Getting cover with depression, anxiety or other mental health conditions

An insurer can refuse you cover, charge you more or exclude a condition, but only within rules. Outside those rules, it is against the law for a company to refuse to insure you or offer worse terms because you are disabled¹. The Equality Act 2010 permits insurers to charge more or refuse cover where age or disability means a customer is more likely to claim, provided the judgement is relevant and reasonable².

In practice, most people with depression, anxiety or another mental health condition can get cover. Where a condition is stable, well medicated and considered mild, travel insurers often add no extra premium or very little³. The harder cases are recent diagnoses, conditions still under investigation, or a history that includes hospital treatment.

What decides your outcome is disclosure. Insurers ask about your health when you apply, and the answers you give set the terms. Get them right and the policy pays when it should. Leave something out and the insurer can treat the policy as misrepresented, which is where most disputes start.

Can an insurer refuse you because of your mental health?

Sometimes, and the law says when. The starting point is that a blanket refusal because you have a mental health condition is unlawful. It is against the law for a company to refuse to insure you or offer worse terms because you are disabled¹. You can be protected under the Equality Act if you have a mental health condition and are classed as disabled⁸.

The exception is written into the Act. Insurers may charge customers more or refuse to offer insurance if age or disability means they are more likely to make a claim, where those judgements are relevant and reasonable². That is the legal basis for medical underwriting: an insurer is allowed to price the extra risk a condition creates, and to decline where the risk cannot be priced at all.

There is a separate, narrower category of refusal that has nothing to do with mental health specifically. Insurers cannot cover certainties, so they are legally entitled to refuse cover where the medical prognosis is that you will die during the policy term⁹. That applies to terminal diagnoses, not to depression or anxiety.

For most mental health conditions the realistic outcomes are a standard premium, a higher premium, an exclusion, or a referral elsewhere. A specialist provider directory makes the position clear: there is no guarantee you will be accepted for a policy with anyone listed, and each case is considered individually¹⁰.

What the Equality Act lets insurers do, and where it stops them

The Equality Act 2010 sits behind almost every decision an insurer makes about a mental health condition. It does two things at once. It protects you from being refused cover or given worse terms simply because you are disabled¹. And it allows an insurer to treat you differently where the disability genuinely changes the risk, as long as the judgement is relevant and reasonable².

The words "relevant" and "reasonable" carry the weight. An insurer that declines cover needs evidence that the condition affects the risk it is insuring. An insurer that adds a premium needs to be able to point to why. Where a condition is stable, well medicated and considered mild, travel insurers often add no additional premium or very low amounts³. That is the same legal framework producing a different outcome, because the risk is different.

The Act also reaches beyond insurance. In some cases, people with mental health conditions are protected by the Equality Act 2010, which says that your creditors must make reasonable adjustments to help you¹¹. The same duty is described by other debt advice services: creditors must make reasonable adjustments to help you if you have a mental health condition¹². That matters if a mental health condition has affected your finances as well as your cover.

Where the protection stops is at the underwriting decision itself. The Act does not entitle you to cover on standard terms, and it does not stop an insurer asking about your health. What it does is require the insurer to be able to justify what it does.

Telling the insurer: what you must disclose and what happens if you don't

Disclosure is the part of the process that decides whether a claim is paid. Diagnosed medical conditions of any kind need to be disclosed to your insurance provider, and that includes conditions relating to your mental health³. The same rule applies across policy types: you must tell the truth in your application about any pre-existing conditions, and if the insurer finds out later that you were not entirely honest, it could void your entire policy⁹.

What you are asked depends on the policy. On income protection, you must give your insurer full details of you and your family's medical history, plus dangerous hobbies or a lifestyle that includes smoking, heavy drinking or drug taking¹³. On life insurance, the questions can be detailed: applicants with diabetes are asked whether they have type 1 or type 2 diabetes or a rarer form, their HbA1c test results, hospitalisations, treatment changes and complications¹⁴. Applicants with a genetic condition are normally asked about current health, previous health problems and any major health problems in the family⁵.

Disclosure is not always a one-off. On travel insurance, diagnosed medical conditions of any kind need to be disclosed to the provider, including conditions relating to mental health, and the provider is told both when the quote is obtained and, just as importantly, during the policy period if health status changes³. That is the same principle as telling your insurer about changes on any policy.

Exclusions, higher premiums or a refusal: what each one means

These three outcomes look similar from the outside and mean very different things.

A higher premium is the most common. Anxiety, depression and stress appear among the conditions that can cause premiums to increase or terms to change, alongside diabetes, heart conditions, blood pressure and cholesterol issues, body mass index at either extreme, musculoskeletal issues and poorly controlled asthma¹⁷. The insurer has priced your risk and offered cover at that price.

An exclusion means the policy will not pay for that condition, or for claims arising from it. Critical illness cover only pays out for specified illnesses, and this excludes mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety¹⁸. Pre-existing medical conditions may also be excluded or come with special terms, especially if you had symptoms, treatment or time off work beforehand¹⁹. An exclusion is not a refusal: the rest of the policy still works.

A refusal means the insurer will not offer that policy at all. Some refusals are about timing rather than diagnosis. One travel insurer will not cover a condition that is currently undiagnosed, under investigation, awaiting any treatment, or where you have been advised not to travel by a doctor²⁰. One life protection product cannot offer immediate cover to anyone who has ever had a psychiatric or mental disorder requiring an overnight stay in hospital or referral to a psychiatrist²¹.

Where to find cover if you are turned down

A refusal from one insurer is not the end of the search. The signposting rule exists for exactly this situation: since April 2021, consumers offered a travel insurance policy with a £100 or more additional premium due to a medical condition must be signposted to a specialist provider or directory⁴. Some insurers go further and refer automatically. One travel insurer states that if it is unable to offer cover, it will refer you to a provider which specialises in cover for long-term health conditions²⁰. Another says that if it cannot offer a policy because of the health condition of anyone on the trip, it will refer you to a specialist provider²².

Specialist brokers are the other route. There are specialised insurance brokers who can help identify different insurance companies or products for those with complex and pre-existing health conditions, with details provided by some patient groups²³. A broker is an expert who will help you decide what type of insurance and level of cover you need and recommend a suitable policy at a price you can afford²⁴. If you need to make a claim, your broker might speak to loss adjusters and claims departments and do as much as possible for you²⁴. Using a broker or buying direct changes who you deal with, not what the policy covers.

Some specialist providers are named in mental health insurance guidance. One offers travel insurance for people with pre-existing medical conditions and has no exclusions for psychiatric conditions such as anxiety, depression or bipolar disorder¹⁰. Another can provide travel and life insurance to people with pre-existing conditions, including mental health conditions¹⁰. Acceptance is never guaranteed: each case is considered individually¹⁰.

Will a mental health condition affect my life insurance or only travel insurance?

It can affect several types of cover, and the way it affects each one differs.

On travel insurance, the effect depends on the condition. Where it is stable, well medicated and mild, there is often no additional premium or very little³. Cancellation is likely to be covered if a medical professional deems you unfit to travel owing to your anxiety, or in circumstances such as an unexpected medical emergency that stops you travelling³. The travel insurance with pre-existing medical conditions page covers how declarations work on these policies.

On income protection, you are medically assessed when you take out the policy, and you will know in advance what you will and will not be covered for²⁵. That certainty is the point of the assessment. Pre-existing medical conditions may be excluded or come with special terms¹⁹. Claims are declined if the policy definition is not met, if it is too early (you can claim again if the illness progresses), or because of material misrepresentation at application²⁶.

On critical illness cover, mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety are excluded from payout¹⁸. That is a feature of the product rather than a judgement about you: the cover pays a lump sum for specified illnesses, and these are not among them.

On mortgage payment protection, the evidence requirements can be specific. Mental health claims may require evidence that you cannot work²⁷.

Challenging a decision and complaining to the Financial Ombudsman

If an insurer turns you down, excludes your condition or rejects a claim, you have a route to challenge it. The Financial Ombudsman Service looks at the policy's terms and conditions, exclusions for pre-existing medical conditions, misrepresentation and non-disclosure, and changes in health⁷. Those are the four things that decide most disputes about mental health cover.

The ombudsman's powers are practical. If it thinks your insurer has unfairly turned down a claim, it may recommend that the insurer reconsider the claim in line with the terms and conditions, or pay the claim and add interest to cover the period from the date of the claim until the date the settlement is paid⁷. It will also consider whether you have experienced distress or inconvenience as a result of what the insurer did wrong, and may ask the insurer to pay compensation for it⁷. Where a consumer's circumstances change during the policy term making them ineligible, the ombudsman may tell the business to refund the premiums from the date the circumstances changed²⁹.

The ombudsman is not a soft option for the insurer, and it is not a rubber stamp for the customer. In one case, it upheld an insurer's rejection of a claim because the terms excluded pre-existing medical conditions³⁰. The outcome turns on what the policy said and what you disclosed.

Before the ombudsman, you need to complain to the insurer. The complaining about an insurer page sets out the process and the time limits. If a claim has been rejected and you want to push back in writing, there is a letter template for rejecting your insurer's offer on a claim that sets out the structure.