Life Insurance with Multiple Sclerosis: Your Guide to Getting Covered

Multiple sclerosis doesn’t have to be a barrier to life insurance. With the right knowledge and planning, you can still protect your family’s financial future.

While multiple sclerosis (MS) is considered a high-risk medical condition, life insurance underwriting is available with the right companies.

We show you how to find the best policies available.

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a chronic disease of the central nervous system, affecting millions, according to the MS Society.

MS occurs more frequently with women than men.

The immune system attacks the myelin (the protective cover of nerve fibers) and causes communication problems between your brain and the rest of your body.

Common MS symptoms include:

• Numbness or weakness in one or more limbs
• Lack of coordination, unsteady walk
• Tingling
• Vision problems
• Cognitive problems, mood disorders

Underwriting is more difficult for more severe symptoms.

If cognitive health issues and mood disorders progress, the types of life insurance policies available may be limited to guaranteed issue final expense policies.

We’ll ask you the following underwriting questions about your MS history in order to provide you with accurate quotes.

• What type of MS do you have?
• How many attacks per year do you have on average?
• What was the date of your last episode?
• What symptoms and complications do you have?
• Do you fully recover in between episodes?
• What types of diagnostic tests have you had? Spinal tap, MRI, Evoked Potential test, etc.
• What were the results of those tests?
• What medications do you take?
• What treatments have you received?
• Have you developed any cognitive impairments?
• Do you have any history of mental health issues?
• Do you have any other medical conditions? Heart disease, cancer history, TIA, diabetes, Parkinson’s, etc.

A major factor for life insurance underwriting is the time since your last attack.

Since there are no specific tests to detect MS, neurologists often perform tests to rule out medical conditions that may mimic MS.

Spinal Tap – a sample of spinal fluid is analyzed for antibodies associated with MS and to rule out other conditions.

MRI – An MRI is done to look for lesions on the brain.

Evoked Potential Tests – Electrical signals from your nervous system are recorded in response to visual or electrical stimuli. Electrodes measure how quickly the signals travel through your nervous system.

Life insurance companies may have you complete their basic cognitive tests as part of a paramed exam.

Something to keep in mind is that rates tend to improve as more time passes between episodes/attacks.

We may be able to get you one rate today, and if 12 more months pass with no episodes, it’s worth it to revisit the market for a better rate.

If you were to try and get the best rate on your own, you would need to apply to every company separately, answer all their questions, and wait until you receive an underwriting decision.

Instead, we use a Quick Quote process that gets underwriting feedback in about 3 business days.

A quick quote is a summary of your medical history that we shop to life insurance companies that specialize in MS.

The benefit to you is that you’ll know which companies are best before you apply.

General Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Underwriting Guidelines^{3 4 5}

Time Since the Last Attack	Possible Underwriting Offers
Less Than 1 Year	Postpone for most cases
1 Year – 2 Years	Table 2-6 Rating
3 – 5 Years	Standard – Table 5 Rating
6-10 Years	Standard – Table 3 Rating
10 Years or Longer	Standard Plus Rates, possible preferred

The best offers go to those with Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis (RRMS).

The following examples are all based on $500,000 – 20-year term life insurance with rates as of 6-28-2024

Age 35	Female	Male
Standard Plus	$338	$398
Table 2	$462	$551
Table 3	$524	$628
Table 4	$585	$705
Table 5	$647	$782
Table 6	$709	$859

Age 40	Female	Male
Standard Plus	$442	$542
Table 2	$618	$767
Table 3	$706	$880
Table 4	$794	$993
Table 5	$882	$1106
Table 6	$970	$1219

Age 45	Female	Male
Standard Plus	$677	$865
Table 2	$970	$1252
Table 3	$1117	$1445
Table 4	$1263	$1639
Table 5	$1410	$1832
Table 6	$1557	$2026

If you’ve had normal neurologic examinations, no symptoms, and long periods between episodes, a “standard plus”

Getting life insurance starts with a quick quote. This is where we summarize your medical history and shop high-risk companies for underwriting feedback.

It takes about 3 business days to hear back from all companies and at that time we can tell you what to expect in terms of price.

Once we have the feedback, we can provide you with quotes for term, universal, or whole life insurance coverage.

It’s important to remember that not every life insurance company specializes in underwriting MS.

In fact, the best life insurance companies for MS include:

AIG-Corebridge – Have not updated their MS guidelines recently, but underwriting continues to be favorable in our experience.

Corebridge uses the following severity index when evaluating applicants:

• Mild – Table 3
• Moderate – Table 6
• Severe – Table 8
• Extreme – Decline

If you’ve had a diagnosis of benign MS with no symptoms for 5+ years, it’s possible to obtain a standard plus rate with Corebridge.

Banner Life Underwriting for MS – Banner’s Dialogue underwriting newsletter mentions three applicant scenarios:

1. A 50-year-old with RRMS, no episodes in the past 10 years, normal neuro workups with recent follow-up = Standard Plus rating.
2. A 35-year-old with RRMS, diagnosed 5 years ago, one episode per year with last episode 10 months ago = Standard Plus Table 2 rating.
3. 30-year-old with PRMS, diagnosed two years ago, wheelchair bound with recent hospitalizations = DECLINE

John Hancock Underwriting for MS – Offers The Underwriting Edge and underwrites multiple sclerosis based on the severity of the disease and time since the last attack.

Underwriting uses its own proprietary severity criteria chart to assess rates, with some examples of moderate MS underwriting here:

Time Since Last Attack	Under Age 40 at Onset	Over Age 40 at Onset
0-1 year	Postpone	Postpone
1-3 years	Table 8	Table 6
3-5 years	Table 6	Table 4
5+ years	Table 4	Table 3
10+ years	2 table credit	2 table credit

John Hancock also considers the age at onset, secondary symptoms, and the rate at which MS is progressing.

The Kurtzke Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) is considered as part of underwriting.

Prudential Underwriting for MS – Prudential offers agents its Rx for Success newsletters to provide agents with guidance regarding medical conditions.

Suspected MS – If you haven’t had tests completed and there’s no current evidence of MS or treatment recommended, Prudential looks at the length of time since your last episode/attack:

• Two years or less = Table 3 rating
• Three to four years = Table 2 rating
• Greater than four years = Standard rates

We’ll make sure you get matched with the top companies based on your individual MS history.

You have questions about life insurance with multiple sclerosis and we have the answers.

If you have MS, we can help you with your life insurance.

Please take a few minutes to submit your request; we will provide accurate quotes based on your health history.