As the Wisconsin Office of the Commissioner of Insurance told us that under Insurance Section (specifically 6.54 (3) 2) of the WI Administrative Code it states no insurance company shall refuse, cancel or deny insurance on the basis of an insured's physical condition. Their representative also said that they are not aware of any state law that would require you to tell your insurer that you use a sleep apnea machine for your condition.

Wisconsin Administrative Code 112.13 notes the medical standards for all classes of operator’s licenses. Here it says in subsection c that a person who applies for, renews, or holds any classification of operator’s license shall meet all of the following respiratory function criteria:

1. The person does not require medication or treatment that interferes with safe driving.
2. There is no dyspnea that interferes with safe driving, as assessed by a physician or determined through a driving evaluation.

As you stated the WI DOT does not ask about sleep apnea for a regular driver's license but would if you were to go for a school bus or passenger endorsement. For that type of endorsement on your WI license it states (112.3 (b)5) that there must be no diagnosis of sleep apnea unless the physician or APNP indicates treatment has been successful and the condition will not impair ability to safely operate a commercial vehicle.

As you know sleep apnea is a common disorder in which you have one or more pauses in breathing or shallow breaths while you sleep. While this sleeping part of the disorder may not cause issues to a driver one of the side affects might. The side affect of sleep apnea that we are referring to is daytime tiredness.

Since a person's sleep is disrupted continuously with sleep apnea it results in poor sleep quality that makes you tired during the day. Sleep apnea is one of the leading causes of excessive daytime sleepiness.

Studies have shown that patients with severe sleep apnea have an increased risk of having an automobile accident. A number of studies have also shown that patients with severe sleep apnea are at a two to seven fold increased risk of having an automobile accident due to the daytime sleepiness issue.

If your sleep apnea is being treated CPAP device so that your sleep apnea is being taken care of and it thus is not impairing your driving than it would not normally be an issue for an auto insurance provider. The WI insurance regulator verified with us that sleep apnea is not normally something you would have to disclose to your insurance carrier anyway. If you did tell them of your condition and treatment than they should not be able to use this physical condition information to deny or cancel your coverage.

For more information on Wisconsin insurance laws contact the WI Commissioner of Insurance. To get cheap car insurance rates for Wisconsin, click here.