Stress & Life Insurance

We understand that going through the process of buying life insurance may sound daunting if you are dealing with stress, but there are a number of options we can look into and we have experienced advisers available to put your mind at ease.

Life insurance for people with stress can be available at standard terms provided that the condition is well controlled.

Things we need to know to get started:

• When were you diagnosed with stress?
• When did you last have symptoms of stress?
• Do you take any medication to treat stress?
• Have you had any time off work because of this?
• Have you seen a counsellor, psychiatrist or community mental health team?
• Have you ever self-harmed?

I know that some of these questions might seem a bit extreme, given that we are talking about stress. With most standard insurers as soon as there is a mention of a mental health condition, they do ask more details, that might seem over the top or intrusive. Our adviser are trained to go through these questions with you in a sensitive manner, and there is no judgement about what you have experienced.

Where there has been a recent change to your stress levels and treatment/medications have been altered, it is possible that the insurer may offer Life Insurance at non-standard terms (small premium increase).

If stress has led you to have episodes of self-harm, hospitalisation and/or psychiatric treatment it is likely that the insurer will want to see a report from your GP to understand the full extent of your condition. This may result in your Life Insurance policy being offered at a higher premium or in some cases declined until a date when your health has stabilised.

Please do not worry if that is the case, as we have some specialist insurers that we can approach for you.

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.

Critical Illness Cover for people with marked stress will likely be underwritten with similar terms to that of Life Insurance.

Critical Illness Cover will probably be available at standard terms if your symptoms are well controlled and there are no recent instances of stronger symptoms e.g. self-harm. If you have been admitted to hospital or self harmed recently then it is likely that we need to look at specific insurance policies, that can support you in the best way.

It is worth noting that if you decide to include Total Permanent Disability within your policy, stress will probably be excluded from this part of the cover.

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

Income Protection for people with recent stress will probably be accepted with an exclusion on any claim that is related to the stress. The insurer that you approach will be particularly interested in any time that you have spent off work in the last few years, and how the stress impacts upon your general state of health.

For short lived stress relating to things like bereavement or stress that occurred a number of years ago, there are some providers who can consider cover without an exclusion.

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Are you planning on a holiday? We work alongside a specialist travel insurance broker that can help you to find the right cover for your needs. To find out more about arranging travel insurance, please visit our specialist page here.