Schizophrenia & Life Insurance

We understand that being diagnosed with schizophrenia may be a difficult time for yourself, and you may find it difficult to talk about. We have a number of trained advisers who are available to listen to your story and support you, in a way that makes you feel comfortable.

There are a few things we need to know to get started:

• When were you diagnosed with schizophrenia?
• Do you take any medication for this?
• What symptoms do you experience?
• Does it affect your ability to work?

Life insurance for people with schizophrenia will be assessed by the insurer alongside a detailed report from your doctor. This report is only shared with the insurer with your expressed permission, It is arranged at the expense of the insurer, and can be a good thing as there can be no question about you missing out any information about your diagnosis.

The insurer will be interested in seeing a full picture of your health including the range of your symptoms, the medications that you use and how well controlled the schizophrenia is.

People that are living with schizophrenia, that are responding well to medication may be able to get life insurance with specific insurers at non-standard terms. This is usually a premium that is higher than the normal price.

Someone that has had recent psychotic episodes or suicide attempts, will find that some insurers will postpone their application for a set period of time. This is not every insurer, so please don’t assume that you cannot have life insurance, if you have had this experience.

It may be that the application needs to be placed to a specialist provider who could place certain exclusions on the policy.

Critical illness cover pays out a cash lump sum of money, if you are diagnosed with a medical condition that is listed in the insurer’s claims set e.g. cancer, heart attack, stroke.

Unfortunately critical illness cover is not available for people that have schizophrenia on the standard market.

There are some specialist life insurance policies that you can potentially access, that do not ask any medical questions. These might be a good option, but it’s really important to speak with an adviser who can explain all the technical aspects to you.

You might also be able to access critical illness cover through your employer, in what is known as a group critical illness policy. This may be a good cost effective option and is worth considering if you have your own company.

Income protection pays you a replacement of your monthly income, if you are unable to work due to ill health.

Unfortunately income protection is not available for people who have schizophrenia, with standard insurers.

As an alternative you may wish to consider accident, sickness and unemployment cover that will pay out a monthly income replacement in the event that you develop a severe disability, injury or are made involuntarily redundant.

The advantage of this policy is that the insurers do not assess your medical history when you apply for the cover, meaning that you will be eligible for the policy at standard premiums rates.

However you must be fully aware that whilst this is the case, these policies will not pay a claim for anything that is related to an existing medical condition; you will only be able to apply for a claim that is not related to your condition.

Accident, sickness and unemployment cover will pay a monthly benefit for between 12 and 24 months depending upon your choice of cover.

GET AN ACCIDENT, SICKNESS AND UNEMPLOYMENT QUOTE

Are you planning on traveling abroad? It is important that you arrange a travel insurance policy and establish what you are covered for, when it comes to the schizophrenia. For more details on specialist travel insurance policies, please visit our dedicated travel page here.