Many providers offer cover for mental health but some are more comprehensive than others, and it often depends on the type of plans - whether it is a medial insurance (PMI) plan or a group income protection plan.
For example, Axa PPP Healthcare offers cover for treatment of mental ill health on the medical insurance plan for individuals, as well as for members of large corporate company-paid schemes (more than 200 employees) and for small to medium sized corporate schemes (less than 200 staff).
However, as Mr Harvey states, even with the advances in support services for people with mental health conditions, the industry still has not gone far enough to provide adequate and comparable cover, especially when it comes to covering people who have already experienced a mental health condition.
He explains: "There is generally a lack of appetite in the market to take on risk in this area for people who have suffered previous mental health issues.
"Exclusions can be very extensive and it often takes some debate with providers for them to agree a review period for the exclusion."
That said, it is becoming more prevalent at point of protection take-up for people to disclose mental health conditions to their insurers, so the situation outlined by Mr Harvey may also soon become a thing of the past.
Scott Cadger, head of underwriting and claims strategy at Scottish Widows, says this is a historic issue, however. "Traditionally, customers haven't known if they'll be covered for life or critical illness insurance until they have applied to a specific provider, and the full underwriting process has been completed.
"Thankfully, things are changing."
He points to the UnderwriteMe quote comparison service, which allows financial advisers and insurance intermediaries to obtain a fully underwritten quote from multiple providers at the same time, enabling them to choose a provider before applying for insurance."
This represents a great technological advance that works not only to the adviser's advantage but also to the end client's.
But more still needs to be done to improve the way in which questions are asked. Phil Jeynes is head of sales and marketing for UnderwriteMe, and he comments: "Like any underwriting topic, mental health is constantly being reviewed by insurers to make sure they’re pricing fairly and accurately.
"Currently, our underwriting questions tend to be a little blunt on this topic, with questions asking customers if they’ve “suffered from stress” in the last few years.
"Perhaps in the past, customers instinctively recognised that this type of question was aimed at those who have found stress a debilitating factor, whereas now we recognise that everyone deals with stress in their lives to some degree and that those types of question are out-dated."
