Hello-- I am 35, and my wife and I are expecting our first child. This would seem like the logical time to buy life insurance, but there are some pretty serious "skeletons in my closet" in terms of my health history. My parents are both healthy, my grandparents all lived into their 90s, and physically I have never had any issues (I am not overweight, I did smoke but quit about 10 years ago and haven't touched any form of tobacco since), and have normal lab results.
That being said, I had some pretty serious mental health issues in my 20s. I had pretty severe social anxiety for much of my life, I had a pretty miserable time adjusting to life in college, and was diagnosed with severe depression and hospitalized during my Junior year. There was no suicide attempt, but in terms of whether there were "thoughts of suicide" I honestly don't even remember what I told the people. Throughout my 20s I was on and off anti-depressents, and when I was 27 in graduate school, after a pretty painful break-up I abused alcohol for about two months. When I finally pulled myself together and stopped drinking I was feeling pretty out of it, so I went to the university health center and they gave me three days worth of klonopin to help with the minor withdrawal symptoms. I was fine for about a year or two after that, but then the depression came back again, I started on anti-depressants again, and was back to being considered a "risky drinker." I started seeing a therapist, however, I finally worked through and tackled some pretty serious issues, finally got the social anxiety under control, and for the last five years I have not been depressed at all (no medication), have had no alcohol issues, have had a vibrant social life, and am happily married. In terms of the issues in my 20s it was honestly pretty bad, but it was not exactly "debilitating"-- it never prevented me from working, I have two Ivy League degrees, and have always been successful professionally (I make about $260k/yr now).
That being said, with a history of severe depression which included a hospitalization in addition to alcohol issues, will it be at all possible for me to get life insurance, or am I pretty much black-balled at this point because I'll be considered a "suicide risk" based on my history? Or will I be eligible for a policy, but will be rated a "Table J" or something and be presented with a prohibitively expensive premium?
I really appreciate any insights-- I'm honestly pretty concerned about this.
Thanks
That being said, I had some pretty serious mental health issues in my 20s. I had pretty severe social anxiety for much of my life, I had a pretty miserable time adjusting to life in college, and was diagnosed with severe depression and hospitalized during my Junior year. There was no suicide attempt, but in terms of whether there were "thoughts of suicide" I honestly don't even remember what I told the people. Throughout my 20s I was on and off anti-depressents, and when I was 27 in graduate school, after a pretty painful break-up I abused alcohol for about two months. When I finally pulled myself together and stopped drinking I was feeling pretty out of it, so I went to the university health center and they gave me three days worth of klonopin to help with the minor withdrawal symptoms. I was fine for about a year or two after that, but then the depression came back again, I started on anti-depressants again, and was back to being considered a "risky drinker." I started seeing a therapist, however, I finally worked through and tackled some pretty serious issues, finally got the social anxiety under control, and for the last five years I have not been depressed at all (no medication), have had no alcohol issues, have had a vibrant social life, and am happily married. In terms of the issues in my 20s it was honestly pretty bad, but it was not exactly "debilitating"-- it never prevented me from working, I have two Ivy League degrees, and have always been successful professionally (I make about $260k/yr now).
That being said, with a history of severe depression which included a hospitalization in addition to alcohol issues, will it be at all possible for me to get life insurance, or am I pretty much black-balled at this point because I'll be considered a "suicide risk" based on my history? Or will I be eligible for a policy, but will be rated a "Table J" or something and be presented with a prohibitively expensive premium?
I really appreciate any insights-- I'm honestly pretty concerned about this.
Thanks
