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Basis of Presentation and Accounting Policies Level 4 (Details) - USD ($)
 12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2016
Dec. 31, 2015
Dec. 31, 2014
New Accounting Pronouncements or Change in Accounting Principle [Line Items]      
New Accounting Pronouncements and Changes in Accounting Principles [Text Block] On January 1, 2016 the Company adopted new consolidation guidance issued by the FASB. The updates revise when to consolidate variable interest entities ("VIEs") and general partners’ investments in limited partnerships, end the deferral granted for applying the VIE guidance to certain investment companies, and reduce the number of circumstances where a decision maker’s or service provider’s fee arrangement is deemed to be a variable interest in an entity. The updates also modify guidance for determining whether limited partnerships are VIEs or voting interest entities. The new guidance did not have a material effect on the Company’s Consolidated Financial Statements.    
Available-for-sale Securities, Equity Securities $ 1,097,000,000 $ 1,121,000,000  
Other Comprehensive Income (Loss), Net of Tax (8,000,000) (1,257,000,000) $ 1,007,000,000
Accumulated Depreciation, Depletion and Amortization, Property, Plant, and Equipment $ 2,500,000,000 2,300,000,000  
Gross Profit Estimates Term for Most Contracts 20 years    
Maximum Uncollateralized Threshold for Derivative Counter Party for Single Level Entity $ 10,000,000    
Participating Dividend to Policyholders 15,000,000 $ 17,000,000 $ 15,000,000
Participating Policies as Percentage of Gross Insurance in Force   1.00% 1.00%
Depreciation, Depletion and Amortization, Nonproduction 186,000,000 $ 164,000,000 $ 198,000,000
Annuity Obligations 715,000,000 746,000,000  
Allowance for Doubtful Accounts and Other [Member]      
New Accounting Pronouncements or Change in Accounting Principle [Line Items]      
Allowance for Doubtful Accounts, Premiums and Other Receivables 137,000,000 134,000,000 131,000,000
Property, Liability and Casualty Insurance Product Line [Member]      
New Accounting Pronouncements or Change in Accounting Principle [Line Items]      
Premiums Written, Net 0.09 0.10 0.09
Short-Duration Contracts, Discounted Liabilities, Amount $ 1,021,000,000 $ 1,084,000,000 $ 1,021,000,000
Weighted Average Discount Rate, Percent   3.24% 3.50%
Accident and Health Insurance Product Line [Member]      
New Accounting Pronouncements or Change in Accounting Principle [Line Items]      
Weighted Average Discount Rate, Percent 3.11% 3.24% 3.50%
Property, Liability and Casualty Insurance Product Line [Member]      
New Accounting Pronouncements or Change in Accounting Principle [Line Items]      
Premiums Written, Net $ 10,568,000,000 $ 10,578,000,000 $ 10,244,000,000
Structured Settlements [Member]      
New Accounting Pronouncements or Change in Accounting Principle [Line Items]      
Weighted Average Discount Rate, Percent 6.69% 6.68%  
HIG_Accounting Standards Update 2020 [Member]      
New Accounting Pronouncements or Change in Accounting Principle [Line Items]      
New Accounting Pronouncements and Changes in Accounting Principles [Text Block] The FASB issued updated guidance for recognition and measurement of credit losses on financial instruments. The new guidance will replace the “incurred loss” approach with an “expected loss” model for recognizing credit losses for instruments carried at other than fair value, which will initially result in the recognition of greater allowances for losses. The allowance will be an estimate of credit losses expected over the life of debt instruments, such as mortgage loans, reinsurance recoverables and receivables. Credit losses on available-for-sale (“AFS”) debt securities carried at fair value will continue to be measured as other-than-temporary impairments (“OTTI”) when incurred; however, the losses will be recognized through an allowance and no longer as an adjustment to the cost basis. Recoveries of OTTI will be recognized as reversals of valuation allowances and no longer accreted as investment income through an adjustment to the investment yield. The allowance on AFS securities cannot cause the net carrying value to be below fair value and, therefore, it is possible that increases in fair value due to decreases in market interest rates could cause the reversal of a valuation allowance and increase net income. The new guidance will also require purchased financial assets with a more-than-insignificant amount of credit deterioration since original issuance to be recorded based on contractual amounts due and an initial allowance recorded at the date of purchase. The guidance is effective January 1, 2020 through a cumulative-effect adjustment to retained earnings for the change in the allowance for credit losses for debt instruments carried at other than fair value. No allowance will be recognized at adoption for AFS debt securities; rather, their cost basis will be evaluated for an allowance for OTTI prospectively. Early adoption is permitted as of January 1, 2019. The Company has not yet determined the timing for adoption or estimated the effect on the Company’s consolidated financial statements. Significant implementation matters yet to be addressed include estimating lifetime expected losses on debt instruments carried at other than fair value, determining the impact of valuation allowances on the effective interest method for recognizing interest income from AFS securities, updating our investment accounting system functionality to adjust valuation allowances based on changes in fair value and developing an implementation plan.    
HIG_Accounting Standards Update 2016-02 [Member] [Member]      
New Accounting Pronouncements or Change in Accounting Principle [Line Items]      
New Accounting Pronouncement or Change in Accounting Principle, Description The FASB issued updated guidance on lease accounting. Under the new guidance, lessees with operating leases will be required to recognize a liability for the present value of future minimum lease payments with a corresponding asset for the right of use of the property. Under existing guidance, future minimum lease payments on operating leases are commitments that are not recognized as liabilities on the balance sheet. The updated guidance is to be adopted effective January 1, 2019 through a cumulative effect adjustment to retained earnings for the earliest period presented, with early application permitted. Leases will be classified as financing or operating leases similar to capital and operating leases, respectively, under current accounting guidance. Where the lease is economically similar to a purchase because The Hartford obtains control of the underlying asset, the lease will be a financing lease and the Company will recognize amortization of the right of use asset and interest expense on the liability. Where the lease provides The Hartford with only the right to control the use of the underlying asset over the lease term and the lease term is greater than one year, the lease will be an operating lease and the amortization and interest cost will be recognized as rental expense over the lease term on a straight-line basis. Leases with a term of one year or less will also be expensed over the lease term but will not be recognized on the balance sheet. The Company is currently evaluating the potential impact of the new guidance to the consolidated financial statements, including the timing of adoption. We do not expect a material impact to the consolidated financial statements; however, it is expected that assets and liabilities will increase based on the present value of remaining lease payments for leases in place at the adoption date.    
HIG_Accounting Standards Update 2016-01 [Member]      
New Accounting Pronouncements or Change in Accounting Principle [Line Items]      
New Accounting Pronouncement or Change in Accounting Principle, Description The FASB issued updated guidance for the recognition and measurement of financial instruments. The new guidance will require investments in equity securities to be measured at fair value with any changes in valuation reported in net income except for those equity securities that result in consolidation or are accounted for under the equity method of accounting. The new guidance will also require a deferred tax asset resulting from net unrealized losses on available-for-sale fixed maturities that are recognized in accumulated other comprehensive income(loss) (“AOCI”) to be evaluated for recoverability in combination with the Company’s other deferred tax assets. Under existing guidance, the Company measures investments in equity securities, available-for-sale, at fair value with changes in fair value reported in other comprehensive income. As required, the Company will adopt the guidance effective January 1, 2018 through a cumulative effect adjustment to retained earnings. Early adoption is not allowed. The impact to the Company will be increased volatility in net income beginning in 2018. Any difference in the evaluation of deferred tax assets may also affect stockholders' equity. Cash flows will not be affected. The impact will depend on the composition of the Company’s investment portfolio in the future and changes in fair value of the Company’s investments.    
HIG_Accounting Standards Update 2016_09 [Member]      
New Accounting Pronouncements or Change in Accounting Principle [Line Items]      
New Accounting Pronouncement or Change in Accounting Principle, Description The FASB issued updated guidance on accounting for share-based payments to employees. The updated guidance requires the excess tax benefit or deficiency on vesting or settlement of awards to be recognized in earnings as an income tax benefit or expense, respectively. This recognition of excess tax benefits and deficiencies will result in earnings volatility as current accounting guidance recognizes these amounts as an adjustment to additional paid-in capital.    
HIG_Accounting Standards Update 2014_09 [Member]      
New Accounting Pronouncements or Change in Accounting Principle [Line Items]      
New Accounting Pronouncement or Change in Accounting Principle, Description The FASB issued updated guidance for recognizing revenue. The guidance excludes insurance contracts and financial instruments. Revenue is to be recognized when, or as, goods or services are transferred to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration that an entity is expected to be entitled in exchange for those goods or services, and this accounting guidance is similar to current accounting for many transactions. This guidance is effective retrospectively on January 1, 2018, with a choice of restating prior periods or recognizing a cumulative effect for contracts in place as of the adoption. Early adoption is permitted as of January 1, 2017. The Company will adopt on January 1, 2018 and has not determined its method for adoption. The adoption is not expected to have a material effect on the Company’s Consolidated Financial Statements.    
Additional Paid-in Capital [Member]      
New Accounting Pronouncements or Change in Accounting Principle [Line Items]      
Adjustments to Additional Paid in Capital, Income Tax Benefit from Share-based Compensation $ 5,000,000 $ 27,000,000 6,000,000
Accumulated Other-than-Temporary Impairment [Member]      
New Accounting Pronouncements or Change in Accounting Principle [Line Items]      
Other Comprehensive Income (Loss), Net of Tax 4,000,000 $ (2,000,000) $ 7,000,000
Net Income Impact [Member] | HIG_Accounting Standards Update 2016-01 [Member]      
New Accounting Pronouncements or Change in Accounting Principle [Line Items]      
Other Comprehensive Income (Loss), Net of Tax $ 50,000,000    
Goodwill New Policy [Member] | HIG_Accounting Standards Update 2020 [Member]      
New Accounting Pronouncements or Change in Accounting Principle [Line Items]      
New Accounting Pronouncements and Changes in Accounting Principles [Text Block] In January 2017, the FASB issued updated guidance on testing goodwill for impairment. The updated guidance requires recognition and measurement of goodwill impairment based on the excess of the carrying value of the reporting unit compared to its estimated fair value, with the amount of the impairment not to exceed the carrying value of the reporting unit’s goodwill. Under existing guidance, if the reporting unit’s carrying value exceeds its estimated fair value, the Company allocates the fair value of the reporting unit to all of the assets and liabilities of the reporting unit to determine an implied goodwill value. An impairment loss is then recognized for the excess, if any, of the carrying value of the reporting unit’s goodwill compared to the implied goodwill value. The Company expects to adopt the updated guidance January 1, 2020 on a prospective basis as required, although earlier adoption is permitted. While the Company would not have recognized a goodwill impairment loss for the years presented, the impact of the adoption will depend on the estimated fair value of the Company’s reporting units compared to the carrying value at adoption.    
Available-for-sale Securities [Member] | Accumulated Other-than-Temporary Impairment [Member]      
New Accounting Pronouncements or Change in Accounting Principle [Line Items]      
Other Comprehensive Income (Loss), Net of Tax $ 52,000,000