You can apply for life insurance with sleep apnoea, and several large insurers' application forms ask about it by name, so the first step is answering that question fully. What follows is set by your own details: how the condition was diagnosed, how severe it is, how it is treated and what else is on your record. Sleep study results and CPAP records are easier to explain out loud, and the broker, an FCA-authorised one, will ring once you submit this page's enquiry form, to talk them over.

Do life insurance applications ask about sleep apnoea?

Yes, and several insurers name it outright. Legal & General's adviser application form for personal cover (OLP Connect SA26, W11904 02/26) asks, looking back five years, about any contact with health professionals for "any condition affecting your lungs or breathing, for example asthma, emphysema, sleep apnoea, sarcoidosis?" Hay fever and one-off chest infections you have fully recovered from are the exceptions it lists.

Royal London's Personal Menu Plan form puts it as "Asthma, bronchitis, or any other disorder affecting your lungs or breathing?", with sleep apnoea first among the examples beneath. A yes there leads to a further section on each condition. Guardian's adviser underwriting guide gives its own version of the question: "In the last 5 years, have you had asthma, sleep apnoea or anything else affecting your lungs or breathing?"

All three are adviser literature, so a direct application may word things differently. The pattern is the same, though: sleep apnoea is something you say yes to, and the detail comes in follow-up questions.

What do CPAP and the AHI score have to do with it?

They are how the condition is measured and treated. The NHS says a sleep clinic's tests can show whether you have sleep apnoea and how severe it is, based on your AHI (apnoea-hypopnoea index) score: 5 to 14 is mild, 15 to 30 moderate and over 30 severe. For treatment, the NHS says many people need a CPAP machine, which "gently pumps air into a mask you wear over your nose, or nose and mouth, while you sleep".

Severity and treatment come up in the questions that follow a yes. For each condition you declare, Royal London's form wants to know when symptoms began and how frequent they are, whether a specialist has seen you, which investigations are done or still pending, and the treatment you use and whether it carries on. It ends by asking you to rate the condition on a scale from fully recovered up to daily activities that are significantly or regularly restricted.

It helps to have your diagnosis date, the type of sleep apnoea, your severity band if you were given one, and what treatment you use to hand before you apply.

What can come back once you have declared it?

Aviva's Understanding Underwriting guide (PT15357 0926) describes what can come back on any application. Standard rates mean "the application is accepted as originally quoted". A premium loading is an "extra mortality loading", expressed as a percentage, so that "+50% results in an increase in premium of 50%". Exclusions "are not applied to life cover, but are commonly applied to critical illness and disability cover". An application can also be refused if the risk "is too great".

The same guide warns that the terms it suggests for its listed conditions "are based on the average presentation of each medical condition and are not guaranteed". Its rating key for life cover runs from "Up to 75%" for mild to "175% up" for severe. The guide is written for advisers, so these percentages show how Aviva expresses a rating in general, not a figure for sleep apnoea. How an insurer would rate your own history can be talked over with the broker when they ring back.

Which related conditions get asked about too?

The NHS says untreated sleep apnoea can lead to high blood pressure, a higher chance of stroke, type 2 diabetes and heart disease, and it links the condition to obesity, smoking and drinking alcohol. Those are areas where application forms have questions of their own, so a sleep apnoea disclosure may sit alongside others. Aviva's guide lists "obstructive sleep apnoea" among the conditions it ties to being overweight or obese.

For the pieces that belong to other pages: how insurers use height and weight is in life insurance BMI requirements. Blood pressure readings and treatment are covered in life insurance with high blood pressure, diabetes in life insurance with diabetes, and the heart in life insurance with a heart condition. Your smoking and drinking answers are separate questions, explained in how insurers check smoking and life insurance and alcohol. If you have a lung condition as well, life insurance with COPD looks at that side.

What if you are still waiting for a sleep study?

A suspected diagnosis is not the same as a confirmed one, and the NHS says a GP may refer you to a specialist sleep clinic for tests. Aviva's guide says it would "defer an application if a customer is waiting for investigations or the results of investigations", and that once a diagnosis is made it can reconsider the application. An insurer may also ask for a GP report; Aviva's guide says your consent is needed first, under the Access to Medical Reports Act. The medical questions for life insurance and cover without a medical explain the wider process.

Whatever stage you are at, the Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Representations) Act 2012 says "it is the duty of the consumer to take reasonable care not to make a misrepresentation to the insurer." What you must disclose goes through it, and for what a wrong answer can mean once a claim is made, see when an insurer can refuse a claim.

What if one insurer says no or adds a loading?

That is one insurer's view of your application. A broker can take the same sleep apnoea history to several insurers, and you can request that through the enquiry form here, though no offer can be promised. Other routes after a refusal are set out in what to do if you are declined, while life insurance with medical conditions deals with health conditions in general. More guides of this kind sit under health and underwriting.

Frequently asked questions

Is sleep apnoea covered by life insurance?

Life cover pays out on a death, not on a diagnosis, so sleep apnoea itself does not lead to a payment. Aviva's guide says it does not put exclusions on life cover, so with Aviva a declared condition shows in the price or the decision on the application rather than as a carve-out; other insurers' terms may differ. What protects a later claim is answering the medical questions accurately.

Do I have to mention my CPAP machine?

The questions quoted above ask about the condition, and the follow-up questions are where treatment comes in. Answer the question in front of you fully and honestly, and if you are not sure whether something counts, ask the insurer or the broker on the call-back.

If you would like your answers checked before you apply, a broker can go through them on the phone once you have sent the enquiry form.

Sources

  • NHS, Sleep apnoea (page last reviewed 11 May 2026; next review due 11 May 2029), read 26 October 2026. nhs.uk
  • Legal & General, OLP Connect Application Form (SA26) (W11904 02/26; adviser literature), read 20 October 2026. legalandgeneral.com
  • Royal London, Personal Menu Plan application form (July 2025, P1A0023/24; adviser literature), read 20 October 2026. adviser.royallondon.com
  • Guardian, Underwriting guide (adviser site), read 26 October 2026. adviser.guardian1821.co.uk
  • Aviva, Understanding Underwriting: a guide to medical conditions and the underwriting process (PT15357 0926; adviser literature), read 20 October 2026. aviva.co.uk
  • Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Representations) Act 2012, section 2, read 20 October 2026. legislation.gov.uk