Guide
Health classes explained
Understanding the rate tiers—Preferred Plus, Preferred, Standard Plus, and Standard—and what determines your placement.
Insurance companies organize term coverage into rate classes to price policies. While terminology varies by carrier, the ranking is the same: Preferred Plus (sometimes Super Preferred or Preferred Best), Preferred, Standard Plus, and Standard, with additional markups for substandard risk. Tobacco and nicotine users occupy a separate tier at elevated rates.
What underwriters look at
Your build, blood pressure and cholesterol, any close relatives with early heart disease or cancer, your driving history, medications you take, your job and pastimes, and any tobacco or nicotine use. Achieving the best tier requires favorable results in nearly everything; Preferred is slightly more forgiving; Standard Plus and Standard accommodate well-managed conditions like controlled high blood pressure.
How to use the quote tool
When answering the health question, be candid about your own assessment: Excellent health typically leads to Preferred Plus quotes, Very good to Preferred, Good to Standard Plus, and Average to Standard. These quotes assume your stated tier; the actual class emerges during the carrier's underwriting review. If you're uncertain, run quotes at two different levels to compare, then trust the underwriter's final determination. Picking a rosier category than fits won't reduce your actual premium—it only makes the estimate misleading.
Susman Insurance Agency knows which carriers have more flexible guidelines for certain health situations, which can matter more than chasing the lowest base rate.