10-second summary: If you have a neurological condition, you can usually still get mortgage protection or life insurance in Ireland. What matters most is stability, timing, and choosing the right insurer before you apply — not the diagnosis itself.
Editor’s note: First published April 2023. Fully refreshed in 2026 to reflect current Irish underwriting practice, anonymised real-world cases
If you’re reading this, something has probably already made you uneasy.
Maybe you’ve been diagnosed recently.
Maybe a bank or broker said “we’ll have to send this to underwriting.”
Or maybe you’re worried one wrong answer could quietly derail a mortgage.
That instinct is usually right.
Neurological applications aren’t automatically difficult but they are easy to mishandle.
This page sits within our wider guide to life insurance with pre-existing medical conditions, but neurological cases deserve special care because underwriting outcomes vary so widely between insurers.
What insurers actually care about (and what they don’t)
Most people assume insurers fixate on the name of a neurological condition.
They don’t.
Underwriters are concerned with uncertainty and progression:
- Is the condition stable, improving, or worsening?
- Has anything changed in the last 12–24 months?
- Does it affect work, driving, cognition, or independence?
- Is medication settled or still being adjusted?
- Are neurology reviews routine or ongoing due to concern?
When context is missing, insurers assume the worst.
Two real cases we see all the time
Case 1: Same diagnosis, very different outcome
Two clients. Both early 40s. Both living with multiple sclerosis.
- Client A applied directly through a bank-linked insurer and was accepted with a heavy 200% loading.
- She then came to us. Same medical facts, different insurer, structured submission, and got a 100% loading – in effect, she paid half as much for the same cover.
Same person.
Completely different long-term cost.
The difference wasn’t luck — it was knowledge💅
Case 2: “This should be straightforward” → declined
A man in his 30s with a well-controlled seizure disorder was encouraged to apply immediately by his bank.
The application landed with the wrong insurer, without consultant letters and at a time when reducing his meds was being discussed.
Postponed.
We eventually secured cover elsewhere, but the poor guy had to sweat it out; the cover was for a mortgage, and the vendor’s agent was constantly harassing him to sign contracts.
That stress was avoidable if he applied to the correct insurer the first time around.
The neurological conditions we most often advise on
Migraines
Assuming they’re fully investigated and stable, migraines are usually not an underwriting issue despite what many people expect.
Epilepsy
Type, seizure-free periods and medication stability matter.
Read more: Getting life insurance with epilepsy
Autism
In many adult cases, autism either has no pricing impact or doesn’t need to be disclosed at all. Problems usually come from incorrect disclosure.
Read more: Autism and mortgage protection
Head injuries
A minor concussion with full recovery is usually irrelevant. Serious head injuries with lasting neurological effects need to be handled carefully.
Multiple Sclerosis (MS)
MS is the most common neurological condition we advise on. Contrary to popular belief, outright declines are rare, but loadings vary hugely between insurers.
Read more: Getting life insurance with MS
Parkinson’s disease
Early and moderate Parkinson’s is often insurable. Severity and functional impact matter far more than the diagnosis name.
Stroke
Stroke history is underwritten based on severity, recovery, age and time since the event.
Read more: Life insurance after a stroke
Rare or unfamiliar neurological conditions
CIDP, trigeminal neuralgia, Wilson’s disease, complex neuropathies — when insurers don’t see a condition often, how it’s explained becomes everything.
The biggest mistake people make
People think honesty means:
“Tell everyone everything immediately.”
That’s not how good underwriting works.
Good outcomes come from:
- Structured disclosure
- Correct medical framing
- Choosing the insurer before applying
When to wait before applying
One of the biggest mistakes people with neurological conditions make is applying too quickly.
If your diagnosis is recent, your symptoms are still evolving, or you’re mid-investigation, hitting “apply” can do more harm than good.
In many cases, waiting a few months, completing investigations, or allowing treatment to stabilise can completely change the outcome.
I’ve seen applications go from declined to accepted simply because we paused, gathered the right reports, and approached the right insurer first time.
This is where using a broker who understands neurological underwriting matters most.
Why do people with neurological conditions come to Lion.ie
Because we:
- Have knowledge and access to the leasing insurers in Ireland
- Know what information helps and what hurts
- Discuss your case with senior underwriters at all of the providers before choosing the most sympathetic
- Don’t waste your time. If we feel cover isn’t possible, we won’t put you through an application for the sake of it.
Most brokers sell policies.
We manage underwriting risk.
Before you apply: If you’re unsure how your neurological condition will be viewed, don’t apply yet. Complete our neurological questionnaire and we’ll review your case anonymously with insurers first — no names, no applications, no damage.
👉
Complete the neurological questionnaire
Want to understand how insurers actually assess medical disclosures?
Read how life insurance underwriting works.
Written by Nick McGowan, QFA RPA APA
Nick is a qualified financial advisor and founder of Lion.ie, an independent Irish protection brokerage.
He’s been helping people with complex medical histories secure fair cover for over 15 years and was named Protection Broker of the Year 2022.
If you want straight answers (without the sales pitch), learn more about Nick here.