10-second summary: High blood pressure doesn’t automatically stop you from getting life insurance or mortgage protection in Ireland. If your readings are stable and well managed, many insurers will still offer cover.
Editor’s note: This page was originally published in 2016 and was fully reviewed and updated in March 2026 to reflect current underwriting approaches used by Irish life insurers.
If you have high blood pressure and you’re applying for mortgage protection or life insurance, the first question people usually ask is simple.
Will this stop me getting cover?
In many cases, it won’t.
High blood pressure is one of the most common medical conditions insurers see. When it’s well controlled, many people are still offered life insurance at normal rates or with only a small premium increase.
The key is the stability of the condition and insurers’ assessment of the overall risk.
That said, insurers don’t all assess hypertension the same way. Which means the insurer you apply to first can affect the outcome.
Can you get life insurance or mortgage protection with high blood pressure?
Yes, in many cases you can.
Most Irish insurers will offer life insurance or mortgage protection if your blood pressure is reasonably well controlled, particularly if readings are around 140/90 or lower with treatment.
When readings are higher, insurers may apply a premium loading or ask for additional medical information before offering cover.
When assessing an application, insurers usually look at:
- Your latest blood pressure readings
- Whether you take medication
- How long has the condition been stable
- Other risk factors such as smoking, raised cholesterol or high BMI
Will high blood pressure affect serious illness cover or income protection?
It can, but the outcome is not always the same as life insurance.
With serious illness cover, insurers assess the risk of specific illnesses, such as a heart attack or stroke. Because high blood pressure is linked to those conditions, insurers may apply a premium loading or, in some cases, exclude certain heart-related claims if the readings are not well controlled.
Income protection is slightly different again. Insurers are assessing the likelihood that you will be unable to work due to illness. In many cases, well-controlled hypertension has little or no impact on income protection, although the insurer may still review your readings and medication history.
As with life insurance, insurers assess these risks differently.
One insurer may offer normal terms while another may apply a loading for the same medical history.
Which means the order you apply matters here as well.
What blood pressure is acceptable for life insurance?
The insurers look for stable, controlled blood pressure readings.
As a rough guide, readings around 120/80 are considered ideal, while readings around 140/90 may still be acceptable if they are stable with medication.
When readings rise significantly above this level, insurers usually apply a premium loading because the risk of heart attack or stroke increases.
This doesn’t mean cover is impossible, but it may affect the price.
How insurers assess high blood pressure
When you apply for life insurance with hypertension, the insurer will usually want to understand the full picture rather than just one reading.
They may ask questions about:
- Whether your blood pressure has been stable for at least six months
- Whether you smoke
- Your weight or BMI
- Your cholesterol levels
- Family history of heart disease
- Whether diabetes or other conditions exist
- How many medications are you on
If the information you provide is clear and recent, the insurer can often make a decision quickly.
Sometimes they will request additional medical information from your GP. This is called a PMAR.
Once that report is received, the insurer will review the readings and decide whether to offer standard rates, apply a loading, or, in rare cases, postpone the application.
How much extra does life insurance cost with high blood pressure?
If your blood pressure is well-controlled, you may still qualify for the standard price.
If the readings are higher than insurers would like to see, they may apply a premium loading.
This means the insurer increases the premium to reflect the higher statistical risk associated with hypertension.
The size of the loading can vary widely between insurers.
Some insurers may offer normal rates, while another insurer might apply a 50% loading for the exact same medical history.
Why the order you apply in matters
When people apply directly through a bank or comparison site, they usually apply to the first insurer they see.
If that insurer applies a heavy premium loading, many people assume that’s the best outcome available.
In reality, another insurer may assess the same readings differently and offer significantly better terms.
Over the lifetime of a mortgage, that difference can amount to thousands of euros.
That’s why many clients come to us after they’ve already been declined or offered expensive terms elsewhere.
What lion.ie does differently
When someone contacts us with a medical history such as high blood pressure, we don’t immediately submit an application.
Instead, we first speak to our panel of underwriters anonymously.
This allows us to discuss the medical details and identify which insurer is most likely to offer the best terms before a formal application is made.
That approach avoids unnecessary delays and helps ensure you apply to the right insurer first.
Which means you’re far more likely to secure the best available terms.
Next step
If you have high blood pressure and want to see what life insurance or mortgage protection might cost, the easiest place to start is our questionnaire.
Complete this blood pressure questionnaire, and we’ll review your situation and come back to you with an indication of what insurers are likely to offer.
If you’d prefer to speak first, you can also schedule a callback here.
Written by Nick McGowan, QFA RPA APA
Nick is a qualified financial advisor and founder of Lion.ie, a multi-agency Irish life insurance and income protection brokerage based in Tullamore. He’s been helping people secure fair, transparent cover for over 15 years and was named Protection Broker of the Year 2022.
If you’d like straight answers without the sales pitch, learn more about Nick here.