If you've searched the net for health insurance that covers depression then you are most likely for looking for trusted UK based health insurance providers that will cover depression.
Our advice when shopping around for private medical cover that covers depression is to speak to a health insurance broker. Health insurance is incredibly complicated and if you want absolute certainty that depression is covered you should talk with a broker who can explain which providers will cover this medical condition and which will not.
There are many advantages to using a broker but the biggest by far is that you're using their insurance training at no cost. They are paid by the insurer (Aviva or Bupa etc) rather than you so it costs you no extra to use their brokering services.
- Do you live in many different postcodes? Some will give you a cheaper policy premium than offers. A insurance broker will be able to advise whats best.
- Do you have a hobby that may invalidate your insurance policy? A broker will know this vital information.
- If you are a couple and one of you has claimed on your insurance policy this year would it be cheaper to separate you both onto two different policies?
- You've developed a certain condition and want to know which insurer offers the biggest amount of cover for it. A broker will know this instantly saving you huge amounts of time and effort.
You can call around every medical insurance provider you can find and ask if they cover depression, however this will be a very time consuming process. Each insurer will ask for your medical history because its not normally a simple yes or not if a medical condition is covered or not.
Its much quicker to speak to one medical insurance broker which will know which providers on the market cover depression and under what conditions they do or don't cover it.
Depression Information
Everyone has spells of feeling down, but depression is more than just spending a few days feeling sad or unhappy. Depression can make you feel persistently sad and down for weeks or months at a time.
While some people believe that depression is trivial or not a genuine health problem, it's actually a real condition that affects around one in 10 people over the course of their lives. It impacts people of all genders and ages – including children. Studies show that around 4% of children in the UK between the ages of five and 16 are depressed or anxious.
With the right support and treatment, most people recover fully from depression.
Depression has a range of different symptoms, and it can affect everybody differently. The symptoms include feeling very tearful, feeling hopelessness and sadness, and losing interest in things you enjoyed before. It's also common for people with depression to have symptoms of anxiety.
Physical symptoms happen with depression too – these can include feeling tired all the time, getting poor sleep, losing your sex drive, losing your appetite, and feeling aches and pains.
If the symptoms are mild, you might simply experience a persistent low mood. It's common to feel stressed, sad or anxious during difficult times in your life, and a low mood can get better after a short time, rather than being a symptom of depression.
Learn more about low mood and depression here.
Severe symptoms of depression can make people feel suicidal – as if life is no longer worth living. Read more about depression symptoms here.
Big changes in your life, like bereavement, losing a job, or even having a baby, can cause symptoms of depression. You're also more likely to experience depression if you have a family history of depression. However, it's also possible to become depressed without there being an obvious reason.
You can learn more about depression causes here.
Symptoms of depression can be very different from person to person. However, as a general rule, if you are depressed you feel hopeless, sad and lacking interest in things that used to make you feel happy.
Depression symptoms are bad enough to interfere with work, social life and family life, and can persist for weeks or months.
Doctors describe depression in one of three ways, depending on how serious it is:
A few people with severe depression may have symptoms of psychotic depression.
Below is a list of depression symptoms – it's unlikely that one person would have all of them.