As the sole breadwinner of the family, how can I ensure minimum insurance coverage for myself, given that I have a pre-existing condition that excludes me from most term life and health insurance?

I am a fresh grad (25 years old), and I am the sole breadwinner of the family. I've tried to get whole life insurance and health insurance but was rejected because of my pre-existing mental illness condition (depression). I could get whole life insurance but the loading for premiums is quite high.
I've been advised to wait a couple years before trying to get life insurance again, but I'm worried about my lack of health insurance coverage. Any advice for health insurance?

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Samuel Don Oh

01 Dec 2020

Hi there,

I'm sorry to hear about your plight. Exclusions will be rather common for someone with an incidence of mental condition. I've applied life insurance for people with depression before. It's typically a 25-50% loading with exclusions.

Some of the ways to go about it includes dialing down your coverage if the loading is a stretch for you. You can try waiting for a few years but thats no guarantee that the underwriting will change either. At every point, having some coverage is better than none.

Your other options is to get plans that cater specifically for critical illnesses if CI is your concern, and then add on life plans subsequently. They are generally cheaper and will be easier for underwriting to go through since the underwriting is more simplified (lesser questions asked). You can also opt for an accident plan to start with since it has no underwriting required.

Do seek the advice of a licensed advisor to explore your options. All the best!

Financial planning is an integral part of life. You can reach me here to find out more.

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Jonathan Chia Guangrong

28 Nov 2020

SOC at Local FI

Hi there. Sorry to hear about your predicament. Know what it feels like as I've been rejected before due to other conditions.

For your case, have you been discharged by your consulting doctor for your condition? If so, what you can do is to get a medical report (aka attending physician statement) and go back to the insurer that rejected you to see if there's any possibility of obtaining a standard underwriting outcome. You can also use the report to apply to the other insurers and see if there's a chance for standard outcome as well.

Timeline for obtaining the report may be 2 months or so, especially if it's from a government institution.

However, if you are still undergoing treatment, it may not be possible to get insured even with the report on hand. Likely that your application may be postponed (need to wait) or high premiums may be applicable. Different insurers will evaluate the risk differently so you need to find an agent who can push the case for you.

Hope this helps and all the best.

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