Income protection insurance - exclusions

[Junipary]

I applied for income protection insurance recently and disclosed that I had taken anti depressants for 3 months last year. As a result the terms of the insurance exclude:

Anxiety, stress, depression or any mental or behavioural disorder, or any functional somatic symptoms (also known as medically unexplained symptoms) including chronic fatigue, chronic pain or irritable bowel
syndromes, or myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), or Fibromyalgia.

Is this normal? I was expecting some exclusions but this seems excessive and covers a huge spectrum of conditions. I'm probably not going to go ahead as a result as it's pretty expensive but was interested to know if this is typical.

That sounds like a swindle.

Fwiw I had chronic anxiety and then got M.E. and can't work. Maybe they have found a connection between the two. It's the first I have ever heard of it, if so.

Can you find pre existing conditions insurance? It will probably be quite expensive, but better than paying for one with a bunch of restrictive exclusions.

I'm not surprised, insurance of this type for pre-existing conditions is a very different market from that for people just wanting some cover in case the worst happens. IBS though seems a strange bedfellow with the other conditions.

Try shopping around. I think you'll struggle to get any cover for anxiety/depression etc but you might find something with a less extensive list if you shop around.

I do wonder though if ME, CFS etc are common exclusions given the problem of clear diagnoses etc.

Are you at least getting it cheaper as so many things are now excluded?

I think it may be worth waiting a bit longer and trying to find another provider. Some of them will be more flexible it if you have not had an episode for a period but you will still get an exclusion for this part.

Ours won’t cover mental health even though we have no history. I think they like to cover things that have clear test results rather than a dr’s judgement so there’s no way to lie.

I have a similar exclusion and I discussed it with the adviser, the chronic pain exclusion doesn’t apply unless it’s considered to be linked to anxiety ie has no apparent physical cause. Can you discuss further with the adviser to clarify?

I get £1 off a month for the exclusions! But it's still really expensive. I think I will shop around. The thing which worries me is 'medically unexplained symptoms' which could cover so many conditions which could potentially be very debilitating.

It sounds like the two are independent of each other, but I will ask.

Like PP suggested I wonder whether those conditions always tend to be excluded? Insurance tends to favour very clearly defined conditions/easy to diagnose/estimate recovery prospects etc

I know this isn't what you asked but it's not worth having for some people anyway as the state provides a short term safety net and insurance doesn't match your full salary anyway. So, if you lose your job and the state thinks you need, for example, £500 a month to live that's what it'll give you, if your insurance then pays you £400 the state will adjust what it gives you to £100 so you're no better off you've just spent a lot on insurance premiums while employed

Nobody can live on £500 a month and no, Statutory Sick Pay doesn‘t even pay that amount.

Does anyone know how far back you have to disclose mental health information for income protection insurance? I can't remember if the advisor asked me for conditions in the last two years or just ever. Wondering whether to try again next year if it is within two years.