How to Get Life Insurance With Epilepsy [2024]

Epilepsy is the fourth most common neurological disorder affecting people of all ages. Characterized mainly by unpredictable seizures, epilepsy can cause serious additional health complications.

Naturally, with so many misconceptions and misinformation, surrounding epilepsy, finding everyday solutions can be tough, including life insurance for epilepsy sufferers.

This article will help you understand the basics of epilepsy and guide you through the steps you or a loved one with epilepsy can take to find the best life insurance for epilepsy available. Shopping for life insurance with epilepsy starts with obtaining a baseline rate.

Best Life Insurance Companies for Asymptomatic Epilepsy Patients

A good place to start shopping is with larger providers that have been known to offer high-risk policies. The companies below have offered policies for other high-risk individuals who may have had health complications are smokers, or who might have dangerous occupations.

• American General
• Banner Life
• John Hancock
• Lincoln Financial
• Principal Life
• Protective Life
• Prudential
• Pacific Life

Of course, if you can find an agent who specializes in impaired risk policies, it might save you the time of visiting each of the above insurers to understand what might be offered for your specific diagnoses.

Average Term Life Quotes from Top 10 Insurers

As a reference, here are average monthly term life quotes from the top 10 insurance providers for term insurance, just to give you some ballpark figures.

Now that you’ve seen some sample monthly quotes on life insurance, let’s talk about how epilepsy affects life insurance rates.

Read more: How To Get Life Insurance With Down Syndrome

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Life Insurance for Patients Diagnosed With Epilepsy

Life insurance companies want you to live a long, healthy life. For an insurance company, the longer you live means the longer you pay premiums and the longer the insurer has before they may have to pay any claims.

Because of this, insurers will require you to go through an underwriting process that can account for any factors that may put you at risk to die earlier than expected.

One of the ways you’re evaluated is by a medical exam.

During this exam, you’ll be asked questions about your family history, medical history, lifestyle, and smoking and alcohol usage. The person administering the exam will measure your height, weight, pulse, blood pressure and may require blood work to determine the overall health of your organs.

By evaluating each risk factor, the underwriter will determine your risk level and assign you to a risk pool. This risk pool will ultimately determine how much your life insurance will cost.

Although epilepsy is manageable if not curable for some people depending on the type and severity of symptoms, epilepsy can shorten an individual’s lifespan from between two and 10 years.

Shopping for Term Life Insurance Quotes With Epilepsy

So, is it possible to get life insurance if you’re diagnosed with epilepsy? Shopping for life insurance is no easy task to begin with. It can take hours of online research and multiple inquiries to find the right agent, in addition to the time to review options from different providers. Unless, of course, you use our FREE quote tool above to help you get started with comparing rates from multiple insurance providers, which is designed to help ease your mind in this sometimes complicated process.

If you’re shopping for life insurance for the first time, it makes sense to start by shopping for term life insurance. This is because term life insurance is the most affordable coverage available and is the easiest type of life insurance to get.

Term life insurance isn’t a permanent type of insurance, but if you’re able to get term life insurance, it might be easier to convert the policy to a whole life insurance or universal life policy after the expiration of the term.

For people diagnosed with epilepsy, it can be even harder. There are a few message boards where patients who have experienced seizures have expressed their frustration with denials from insurance companies.

The Epilepsy Society, located in the United Kingdom, estimates that approximately 36 percent of people with epilepsy have been refused insurance.

Thirty-six percent of applicants denied life insurance is an incredibly high number, especially with so many people finding success with treatments today.

That being said, finding affordable life insurance if you’ve been diagnosed with epilepsy is still important. So here are a few things you can do to help you to find a suitable option.

• Keep a good record of your medical history – Life insurance companies are concerned that those who have epilepsy are taking the proper precautions to keep it under control. A medical history of regular physician checkups is important to the company.
• Look for insurers that specialize in high-risk or impaired risk policies – Life insurance policies are available and offered for individuals who have preexisting conditions or have had medical issues. These companies will help people with epilepsy find plans.
• Pick a target rate to shop for – If your seizures have been controlled by medicine or surgery and you’ve been symptom-free for several years, look for insurers to offer your low-risk rates or reduce the rates of your current policy. Of course, to shop rates, you’ll need to know what rates are. Get a free rate quote now by entering your ZIP code.

To prepare for your life insurance application process, you’ll need to gather as much information as possible. You’ll specifically need to provide the following information:

• When you were diagnosed
• What your diagnosis was
• Type of seizure
• Frequency of attacks
• Date of latest seizure
• What steps you’ve taken since your diagnosis
• The degree of control as illustrated by medical records, height/weight and lab test results
• What type of treatment you’re on
• Any other medical conditions that are present
• Whether you are a tobacco user
• Blood work and a medical exam (learn more about the paramedical exam here: What to Expect From a Life Insurance Medical Exam)
• Any medications you’re taking to prevent or control seizures
• Any medical emergency plan you have in place

It’s always better to be prepared. Since you might be shopping with multiple companies for quotes on life insurance, it’s good to keep all your information organized.

What Life Insurance Companies Look For

One of the first things that life insurance companies want to know is your specific type of epilepsy.

Types of Epilepsy

Epilepsy doesn’t come in one simple form. Research has identified many different symptoms and patterns that result in different versions of the disease. However, all types of epilepsy have one common symptom: seizures.

In 2017, the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) developed a way to organize and describe seizures.

Based on the type of seizure, a doctor will identify the type of epilepsy a patient has and whether the patient has any specific epilepsy syndrome. From this, doctors will assign a specific type of epilepsy.

The four types of epilepsy are:

• Generalized epilepsy – This type of epilepsy affects both sides of the brain, causing the patient to lose awareness and control over some motor functions during seizures.
• Focal epilepsy – This type of epilepsy is assigned when abnormal brain activity occurs in a specific part of the brain that can be identified. Patients maintain awareness during a seizure.
• Generalized and focal epilepsy – When patients experience both types of seizures, their diagnoses fall under this type of epilepsy.
• Unknown if generalized or focal epilepsy – if a doctor is uncertain where within the brain or how a seizure occurred, they might assign it into this category until further testing can provide more information.

The type of epilepsy you are diagnosed with is important. A proper diagnosis can help epilepsy patients develop a holistic plan, including diet, exercise, and medication to manage symptoms.

To improve your chances of getting approved for a policy, there are important measures you can take to prepare yourself before applying for term life insurance. Doing so will help your chances of getting approved for the best rating class possible. Use the following tips to put yourself in the best position to win:

• Visit your doctor as often as recommended.
• Follow your doctor’s advice regarding medication and treatment.
• Make sure your medical records are regularly updated. This is crucial. The life insurance company will rate your application poorly if it’s unable to determine your level of control.
• Get any other complications under control. For example, if you also have high blood pressure, make sure it’s being treated as well.

Insurance companies will be conducting a thorough review of your overall health and consider other risk factors. Normal metrics such as your age, gender, and where you live will be factors.

The underwriting guidelines review will also factor in the type of epilepsy you have, the severity and frequency of the symptoms and seizures, the effectiveness of any medication and the impact of any side effects, and any unrelated health concerns you might be experiencing.

Is epilepsy considered a critical illness?

So, now you may be wondering if epilepsy is considered a critical illness. That answer depends on the type of epilepsy you have, the underlying causes, and the severity.

However, in general, you may find that life insurance companies, like Legal & General America, don’t treat epilepsy as a critical illness. In fact, because authorities such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) define epilepsy as a disorder, doing so means critical illness insurance is not likely an option for epilepsy sufferers.

Instead, the different underlying conditions that cause epilepsy (when known) are likely to affect your chances of obtaining life insurance and your rates if approved. Many of those conditions, however, are considered critical illnesses, i.e., stroke, cancer, and brain tumour.

What if I’m denied life insurance?

Although life insurance may be more expensive for people with epilepsy, and in some cases might not be initially available, but statistics, like those in the image below, offer hope.

We’ve helped thousands of people get quotes on term life insurance, and many of those people had epilepsy. Here are a few things we’ve learned:

• Some patients who are asymptomatic for five or more years may be able to receive reduced epilepsy quotes or a reevaluation of risk.
• Premiums are lower for those who diet and exercise or keep their blood pressure down with medication.
• Premiums are higher for those who don’t follow up with a doctor regularly.

We recommend getting a policy in force first depending on how much life insurance you will need and at a premium rate you can afford. You can then focus on improving the rating class through better control or lab results.

To truly understand how an epilepsy diagnosis might impact a person’s ability to get life insurance, let’s take a look at some real-life examples detailed in the table below.

You can see Danielle had the best outcome because her seizures happen infrequently and are being successfully treated with medication. Receiving regular follow-up appointments with her doctor also helped.

Sarah’s epilepsy is more severe, and although she had no other medical conditions and good follow-up results, her more recent seizures gave her a slightly worse prognosis.

Finally, Natalia had the poorest outcome. Her epilepsy is the most severe and her condition isn’t stable. This along with her more recent diagnosis and frequent hospital visits resulted in the decline of her application until she can stabilize her condition.

A Positive Future for Patients With Epilepsy

There is a light at the end of the tunnel for those who are suffering from epilepsy. Current research is making it possible to better diagnose epilepsy symptoms and types and determine treatments that are effective.

Advances in medicine and surgical treatments are helping epilepsy patients reduce or eliminate seizure occurrences and severity.

This is important because as advances are made, patients are able to live fuller lifestyles and reduce the occurrences of sudden unexplained death in epilepsy (SUDEP).

It’s important for insurers because the more epilepsy patients are able to experience life without symptoms, the more likely insurers will be to offer insurance and even offer insurance at standard rates.

In fact, if you’re asymptomatic, revisit your options for purchasing a term insurance policy. Why wait? Get started now by using our FREE quote tool above to find life insurance deals for epilepsy sufferers.

Is there a cure for epilepsy?

With all the different types of epilepsy, a single cure-all isn’t likely. However, surgery has made incredible advances in helping patients.

In fact, 60 to 65 percent of patients who receive surgery for epileptic seizures show no sign of recurring seizures. Surgery may seem like a last resort option. However, the surgery for helping epileptic patients is considered low-risk.

If surgery is not an option, the patients can be assured that medications used today are effective in controlling most seizures.

In some cases, both surgery and medications are necessary to prevent the recurrence of seizures.

The good news is that many patients can live comfortable lives if treatments are effective. The World Health Organization indicates that surgery and medications help about 70 percent of epilepsy patients lead normal lives.

Anti-epileptic drugs have been found to provide complete control for 50 percent of patients. For another 20 to 30 percent, seizure occurrences were dramatically reduced. The remaining 20 percent did not respond to the medications.

Even treatments such as a ketogenic diet have been found to control epileptic seizures, especially with children. Check out the video below to learn a bit more about ketogenic diets and epilepsy.

For patients trying to resume everyday life, some activities may be out of reach or come with additional requirements. Most patients diagnosed with epilepsy will need to meet special requirements before they can assume tasks such as driving.

Overall, seizures might never fully disappear, but treatment has been proven effective to manage symptoms and control seizures.

Research Is Helping Improve Patient Quality of Life

Living with the expectation that a seizure could come about at any time is difficult. In addition, many patients with epilepsy suffer from memory loss.

Dartmouth College’s Preventions Research Center has recently developed a home-based self-training and cognitive therapy (HOBSCOTCH) program. The HOBSCOTCH program paired memory loss coaches with epilepsy patients.

Patients who participated in the program received the benefit of better memory retention and reported additional benefits of more energy and focus improvements.

Aside from the HOBSCOTCH program, medical innovators are using techniques such as virtual visits to help patients who would otherwise not be able to regularly communicate issues.

However, managing your symptoms begins with you. Understanding your triggers, dietetic needs, and focusing on mental and physical health can make a huge difference.

Advances in research across technology, diet, medicine, and surgery are all making great strides in helping epilepsy patients lead symptom-free lives. All that means a better quality of life, including increased chances of obtaining life insurance for epilepsy sufferers.

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Case Studies: Getting Life Insurance with Epilepsy

Case Study 1: Danielle’s Journey

Danielle is a 35-year-old woman who has been living with epilepsy since she was a teenager. Her seizures occur infrequently and are effectively managed with medication. Danielle decides to explore her options for life insurance coverage. She compares quotes from various insurance providers and finds a policy that suits her needs.

Despite her epilepsy diagnosis, Danielle is able to secure a life insurance policy at a reasonable premium rate. Her diligence in managing her condition and regular follow-up appointments with her doctor played a significant role in her successful application.

Case Study 2: Sarah’s Challenges

Sarah, a 45-year-old woman, has been living with epilepsy for several years. Her seizures are more severe compared to Danielle’s and occur more frequently. Sarah has no other medical conditions and maintains good follow-up results with her doctor.

She applies for life insurance coverage but receives a slightly higher premium rate due to the recent occurrence of seizures. However, Sarah is still able to obtain life insurance coverage, albeit at a slightly higher cost, because of her overall good health and regular medical follow-up.

Case Study 3: Natalia’s Struggles

Natalia, a 28-year-old woman, has been diagnosed with severe epilepsy. Her condition is unstable, and she experiences frequent seizures, which require hospital visits. Natalia applies for life insurance coverage but is initially declined due to the severity and instability of her epilepsy.

The insurance company advises her to stabilize her condition before reapplying. Natalia continues working closely with her healthcare team to find the most effective treatment plan for her epilepsy. Once her condition becomes more stable, she reapplies for life insurance and is approved at a higher premium rate.

The Bottom Line

The good news about applying for term life insurance when you have epilepsy is yes, you can qualify for coverage. The bad news is the approval and rating class can be very unpredictable and subjective, but that doesn’t mean you should give up. There’s still a chance that you can get affordable quotes on life insurance.

In fact, if you follow the advice we’ve provided and, more importantly, discuss your situation with your life insurance agent or broker, you can have a positive outcome.

And remember, if you’re not pleased with the offer you receive, you can always try with another company or put the policy in force and work on improving the rating class through better control and lab results.

If you’re an epilepsy sufferer and interested in shopping rates with a new provider, get started now to obtain a FREE quote in seconds.

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