Increase in client mental health disclosure

There has been an increase in the number of financial planning clients disclosing their mental health history, according to AMP.

The AMP Planner Protection Poll found 71 per cent of 189 financial planners surveyed said there had been an increase in the number of clients who disclose a personal history of mental illness.

Planners are taking the impact of mental illness into account when applying for income protection cover, including in their approach to client disclosure of these illnesses, according to AMP director of wealth protection products Michael Paff (pictured).

“Financial planners need to be flexible in engaging with their clients during the process of completing a personal health statement. This includes being able to recognise how comfortable the client is with personally disclosing potentially sensitive health history and looking at other options for the client where available,” Paff said.

“For example, AMP’s ‘easywrite tele’ service allows planners to offer clients the option of discussing their health history directly with AMP if they do not feel comfortable disclosing this with their planner,” he said.

More than half of planners polled said that early access to the underwriter to discuss the client’s situation was most likely to make a difference in a client’s application for income protection cover.

“Talking to the underwriter before lodging an application for income protection cover allows planners to ensure they have gathered all the required information, directly or indirectly, and can improve the client’s experience of the underwriting process,” Paff said.

However, despite increased disclosure, only just over a third of planners polled are seeing clients with a history of mental illness gain access to income protection cover.