When we apply for insurance, we will have to provide some information regarding our health, lifestyle and career such as medical history, medication taken during the last five years and salary. It is to assess how likely we will make a claim. For those who have experienced mental health conditions, the options are limited, depending on the mental health condition diagnosed and severity of the symptoms. If the insurance providers assess you as too great of a risk to insure, you might be insured with a higher premium. 

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A billion people are affected by poor mental health during pandemic globally. Mental illness incidents have spiked during the pandemic due to social restrictions, isolation and economic insecurity. In addition, other destabilizing factors such as the surging inflation and effects of climate change heightened mental health risk. Some insurers will provide life and life income cover, which is payment to policyholders if they are diagnosed with a terminal illness or die, even if mental illness is a contributing factor to your death. 

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For pre-existing conditions, which is when you are diagnosed with mental health issues when you are applying for insurance, some insurance policies do not cover it. They will not pay out a claim to a pre-existing condition and your claim will be dismissed as invalid. Another condition is you have a history of mental health symptoms or a diagnosed illness. Insurers will require you to provide details about your diagnosis, such as a doctor's report, the treatments you received, and how long you have had symptoms. Your information will be analyzed, and you will be informed what cover insurers can offer you. 

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Certain insurers are able to fully cover for your pre-existing mental health conditions, but this may come with a higher premium, to cover the higher risk that you’ll claim on your policy. Apart from fully covered, some insurers will provide an exclusion for specified mental health issues, normally the reason of the claim that is directly or indirectly related to pre-existing condition will not be covered. Insurers might also defer and reconsider your application after a certain timeframe if insurers mark your application as high uncertainty.

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Most health insurance plans cover services for mental health. However, if policyholders are not honest or leave out any important information, either intentionally or unintentionally during their application, this would affect their ability to claim. Do remember to check the policy during application to make sure you meet the claim criteria and insurers could not decline your claims. Check if you are already covered for basic insurance, read all the policies including the small print and check if the pre-existing medical conditions are covered, including mental health problems.