Thanks to both who included the article link. That's pretty sad, especially for people with bipolar type 1, like me.

I guess I'm lucky. I have no kids and I'm already middle-aged. My husband has life insurance as one of the benefits through his work. I doubt he'll try to get any after he retires. I actually do have a small life insurance benefit, but it disappears after I go off of disability, assuming I will. It's through my old employer benefits. Though their private disability provider long stopped paying me private long-term disability, the life insurance component remains until, as I wrote, I go off of any kind of disability (I collect SSDI). Every year that insurance company sends me a form, which my psychiatrist has to fill out and I send back to them. The deadline is tight, though. If my psychiatrist appointment wasn't soon after receiving the form, I'd have to ask my psychiatrist to complete it before my appointment. Luckily, this has not been an issue.

I don't forsee myself needing any life insurance from my husband, if he passed first. I'd be happy to downgrade my living situation to just a room in a shared apartment, somewhere cheap.

I may not have to really worry that much even about health insurance. My husband is a European and we may be moving to Europe in a few years. The health insurance coverage in many countries there is much better than what I'd likely have in the US.