Today’s Question: How does depression impact my life insurance premium?
Depression can definitely have an impact on your life insurance premium depending on the severity of the depression. If it is your standard depression that is well controlled, things are stable (i.e. medications), and you have not been hospitalized in the past 10 years, there is a good chance you could qualify for standard rates.
On the other hand, if an individual has bipolar depression or other more serious forms of depressions with stronger medications, that can certainly have an impact on the premium. Individuals could be paying two or three times the standard rate or they may not be able to get a traditionally fully underwritten policy at all. Those individuals are going to want to take advantage of what is called a preliminary inquiry. A preliminary inquiry allows the broker to tentatively ask the insurance company if the individual would be able to obtain life insurance based on their current health issues. Keep in mind, it is not a formal application, so if the insurance company says no, you have not been declined for life insurance. This is important to note because getting declined can vastly limit your options.
For more serious forms of depression, you are going to want to look at a no medical type policy. That could be either a simplified issue type plan, where this is a short series of health questions, or a guaranteed issue type plan, where there are no medical questions. You are going to want to look art the simplified issue type plan where you can answer no to as many questions as possible. This will result in you getting the best possible rate. If you are unsure about the various policies, it is best to speak to a broker who is familiar with them as well as all the companies; this will ensure you get the best value for your situation.
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