situation, stuck between a rock and a hard place. I can’t tell you to lie on your forms (and no one here will). What I can say, is, you have to do what you have to do to survive. If you tell your LTD company you have been working, be prepared that it could end up opening a can of worms.

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I’m so sorry to hear what is going on for your farmgirl. While some details may be different for others, I suspect many people can relate to what your are going through. It sounds as if you can possible work a similar job as your old one but maybe half time? I wonder if reading what. you wrote, if @David_Brannen or his staff could offer any suggestions as solutions to consider? If a person simply cannot do their job without medical problems, but they could maybe do so half-time and be okay, is there anything at all that can be done to help in this type of circumstance?

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