Depression Awareness week – Depression and other medical conditions

The leading Depression charity, Depression Alliance is running its annual Depression Awareness week this week (15^th to 22^nd April 2013). The Insurance Surgery is running a number of articles this week relating to Depression Life Insurance and some of our other financial products that we offer such as Travel Insurance, Annuities and Care Home Funding.

Depression and related pre-existing conditions

It is a known fact that Depression can be caused as a result of a number of other medical conditions, especially chronic conditions such as:

–          Diabetes

–          Multiple Sclerosis

–          Epilepsy

–          Asthma

According to statistics by the medical body NICE, an individual who has been diagnosed with a chronic medical condition is an astounding 3 times more likely to suffer from Depression.

At The Insurance Surgery we work with a number of medical charities such as the leading Mental Health charity Mind.

How can Depression affect other medical conditions?

Some of the main and major symptoms of Depression are feeling unmotivated, tired and a lack of general self worth. If a person has a chronic condition such as Diabetes for example, this can have serious implications on their motivation to maintain a good level of well being and manage the condition.

The implications of not properly managing a chronic medical condition can be serious and cause long term damage. For example with Diabetes, it is important to maintain a good diet and healthy lifestyle to ensure that the condition does not get worse.

For individuals who have to manage the affects of Depression as well as dealing with the day to day issues that come with living with a medical condition, it can make things feel much worse.

How does Depression combined with another condition affect Life Insurance premiums?

A considerable percentage of people living with a pre-existing medical condition such as Diabetes, MS and Epilepsy may at some time or another have also suffered from Depression. Most Life Insurance companies will take a view on the combination of the conditions and look at the circumstances as a whole.

For Diabetes Life Insurance for example where there is also a history of Depression, the underwriters would look at a number of factors such as:

–          Management of the Diabetes (i.e. Hba1c levels)

–          Cause of the Depression (illness or other event for example)

–          Treatment for both conditions

–          Any additional factors/complications

For some examples of Depression Life Insurance rates then visit our Depression case studies page.

There are a number of companies who are more suitable for Depression combined with other pre-existing conditions and it is important that you approach the best ones. The Insurance Surgery are specialists in dealing with clients with all manor of pre-existing conditions and have extensive knowledge of the insurance underwriting guidelines.

For more information about Depression Life Insurance or any other of our financial products visit our home page or speak to one of our expert consultants on freephone 0800 083 2829.