Insurance and mental illness
Everyone may need insurance at some point in their lives. Whether it is life insurance which makes a payout when you die, travel insurance so you and your belongings are covered when you are on holiday, health insurance, or even car insurance.
People with mental health problems often find that the standard insurance policies that are offered contain exclusions which may result in them not being covered should they need to make a claim under the policy. Very often the only alternative is to buy a policy which provides the cover needed but which is likely to cost a lot more than the standard policies available.
The information on these pages is taken from our Insurance factsheet (158 kb) ![[pdf]](http://www.rethink.org/display_images/document_icons/pdf.gif){kind=icon}
Insurance and your rights
When deciding whether to insure someone, an insurance company should carry out a risk assessment. This risk assessment should include a statistical analysis that the person presents ‘a higher than average risk’. In order to assess risk, insurers should ask a number of questions about your history of mental illness. Many insurers still ask a single question about whether a person has experienced any mental health problems and may make the decision to insure or not on the basis of this answer.
The Disability Discrimination Act and Equality Act has made it illegal to refuse insurance or charge higher premiums unless the company can demonstrate statistically higher risks as a direct result of a specific disability.
