How does the life insurance industry takes an extra look at applicants who have sleep apnea? What are the consequences of declaring sleep apnea when getting life insurance?

You will have to declare no matter what.

You may get a loading (asked to pay extra premiums of about 10-50%), or some exclusions. Remember that extra premiums just means that you have a higher probability of claiming from your policy during the term of cover or at an earlier age than your cohort.

But I'm quite sure it's not serious enough to be rejected.

Hi Anonymous,

There are different degrees of sleep apnea severity with some requiring CPAP devices. The score on your sleep test is crucial to the insurer.
I don't know your condition yet but I've a similar case to share. Doctors did not say the sleep apnea was life threatening and surgery was recommended but not crucial. However, the insurer viewed otherwise and there was a 150% loading on the application. After careful considerations on costs, we did not proceed further on the application.

To get further advice on your application, perhaps do a preliminary underwriting (which is a simple non-binding enquiry with insurer) with your sleep test score. If the feedback is good then we do an application.

I've more insurance articles and can be reached here at https://www.facebook.com/TheAstuteParent/ . Alternatively consult any independent financial planner to consider applications with multiple insurers as loading on your policy can defer from insurer to insurer. Good luck.