Addiction support
Addiction is a real condition that can cause physical and mental illness and affect all areas of your life.
Addiction and dependency
People start using substances like drugs, prescription medication or alcohol for all sorts of reasons, including trying to resolve physical and emotional symptoms.
But if it becomes an addiction, it can take over your life. And while addiction can result from a mental health condition, it can also cause mental illnesses, too.
Bupa’s mental health insurance covers you for any addiction. We’ll cover you for a period of rehab to help you recover from your dependency.†
Normal for Alan was drinking over two litres of gin a day
He hid it quite well and hoped no one would notice. But his family did. Watch our video to see what life used to be like for him, and how we helped.‡
‡Each story refers to mental health cover and reflects the experience of one particular Bupa member. The cover you choose will have specific terms and conditions, and pre-existing conditions are normally excluded.
ALAN:
If you knew where I’d come from…
…you wouldn’t think I’d be here now.
But after I retired, I was drinking two litres of gin every day.
Breaking point was the day my wife said she was walking out.
When I rang Bupa, I suppose I ran out of excuses.
I had a session with a doctor who specialises in addiction. He said basically ‘you’re killing yourself’
He put together a treatment plan. I went into rehab for 28 days.
SARAH:
We’re here to get you the support and treatment you need and minimise the impact on your family.
We do follow up calls…keep the conversation going and make sure you’re doing okay.
ALAN:
I’ve got a lot to thank Bupa for.
I’ve got my family back.
And I suppose I’ve got myself back, too.
I don’t have health insurance, but I’d like advice about my
mental health
Mind
Mind is a charity dedicated to mental health. They exist to make sure no one has to face a mental health problem alone. They’ll listen to you and offer support and advice.
0300 123 3393
Lines open 9am to 6pm, Monday to Friday,
except for bank holidays
Samaritans
You don’t have to be suicidal to talk to the Samaritans. There's always someone there to listen and talk to you without judging. And all calls are free.
116 123 (UK and ROI)
Lines open 24/7, every day of the week
Where can I find help for someone I know?
Addiction rarely gets better on its own. People need help and support to kick their habit. If your friend, colleague or family member is struggling with an addiction, there are ways we can help.
There’s lots of information and advice at How can Bupa help you.The mental health charity, Mind, also has a list of specialist organisations that help with addiction and dependency.
I think my employee may need help
Our guide for managers offers expert advice and signposting, helping you support employee wellbeing and promote strong mental health at work.
Addiction information and support from the experts at Bupa
Our wellbeing platform, Healthy Me, has lots of helpful articles about addiction.
How can Bupa help me?
I’d like to speak to a mental health specialist
If you have mental health cover as part of your Bupa health insurance, just call us on the number below. We can then refer you to a consultant or therapist – and you may not even have to see your GP first††. Or we can put you through to one of our mental health nurses.
0808 115 5285^
^Calls may be recorded and to maintain the quality of our service we may monitor some of our calls, always respecting the confidentiality of the call.
I’m looking for information about addiction
If you or someone you know might have a problem with addiction of any sort, you might be asking:
- Where can I find information about addiction?
- Where can I get support for addiction?
Even if you have a history of mental illness, that doesn’t automatically mean we can never support you in future. Every decision we make is based on your personal circumstances, so please call us on 0113 495 0866^ to discuss your options. Here’s some more helpful information about our support for pre-existing mental health conditions.
Our health insurance is designed to cover you for the treatment of conditions that appear after you take out a policy with us, and that includes mental health conditions*. However, even if you have a history of mental illness, that doesn’t automatically mean we can never support you in future.
When you take out a policy, you’ll usually be asked for some medical history. We’ll ask you about any symptoms, treatment or advice you’ve had in the past, including your mental health and wellbeing. How recent that was will affect what we can cover you for in future. Then we’ll tell you how we could support you in future. This is a wide-ranging area, so even if you’ve struggled in the past with similar but unrelated symptoms, we’d still look to see if we can support you.
For example, if you’ve had PTSD before, we could still cover you for future unrelated episodes of stress. And if you’ve had post-natal depression, we could still cover you for unrelated episodes of depression. If we do exclude an existing mental health condition from your Bupa cover, we may be able to review any such exclusion whenever you renew your policy, so do ask us for a review. We can only consider covering you for previously excluded conditions for which you’ve had no symptoms, treatment or advice for at least 12 months**.
Every decision we make is based on your own personal circumstances, so do call us to discuss your options on 0113 495 0866^. We may record or monitor our calls.
* Please check your policy to see if you have mental health cover.
** The period of time will depend on the condition.
^We may record or monitor our calls.
†Most of our policies (with mental health benefits) cover one addiction treatment plan per membership lifetime. If additional treatment was needed, we could fund out-patient addiction treatment - subject to available benefit limit in the policy year. If you are unsure of your benefit limits, please refer to your policy documents or call us.
††Direct Access telephone services are available as long as the symptoms are covered under the policy. If your cover excludes conditions you had before your policy started, we’ll ask you to provide evidence from your GP that your symptoms are not pre-existing for a period of up to two years from policy start date (or five years in the case of mental health). We can then refer you to a consultant or therapist through the Direct Access service. Always call us first to check your eligibility.
Bupa health insurance is provided by Bupa Insurance Limited. Registered in England and Wales No. 3956433. Bupa Insurance Limited is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority. Arranged and administered by Bupa Insurance Services Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Registered in England and Wales No. 3829851. Registered office: 1 Angel Court, London EC2R 7HJ.
