Insurance companies do not underwrite the same way. One is generous about build and hard on cardiac history. Another has a genuinely better program for well-managed diabetes. A third is the only place a cigar smoker gets treated reasonably. None of them publish this in a way a consumer can use.

An agent who represents one company can only ever show you that company’s answer. I hold appointments with New York Life and more than twenty-five other carriers, so before anything is submitted I can look at where your particular history is likely to be received best and start there. On the same person, that difference is often the difference between a standard rating and a preferred one — and that is real money every year for the life of the policy.

If you already have coverage: replacing an existing policy is sometimes right and often wrong. Any recommendation to replace comes with a written side-by-side comparison and the state-required replacement forms, so you can see exactly what you would be giving up. Frequently the honest answer is to keep what you have.