Who Isn’t Suffering From Anxiety?

Depression is one of those life insurance issues I’ve been hearing about forever. Anxiety, on the other hand, was something I rarely heard about 10 years ago and today it seems anxiety treatment is almost as common as cholesterol treatment.

I think I get that. It sure seems like 10 years ago there was a lot less to be anxious about. Maybe it’s just me, but that was pre 9/11, pre trillion dollar deficits, pre global economic meltdowns. Heck, that was even before my kids were adults and they seem more stressful to me as adults than they ever were as teenagers.

When I’ve talked about anxiety and anxiety disorder underwriting in the past I’ve mentioned that I live in a small quiet town in the middle of the Rocky mountains, Salida, CO. Our television news comes from Denver and I’m always seeing the condition of the evening rush hour. Bumper to bumper. Looks like no one in Denver probably gets home before ten at night. On those rare occasions when I have to go to Denver or through Denver, OMG!!! I understand a little about anxiety.

But the underwriting of it is what is critical. The truth is that 5 years ago it was treated kind of harshly, generally a diagnosis of anxiety disorder would bump you to a standard rate for starters. Today, if it’s not keeping you from living a normal life and is well controlled and you are compliant with your treatment, preferred and even preferred plus rates are possible.

Bottom line. Maybe there was plenty of anxiety around ten years ago. Maybe it just wasn’t talked about as much or understood as well. Today it seems underwriters have a good grasp of the issue and the true mortality risk (or lack thereof).