Mental Illness - the Downsides of Presenting a Claim As unfair as it seems, filing a claim for mental illness-related benefits under your group insurance policy can affect your insurability for years down the road.  Let me explain.   Say you went through an extremely stressful time in your life 10 years ago: a new boss, a divorce, your house burned down, something.  At that time, you experienced a period of depression, and being the smart person you are, sought help from a mental health professional.  Those six or ten or twenty counseling sessions you went to were permanently recorded in your medical history file.   So it's ten years later, and you've started your own business, and you're now applying for an individual insurance plan, but you find that company after company is declining you for coverage, based on your medical history.  You're otherwise healthy, so you don't understand what the problem is.  It may be those counseling sessions you attended ten years ago.   Insurance companies can (and do) decline coverage under individual plans if your medical history includes: Taking prescription drugs to treat anxiety, depression or a physical condition, including Prozac, Zoloft, Xanax, Ativan, Klonipin, Paxil, Serzone or Wellbutrin. Counseling for anxiety, depression, grief or an eating or sleep disorder. (One of the most egregious examples of this: if you sought counseling as a way to cope with the September 11th terrorist attacks, it could count against you if you're applying for individual coverage). Why are insurance companies standing behind this policy?  In a word: money.  It's been estimated that the sickest 1 percent of policyholders comprise between 40 and 50 percent of health insurance claims.  Insurance companies are in business to make money.  If they can deny coverage to anyone who might actually need to use the insurance, they'll take the opportunity to do so. Mental health professionals are concerned at the unintended backlash of this policy: consumers who need mental health counseling may go untreated if they're afraid that by receiving counseling it could affect their insurability later in life.  There is no law that says doctors must advise their patients that being referred to a mental health counselor could affect their insurance options in the future. There is already some evidence that consumers are becoming aware of this problem, and are taking extraordinary steps to protect their medical privacy, including: Not seeking care to avoid disclosure to an employer Paying for the services themselves, rather than submitting a claim to the insurance company, even though they have coverage for that service Giving incomplete information on a medical history form for a new insurance company Asking their doctor to not record such information The bottom line appears to be this:  if you need mental health assistance, don't hesitate to get it. It's more important to receive treatment at the time of whatever difficulty you're experiencing, than to be obsessing about individual coverage later in life.  Just be advised that you could have problems crop up in the future, and be prepared to deal with them. © 2004 by Roger Lacocoa,  Affordable Health Insurance Quotes. ~~~~~~~~~ About the author: Roger Lacocoa is a professional consultant with Affordable Health Insurance Quotes, specializing in the areas of health, life and disability insurance. Disclaimer: All content in this website is provided for educational purposes only. The publishers of this website do not give any warranty as to the accuracy or completeness of the content on same website. No part of this website or any material appearing on the site may be reproduced, stored in or transmitted on any other website without written permission. All content is original and copyrighted.