Life insurance is all about risk. So, it’s no surprise that many health conditions and lifestyle-related risk factors can affect life insurance premiums and eligibility. Mental health issues are no different.
If you’ve been diagnosed with depression or another mental health condition like anxiety, you’re seen as riskier in insurance underwriters’ eyes. You could pay higher premiums for the same amount of coverage or even have trouble qualifying for life insurance with mental health problems.
But you do have options because some life insurers are friendlier toward applicants with documented mental health issues.
Can You Get Life Insurance With a Mental Health Condition?
Like many other health conditions, there are options for life insurance with mental health problems. Some insurers are more lenient than others on this topic, but overall, you may be eligible if your condition is well-managed with medication and regular doctor visits.
However, some mental health conditions, like bipolar disorder or schizophrenia, may make it more challenging to secure life insurance. If you receive quotes for life insurance with a mental health disorder, be sure to compare the premiums and read the fine print to see what may be excluded from coverage.
What Qualifies as a Mental Health Condition with Life Insurance?
There is a long list of illnesses or disorders that life insurance companies qualify as mental health conditions. The common denominators are whether a licensed physician formally diagnosed you and whether you are on medication for the condition.
Common Mental Health Issues Include:
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Bipolar disorder
- Schizophrenia
- Eating disorders
- OCD
- PTSD
- Psychosis
- Personality disorder
Factors Life Insurance Companies Consider With Mental Health Conditions
Mental health conditions affect more than your mind. They can cause other physical issues that put life insurance companies at a higher risk.
While they focus on whether you are under regular treatment, they also look at the potential for other health issues that could create a higher risk for life insurance companies.
Life insurance companies also consider the severity of your mental health condition, whether you were recently hospitalized for it, and the frequency of any ‘episodes.’
The key to getting approved with affordable premiums is to show consistent treatment, regular doctor visits, steady employment, and the ability to handle your day-to-day tasks.
Here are a few examples of what they may consider.
- If you have an anxiety or depression diagnosis, you may be at higher risk for cardiovascular disease, which can increase your premiums or lower your chance of approval
- Anyone who suffers from eating disorders could also suffer from:
- Anxiety
- Depression
- High cholesterol
- High blood pressure
- Diabetes
- Some types of cancer
- If you suffer from depression, you may be at high risk of suicide, which may cause some life insurance companies to decline your application
What is the Best Type of Life Insurance with Mental Health Conditions?
Your budget and financial goals are the most important factors in choosing the best life insurance for people with mental health problems. You may be eligible for the most common types of life insurance, depending on the severity of your condition, including:
- Group life: A policy from your employer could be the easiest life insurance to get with mental health problems because preexisting conditions don’t matter. Group policies often have low coverage amounts, so you may need to supplement with another policy.
- Term life: Term life is the most affordable type of life insurance, especially if you have higher premiums due to a preexisting condition. It’s good for a specified term and doesn’t have a cash value, but it protects your beneficiaries should you die within the term.
- Permanent life: Whole life or other permanent life insurance policies usually have much higher premiums than term life, especially if you have preexisting conditions, such as a mental health disorder. Consider choosing a term policy that you can convert to a permanent life insurance policy in the future. If your health conditions are under control, the premiums may be more affordable.
- Guaranteed life: Like group life insurance, guaranteed life offers coverage no matter your health concerns. The premiums are much higher than underwritten policies, and the coverage amounts are lower, but they can be a backup if you don’t qualify for other policy types.
Read More: Term vs. Whole Life Insurance
Top 5 Life Insurance Companies for Mental Health Issues
These are the best life insurance companies for people with mental health issues, including depression and anxiety.
Each does at least one thing well, and our best overall pick provides the best value to the greatest number of applicants.
1. Lincoln Financial: Best Overall
Lincoln Financial earns the top spot on our list of life insurance companies for people with mental health conditions due to several factors:
- One of the few life insurance companies that doesn’t penalize applicants for taking medication to treat depression and anxiety together
- Relatively low premiums overall
- Multiple term and permanent life insurance options
- Option to waive the life insurance medical exam
- Guaranteed issue coverage for older applicants who might not qualify for term coverage
Additional Features
- Lincoln VULOne, a permanent cash-value policy that can provide tax-free income later in life
- Key person insurance for business owners and major shareholders
- Preferred relationships with financial planners — great if you need assistance with retirement planning, tax strategy, or legacy planning
Learn More at LincolnFinancial.com >>>
2. AIG Direct: Best for Applicants With Anxiety Disorder
AIG Direct is unusually lenient with applicants who’ve been diagnosed with anxiety disorder.
Although insurers see anxiety disorder as less concerning than clinical depression and certain other mental health issues, it’s still a red flag for many of them. AIG is one of the few that allows applicants to take multiple medications to treat anxiety without automatically placing them in a higher-risk category.
This means a diagnosis of anxiety could have no effect on your life insurance premiums with AIG. Of course, your actual premium depends on numerous other factors unrelated to your mental health.
Additional Features:
- Term life insurance policies up to 30 years
- Multiple term life policy options, including convertible term — convert to a permanent policy without another medical exam or proof of insurability
- Guaranteed issue whole life policies up to $25,000 — good if your medical condition prevents you from getting traditional term or permanent coverage
3. Transamerica: Best for Foreign Nationals
Transamerica is one of the few life insurance companies that caters to foreign nationals who do business or own homes in the United States but aren’t citizens or permanent residents.
It also happens to be friendly to applicants with depression and other mental health issues, including noncitizens. You can qualify for the best rates with Transamerica even if you’re taking multiple medications to treat anxiety disorder or you’ve been diagnosed with mild depression in the recent past.
Additional Features:
- Minimum coverage amount as low as $250,000 for foreign nationals — good for supplemental insurance coverage
- Term and whole life options available
- Multi-applicant policies are available — good for insuring both spouses or entire families with members inside and outside the U.S.
- Available to residents of nearly 50 countries
Learn more at Transamerica.com >>>
4. Banner Life: Best for Applicants with More Than One Mental Health Diagnosis
Banner Life is the best choice for applicants with more than one mental health condition.
Although more concerning issues like schizophrenia could still jeopardize your application, parallel diagnoses of anxiety disorder and mild depression won’t.
In fact, you may still qualify for the best rates on Banner Life policies if you’re taking medication for both.
Additional Features:
- Term life coverage starting at $100,000
- Get term coverage up to age 75, although death benefits may be lower and premiums higher
- Terms as long as 40 years for eligible applicants
Learn more at LGAmerica.com >>>
5. Prudential: Best for Applicants with Other Health Conditions
Prudential is another life insurer that’s unusually lenient with applicants who have mental health issues.
But its real selling point is its leniency with people with other significant health issues. Although not quite offering a blank slate to people with serious medical conditions, Prudential tends to look more favorably on well-controlled diabetes, hypertension, obesity, and other well-known risk factors for premature death.
Additional Features:
- PruTerm policies offer term coverage in one-year increments — great for temporary needs, such as paying off a short-term business loan
- Generous no-exam coverage with death benefits up to $1 million
- Wide range of riders, including terminal illness coverage — claim your death benefit while still living with a qualifying terminal illness diagnosis
Learn more at Prudential.com >>>
Methodology
We use several important criteria to assess the best life insurance providers for people with mental illness, depression, and related medical conditions.
- Mental health conditions accepted
- Coverage amounts
- Term options
- Premium increase for those with mental health disorders
- Requirement for a medical exam
- Company’s financial stability
Life Insurance for People With Mental Illness FAQs
You have questions about life insurance for people with depression, anxiety disorder, and other mental illnesses. We have answers.
How Does Mental Illness Affect Life Insurance Rates?
Depression and other types of mental illness generally result in higher life insurance premiums.
When you apply for life insurance, the insurer pulls your medical records from MIB, which collects vast information about your medical history and past insurance applications. If you’ve been diagnosed with a mental illness or disclosed such a diagnosis on a recent life insurance application, your would-be insurer will almost certainly find out.
What Questions Will an Underwriter Ask About My Depression?
Your underwriter will want to know:
- When you were first diagnosed with depression
- The severity of your diagnosis — mild, moderate, or severe
- The nature of your diagnosis — temporary circumstances such as postpartum depression may be less of an issue for insurers, for example
- Any related conditions you’ve been diagnosed with, such as substance use disorder
- Any medications you’re taking to treat depression and related conditions
- Whether you’ve ever attempted suicide
How Can I Get the Best Life Insurance Rate if I Have Depression?
Shop around for life insurance companies that offer more favorable terms to people with depression. Be sure to tell your insurer about any mitigating circumstances, such as recent childbirth or death of a close relative.
If you’re still relatively young and your condition is well-controlled, you can wait a few years before applying. Many insurers are more forgiving of medical issues — including serious events like suicide attempts — that occurred more than five years in the past.
Can You Be Denied Life Insurance Due to Mental Illness?
Yes. While well-controlled depression probably won’t result in denials across the board, other mental health conditions like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder could prove more challenging. This is true even if you’re currently taking medication to treat those conditions.
In contrast, a past anxiety diagnosis is less of a red flag for insurers. Even if you’re taking medication to control diagnosed anxiety, your life insurance rates might not be higher than those of an otherwise identical applicant without anxiety.
What Happens if You Lie About Your Mental Health Conditions on the Life Insurance Application?
Lying on your life insurance application is never a good idea. Life insurance companies consult the Medical Information Bureau for your medical history. If they find any discrepancies, they may dig further into your application to see what else you lied about. Even a single lie could render your policy ineffective or leave your beneficiaries without benefits if the life insurance company conducts an investigation and ties your death to a mental health issue you didn’t disclose.
How to Choose the Best Life Insurance Policy If You’ve Been Diagnosed with a Mental Health Condition
If you’ve been diagnosed with depression or another mental health condition, you should prepare to pay higher life insurance premiums.
But don’t get too discouraged. There’s a good chance you’ll qualify for life insurance coverage. You could even find yourself in a favored risk category, such as Standard Plus or even Preferred. That’ll partly depend on other health and lifestyle factors, such as your BMI, cholesterol, and family health history.
Your first move is to look for life insurance companies that explicitly state that they welcome applicants with depression. This will narrow your list immediately.
From there, get specific. Go through your situation with each insurer before you apply and ask how they’ll assess your risk. Disclose the initial diagnosis date, the circumstances around the diagnosis, any medications you’re taking, and any complicating factors like past suicide attempts or hospitalization. Mention temporary or mitigating factors like postpartum mental health issues.
Finally, set your preferred life insurance term and coverage amount and compare your premiums. Chances are, some insurers will offer lower premiums. Those should make the final cut.
And if all else fails, consider a guaranteed issue life insurance policy. These policies have small death benefits and high premiums, but you can’t be denied for any medical reason, including a mental health diagnosis.
Keep Reading: How to Choose the Best Life Insurance Policy
