Struggling to find life insurance due to mental health

[Deleted User]

 Id agree with @Old_Lifer
i applied for insurance 1 year after a suicidal patch and was declined. Waited a year, applied again and was accepted but pay more than my husband by 50% as I'm a risk, still on medication but no mental health team input. 

MsMagpie

Old_Lifer said:

Where the proposal form indicated that a previous proposal had been declined or accepted on special terms we would automatically send a medical report to the GP for completion.   A single incident 8 years ago and nothing since should not cause a problem.

However,  I do wonder why a number of recent proposals  since your son was born three years ago,  so within  the last year or two,  have  been  declined.   Something more recent in your medical records may be the reason.

Thank you. Under medical conditions I tick that I suffer with anxiety. The form then asks for more details about the condition, including whether I've ever had  thought of harming myself or taking my own life. It doesn't ask for any details about the incident, including how frequent or how long ago, it just requires a yes or no answer. This was the case when applying to Legal and General, Aviva and also vitality.

MsMagpie

_shel said:

 Id agree with @Old_Lifer
i applied for insurance 1 year after a suicidal patch and was declined. Waited a year, applied again and was accepted but pay more than my husband by 50% as I'm a risk, still on medication but no mental health team input. 

Thank you, was there an option on the application to give details about the incident then?

[Deleted User]

MsMagpie said:

_shel said:

 Id agree with @Old_Lifer
i applied for insurance 1 year after a suicidal patch and was declined. Waited a year, applied again and was accepted but pay more than my husband by 50% as I'm a risk, still on medication but no mental health team input. 

Thank you, was there an option on the application to give details about the incident then?

 I had to fill in the standard health questionnaire and gave them permission to get a report from my GP. I used legal & general both times.  

Old_Lifer

May I ask,  are you applying for these policies on your computer and are you immediately declined?   If they have contacted your GP it would be 2 or 3 weeks or longer before you are declined.

MsMagpie

Old_Lifer said:

May I ask,  are you applying for these policies on your computer and are you immediately declined?   If they have contacted your GP it would be 2 or 3 weeks or longer before you are declined.

Yes, I'm being declined immediately. I think I'm going to try a broker so that I have chance to explain it in detail

[Deleted User]

MsMagpie said:

Old_Lifer said:

May I ask,  are you applying for these policies on your computer and are you immediately declined?   If they have contacted your GP it would be 2 or 3 weeks or longer before you are declined.

Yes, I'm being declined immediately. I think I'm going to try a broker so that I have chance to explain it in detail

Thats odd because I applied online and filled in the questionnaire and it got sent off to an underwriter who contacted my GP. 

 You might be answering a question 'wrong' ie it usually asks if you have ever had conditions, had in the last year or had in 5 years etc
Certain answers will get auto decline, like experiencing something in the last year where many years would go to gp report. 

Old_Lifer

Perhaps the pandemic and working from home.  Possibly at the moment they want only easy-to-deal-with proposals online.

Weighty1

_shel said:

MsMagpie said:

Old_Lifer said:

May I ask,  are you applying for these policies on your computer and are you immediately declined?   If they have contacted your GP it would be 2 or 3 weeks or longer before you are declined.

Yes, I'm being declined immediately. I think I'm going to try a broker so that I have chance to explain it in detail

Thats odd because I applied online and filled in the questionnaire and it got sent off to an underwriter who contacted my GP. 

 You might be answering a question 'wrong' ie it usually asks if you have ever had conditions, had in the last year or had in 5 years etc
Certain answers will get auto decline, like experiencing something in the last year where many years would go to gp report. 

L&G for example ask on how many separate occasions you've had suicidal thoughts, attempts or episodes of several harm.  They only accept up to 3 max before declining (or they used to) so if someone inputs every single time then they could be shooting themselves in the foot.  What the questionnaire should really ask is how many separate episodes has someone had.  L&G aren't the best for mental health disclosures, apart from when they are at the less severe end of the scale but once suicidal ideation or self harm is involved it's easy to get declined by L&G.