Should Pandemic-related mental health disclosures affect income protection eligibility?

In the times during and since the pandemic, we have seen a tendency towards people reporting higher levels of stress and lower mood. I believe this extends even beyond people with clinical presentations. For example, routine screening measures such as the PHQ-9 (depression) and the GAD-7 (anxiety) have a mild clinical indication at just a few points. However, given that since 2020 I think it is hard to find anyone who DOESN'T score at least a few points on these scales, if pandemic-related mental health concerns were to be invalidated then insurance companies could be on the verge of excluding an entire population. Whatever the contributing factors, someone's experience with mental health should never be invalidated.

"It is correct that applicants are required to disclose mental health conditions, such as depression. Whether or not they are pandemic related, they should still be disclosed. There will always be difficulties in life, so much more so than others, such as the pandemic. An insurer will need to make a judgement call as to whether the mental health issues experienced during Covid are a one-off exceptional condition, or something indicative of an underlying problem. Either way, Income Protection is a fantastic insurance to have and I hope insurers will find a way to work with applicants rather than just decline them."

I think mental health as a whole, pandemic related or not, needs a lot of work from insurers and reinsurers to bring it up to the same level of understanding and nuanced underwriting as physical health. With physical health, we will often be asked a series of follow-up questions to any disclosures, with further medical evidence gained from GPs or the insurer's own tests, allowing them to tailor the plan to the risk presented by that specific individual. When we look at how mental health is treated, it is very often all lumped together under the same heading, with little to no additional evidence sought and this results in a decline decision at worse, or a rating (an increase in the premium) or exclusion (removing that element of cover from the policy) at best. We need the insurance and medical worlds to get their heads together and work on bringing underwriting understanding up to a higher level to allow us to better protect and help these clients.

Personally I think the industry needs to look long and hard about how they treat mental health in general. Too often we face real challenges at underwriting with people who very reasonably have done nothing more than ask for help when they've needed it, often in really trying circumstances that would be trying for anyone. They may not even have had any time off work but too often face an uphill battle with a computer says no attitude to obtain standard terms.