Every day is mental health day

This week is World Mental Health Day. We didn’t do anything special, because we believe every day is mental health day.  We’ve all heard the stats, approximately 1 in 4 people in the UK will experience a mental health problem each year. But, the big question is can I get life insurance with a mental health condition?

The good news

The good news is that the life insurance industry has taken note and is starting to do something about it.

The bad news

The bad news is that their actions are often making life insurance more and more inaccessible to those who have a mental health condition, have acknowledged it, and have taken steps to manage it.

Why is it so hard to get Life Insurance if you have or had a mental health issue

The big concern for life insurers with mental health conditions is suicide. Most insurers won’t pay out for suicide, at least for the first year. However, in recognition that suicide is generally the result of a health condition, there has been a drive in the industry to reduce or even remove this suicide exclusion.

Which is a great idea in principle… except to protect themselves, this means most life insurers make things more difficult for people who have visited the doctor or had any kind of treatment for mental health conditions. And if you’ve ever had any suicidal thoughts, you can usually forget about getting cover that’s affordable.

When we first launched our life insurance product, we had the same rules imposed on us. Then when we saw just how many young people were getting turned down due to mental health conditions, we felt we had to do something about it.

The solution? Well, it was pretty simple

Among all the banter, our social media threads were full of people asking why insurers didn’t just exclude suicide. There’s a whole load of people out there who want life insurance in case they get hit by a bus or die of cancer, but can’t get it because of the way the industry works.

So we moved in the opposite direction to the rest of the industry, and we exclude suicide for everyone. However, unlike everyone else, we do annual reviews. That means we can reassess the situation each year, and for the vast majority of people we can lift this exclusion after a year.

The mental health conditions we do accept for our Life Insurance

By doing it this way, we can accept all of these conditions at standard prices, without needing any additional info:

• Anxiety
• Depression
• Stress
• PTSD
• Borderline personality disorder
• Bipolar disorder

• OCD
• Paranoia
• Psychosis
• Schizophrenia
• Anorexia nervosa

• Bulimia nervosa
• Phobias
• Self-harm
• Suicidal thoughts
• Suicide attempts

The list isn’t exhaustive. If there is a condition we haven’t listed, drop us a line and the resident DeadHappy gremlins will look into it for you.