Was asked today by a parent that was wondering what the insurance outlook for their kids who had an ADD/ADHD diagnosis.

This type of question seems to come up entirely too often as an insurance agents with new clients that contact us. Ok maybe not a specific question about ADHD but it is typically people looking for life insurance shortly after a visit to their doctor.

Shortly after I started in my insurance career, I heard it explained this way.. “There is an invisible line that each of us either have cross or will cross one day. That line is the line of insurability.” It can be easy to get a term life insurance policy when you and your immediate family are health. That is when the insurance company is taking a good risk and able to protect a lot of good health people against unexpected death. However, the insurance company must protect their current policy holders.  When someone applies for life insurance, the insurance company must take a health snapshot of the individual to ensure they are taking a fair risk with a healthy applicant.  That look goes even farther than you, it goes to your immediate family history.

This is why I believe on recommending some insurance even on children is to simply protect the insurability of the child once they reach adulthood.

In any case, regarding ADHD diagnosis.  It may be possible to get a standard insurance rating depending on the diagnosis.  Some typical questions that an insurance company will want to see would be..  How often does your child see their personal physicia n? Have you consulted a specialist? What was the age at diagnosis? Current treatment plan? Has there been a change in meds? Does the child require assistance at school? Are there any aggressive or violent behaviour? Any other mental or nervous disorders?  While these questions can seem daunting, it is important to have some protection in place to protect the insurability of your child in the future.  Did you know that you can have a child rider on your policy for only a few dollars a month that can protect all your children for the same cost?  Typically these smaller coverage can be multiplied 4 – 5 times their face amount between the ages of 20 – 25.

2 thoughts on “Childhood ADD/ADHD and insurance

  1. I just found tonight that the company we applied to get a new policy for my hubby and riders for our 3 kids turned down our 11 yr old twins due to add adhd. I am still in shock! Then I started searching and found your post. Do we just keep trying other companies? We were dumb and cashed out the whole life we had on them thru ******* in june because they are healthy boys and never dreamed adhd was so ‘bad’ to insurers. What can we do? One is doing fine now so he is likely to no longer need treatment but our other benefits greatly from meds. Not violent except to brother ( like many non adhd boys) i am sick that we screwed up like this . Any suggestions?

  2. Sorry to hear of your frustration. It was a surprise to me too that ADHD was a concern; however, I have had some luck, depending on the specific situation with the child and the experience of the insurance company I apply, to have an ADHD child covered both under a child rider on a parents policy and individually underwritten on a separate child policy. I have sent you an email with more details. Thanks for your comment.

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