Two people can be the same age, shop for the same face amount, and walk away with very different life insurance premiums. That is not a glitch. It is underwriting.
In mid-October, Eleos Life CEO Kiruba Shankar Eswaran explained that process in local television segments on CBS Austin’s We Are Austin and News 4 San Antonio’s San Antonio Living. Separately, East Tennessee reporting revisited a years-long fight by a widow whose $30,000 claim was denied after her husband died. Read together carefully, the two stories point to the same consumer lesson: price and payout both turn on what the insurer knows about risk, and on what you disclose when you apply.
How insurers set your price
“Life insurance is one of those where the prices are tailored to your circumstances,” Eswaran said in the CBS Austin segment aired October 14, 2026.
Underwriting is the insurer’s risk review. Companies typically weigh age, health history, smoking status, and lifestyle factors, then place applicants into rate classes. Age is usually the biggest driver. A healthier non-smoker pays less than a same-age smoker with unmanaged conditions. That is why your neighbor’s quote can look nothing like yours.
Eswaran’s News 4 San Antonio segment (October 13) made a related point many shoppers miss: a health condition does not automatically mean a denial. You may pay more. Being turned down outright is less common on fully underwritten policies than people fear. The product type matters.
- Fully underwritten policies dig into medical records, labs, and sometimes exams. They take longer. They often price more precisely.
- Simplified issue asks fewer medical questions and moves faster. The tradeoff can be stricter yes/no knockouts and higher premiums for the coverage you do get.
- Guaranteed issue skips medical underwriting almost entirely, usually with smaller benefit amounts, higher cost per thousand of coverage, and waiting periods or graded benefits.
“It really depends on the door you walk through,” Eswaran said on CBS Austin.
Shoppers who only compare the monthly premium, without comparing underwriting path and exclusions, are comparing different products that happen to share a label.
Note on the source: these Eleos appearances are promotional education segments featuring the company’s CEO. The underwriting mechanics described match standard industry practice, but they are not independent investigative reporting.
The two-year window most families ignore
Both local segments stressed the contestability period, typically the first two years after a policy takes effect. During that window, insurers can investigate whether the application left out material facts. After it, many policies become harder to challenge except in cases such as fraud, depending on state law and contract language.
“The first two years, the insurers can challenge it if they felt you have not disclosed things that you should,” Eswaran said.
Claims are often paid within days once the insurer has a death certificate and required forms, the segments noted. Delays rise when the death falls inside contestability, when the cause of death triggers an exclusion review, or when paperwork is incomplete.
That is the bridge to the second story. A denied claim is not always about a dramatic “pandemic exclusion” clause in the brochure. Often it is about what was written, or not written, on the application.
A Tennessee widow’s denied claim, without the hype
According to reporting dated October 14, 2026, from NBC affiliate coverage of an East Tennessee investigation, Brittany Coots has spent years fighting Globe Life over a $30,000 death benefit on a policy her husband, former Overton County detective Derek Sidwell, obtained in 2020. Sidwell died in September 2021 of COVID-19 and renal failure.
Globe Life denied the claim in February 2022, the reports say, citing undisclosed health history. The insurer pointed to high blood pressure, other prior conditions, and a weight discrepancy between the application and the time of death. The company refunded roughly $300 in premiums rather than paying the benefit, and in recent comments maintained that accurate disclosures were missing from the application.
Coots and her attorney argue the weight gain and kidney failure were complications of his terminal COVID-19 illness, not preexisting conditions the denial should rest on. They say they have pressed that point, including through a demand letter, and that the family is still seeking payment.
Important precision for readers: based on the published accounts reviewed for this article, the stated denial grounds were application disclosures and health history during what appears to be a contestability review, not a separate COVID-19 policy exclusion that bars pandemic deaths as a category. COVID-19 was the reported cause of death. The dispute is over underwriting disclosures and medical interpretation. That distinction matters if you are trying to learn the right lesson from someone else’s loss.
This draft does not adjudicate who is right. Insurers are entitled to investigate material misstatements. Families are entitled to challenge denials they believe are wrong, especially when illness itself changed weight and organ function. State insurance departments and courts exist for exactly these fights.
What to do before you buy, and before a claim
On the application
- Answer every health question completely. If you are unsure about a blood-pressure reading or past medication, bring records rather than guessing “no.”
- Do not let an agent “smooth” answers. You sign the application. Contested claims often turn on that signature.
- Keep a copy of the signed application and the policy. Ask for the legal company name, not just the brand.
On the policy form
- Read the contestability clause.
- Read exclusions (suicide within a set period, war, certain hazardous activities, and any disease-specific language).
- Check whether the policy is term, whole life, or a simplified/guaranteed product with graded benefits.
If a loved one dies
- File promptly with a certified death certificate.
- If the insurer opens a contestability investigation, respond with medical records and a clear timeline.
- If denied, request the denial in writing with specific reasons. File a complaint with your state Department of Insurance. Consider counsel experienced in life-insurance bad-faith or ERISA/claim disputes, depending on the policy type.
On price shopping
Get quotes from more than one underwriting path. A slightly higher fully underwritten premium can be a better deal than a cheap simplified policy that is more likely to decline you or limit benefits. Compare the insurer’s financial strength rating while you compare the monthly cost.
The Bottom Line
You and your neighbor pay different prices because insurers price different risks. Age, health, tobacco, and product type drive that gap. The same machinery that sets the premium also powers claim reviews in the first two years.
Eswaran’s TV explainers are a useful primer on underwriting and contestability. The Coots family’s fight is a sober reminder that those rules are not theoretical. Read the application you sign. Keep copies. Know your exclusions and your contestability window. That is how you protect the people the policy was meant to protect.