Life insurance can protect you, and your family, from a number of life’s financial difficulties. Still, it’s important to know how to enroll in comprehensive coverage. Your insurers will look for a number of things in your life insurance application—and
each topic might impact how they offer your coverage options. What about mental health?
If you’re enrolling in a life insurance plan, you’re probably concerned about any mental health issues limiting your coverage options. Understandably, you might worry about applying for coverage entirely. What if you’re denied coverage?
You Still Have Options
Don’t worry: If you have mental health troubles, they usually aren’t much of an issue when you apply for life insurance. In fact, experts even say that taking medication for depression and anxiety may not even impact a person’s life insurance quotes when they apply.
Insurers understand the impact of life events—events which can lead to short-term mental or emotional struggles which may not always be particularly life-threatening. They also understand how effective modern medications are in treating long-term illnesses. Therefore, in many cases, living with any type of mental issue is often something you can overcome.
Mental health struggles are surprisingly common, too. According to the World Health Organization, over 300 million people across all ages suffer from depression. About one in four patients visiting health service providers have some form of neurological, mental or behavioral disorder.
Coverage Based on Severity
It’s important to know, however, that most life insurance policies reflect the stability of one’s health at the time of their application. In terms of mental health, it’s unlikely for an insurance company to dig through your records to deny a life insurance policy. Instead, they’ll view any medications you take, your diagnosis and any ongoing treatment plans. Often, the wait to find you the best-priced policy is under three months.
If you face more serious mental health problems, your life insurance policy options may get more expensive. Your providing insurance company may ask about the following to determine how severe your mental illness is:
-Co-existing mental illnesses
-Previous suicide attempts
-Drug or alcohol abuse
-Co-occurring physical illnesses
-Unemployment or job instability
-Finding the Best Policy
If you face difficulty in finding a solid life insurance policy, you can also ask an impaired-risk specialist for help. These are brokers who specialize in policies for those with mental health problems—and they’re good at getting their clients the best rates around.
At the end of the day, mental illness isn’t a disqualifying factor in the life insurance world. If you seek help, can prove you have ongoing treatment and seek the help of professionals, you can get great coverage at a great price.