Disability insurance (BU) is one of the most important types of insurance for employed people. She steps in when you can no longer practice your job for health reasons and suddenly find yourself without an income. The BU thus protects against an existential and unfortunately very real risk. Statistically speaking, every fourth person becomes unable to work at least once during their working life. The most common cause of this is mental illness, such as burnout or depression. This is shown by figures from the General Association of the German Insurance Industry (GDV).
In principle, you can be insured against these risks. This means that anyone who is no longer able to do at least 50 percent of their work due to illness or an accident receives a monthly pension from their BU insurer. The problem: Anyone who has already received psychotherapeutic treatment has a bad chance of taking out BU insurance. Because unlike many physical ailments, the risk of BI in people with a history of seeing a psychiatrist is too high for providers. The best thing those affected can get out of it is a policy that excludes payments for mental illness. Then the consumer can protect himself against other reasons for a BU – such as a herniated disc. However, if he becomes unable to work due to a mental illness, the insurer will not pay.
The first piece of advice for people concerned that an BI insurer might reject them is to make an anonymous preliminary risk inquiry. Insurers use a shared database to store rejections. If an insurer rejects a personalized request, this results in a negative entry in the database – including the name, address and date of birth of the applicant. Then the chances of being accepted by another insurer are particularly bad. For an anonymous preliminary risk inquiry in which the personal data are blacked out, it is best to contact an independent insurance broker. This explores the chances of a BU policy with different insurance companies.
The second option: Anyone who has undergone psychotherapy should wait with the insurance request until the therapy was long enough ago. In any case, it should have taken place before the so-called query period of the insurer. As a rule, this concerns the past five, sometimes even the past ten years. If the medical history lies outside of this period, the insurer theoretically no longer has any reason to reject the request. “But you should still be careful if you have an earlier illness,” advises André Salau, head of the consumer advice center for insurance companies. The expert points out that the legal situation for illnesses before the query period is not entirely clear. If you want to be on the safe side, you should seek advice from independent insurance experts.
People who are in the middle of therapy have almost no chance of being accepted as insured persons. However, the decision here also depends on the disease in question. In contrast to an addiction, constant stress is not a general exclusion criterion. In the case of such minor illnesses, some insurers only apply risk premiums. The insurance is therefore more expensive for those affected. The risk surcharges differ depending on the insurer and the respective illness. They are often between 20 and 50 percent above the normal premium.
In addition, not every conversation with a psychologist is equal to psychotherapy, expert Salau clarifies. Anyone who seeks psychological help after personal strokes of fate – such as the death of a family member or an abortion – can usually take out BU insurance at normal prices. “Only when there is therapy for months or even years does it look bad,” adds Salau.
The easiest way to go through BU insurance is when consumers take care of it as early as possible. Like physical ailments, many mental illnesses only develop in the course of working life. Since the insurer only asks for the medical history when making an insurance inquiry, young people without previous illnesses receive particularly favorable tariffs. The insurer estimates the risk that they will soon be unable to work to be low. And anyone who is diagnosed with a mental illness a few years later does not have to report it to the insurer. If the insured later becomes unable to work, the insurer pays – even in the case of mental illness.
This text first appeared on Capital.de.
