JOHNNY TIMPSON: We encourage men to talk about mental health but do worries about insurance in the future cause some to suffer in silence?
Johnny Timpson, a financial protection specialist at Scottish Widows, says that although we encourage people to open up about their mental health problems, fear of facing health or protection insurance penalties can cause some to stay quiet.
As the current Cabinet Office Disability Champion for the insurance industry and profession, and chair of the Access to Insurance Working Group, he explains what can be done.
Male mental health problems are being talked about more but do some people avoid speaking out for fear of being financially penalised by insurance?
The conversation about male mental health should need no introduction, but often it does need someone to start it.
Three out of four cases of suicide in the UK are male, according to Movember, which is not just an annual moustache-growing awareness month, but also a men’s health charity.
It highlights the difficulties faced by men when it comes to opening up about their mental health struggles and argues that improving this situation requires everybody to become more comfortable talking about mental health issues.
This does not just mean those experiencing these issues themselves, but their friends, families, healthcare providers and workplaces. I believe that this also includes the insurance industry.
There’s much more to do, though. For many of us and men in particular, mental health remains an uncomfortable subject to discuss with others.
We can be reluctant to talk about our internal battles due to assumed social stigmas. Some worry they’ll be seen as less of a ‘man’, while others don’t want to burden their loved ones.
Johnny Timpson, of Scottish Widows
Trepidation about speaking out is not limited to broaching mental health issues with a loved one or a colleague. It can also have an impact on our interactions with insurers, and our ability to protect our finances, and those of our families.
More than a quarter (28 per cent) of British men are worried that having a history of depression will make it difficult to access protection products like life insurance or critical illness cover.
A similar proportion (23 per cent) also believe that disclosing an anxiety disorder will be a barrier to insurance. The fear that insurers will penalise policy holders if they disclose their mental health struggles is a common one, but simply isn’t true.
The more information the customer discloses when taking out a policy, the more effectively the insurance product can be tailored to their needs. Providing full answers to underwriting questions also helps when it comes to making any claims.
It also helps to know the facts. In nearly eight in ten cases, where a mental health issue is disclosed upon application for a protection product the customer is offered standard rates.
Scottish Widows claims data shows that the majority of claims are paid, including those where the policy holder has disclosed mental health issues: last year, 99.3 per cent of life insurance claims and 94.1 per cent of critical illness claims were paid out.
Being part of Lloyds Banking Group, Scottish Widows has benefited from the Group’s now three-year partnership with Mental Health UK and we have worked with the charity to review our approach to mental health.
In turn, being part of the Access To Insurance Working Group and ABI Mental Health Working Group, we are sharing our experience for the benefit of the industry and the consumers we serve.
Disclosing a mental health issue to your insurer is important – but as our research shows, one in four men do not feel comfortable discussing mental health with an insurance company.
That’s why initiatives like Movember, which help to tackle some of the assumptions and fears holding men back from such conversations, are so important.
Seeing more public figures being open about what they’re going through should also empower others to talk more openly.
Working in the insurance industry, I look forward to a time when mental health is discussed as openly and honestly as physical health, and without any stigma.
