Sun Life Financial launches first innovative solution designed to help protect against cancer costs
Sun Life Financial launches first innovative solution designed to help protect against cancer costs
A leading stop-loss insurance carrier now offers self-insured employers additional protection against catastrophic cancer claims
Provides incentive for self-insured employers to make voluntary benefits available to their employees
WELLESLEY, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The U.S. business group of Sun Life Financial Inc. (NYS: SLF) (TSX:SLF) announced today a way for employers to better protect themselves and their employees against the costs of cancer. The new Stop-Loss Cancer rider provides an enhanced benefit for Sun Life's self-insured Stop-Loss customers who both qualify for reimbursement for a catastrophic claim due to cancer and also offer their employees a Sun Life voluntary cancer benefit.1 By linking employer and employee protection together, Sun Life aims to address more of the impact caused by cancer.
According to Sun Life research, costs related to cancer can be significant issues for employers and employees, making it a difficult challenge that millions face every year. Some key findings from Sun Life's research are:
Cancer is the number one catastrophic claims condition, accounting for 25% of all Sun Life's Stop-Loss claims reimbursements.2
Workers with health insurance who experienced cancer paid average total out-of-pocket costs of more than $6,000.3
Loss of income further increased the financial burden of a critical illness, with one-third of workers who experienced a critical illness reporting a workplace absence of four months or longer.3
"Our Stop-Loss Cancer rider offers qualifying employers an additional benefit for catastrophic claims, to provide added financial protection against an illness that has become increasingly prevalent and expensive," said Scott Beliveau, Stop-Loss Vice President for Sun Life. "Sun Life is focused on providing innovative solutions and new ways to protect our customers. We are the only carrier who currently offers this benefit to employers while also providing a separate, optional cancer coverage for their employees. At Sun Life, we are helping both employees and employers manage the financial implications of cancer."
Sun Life offers the following products designed to provide financial protection against cancer for employers, employees, and their dependents:
Sun Life Stop-Loss and Stop-Loss Cancer rider with
Sun Life Cancer insurance, or
Sun Life Critical Illness and Cancer insurance together
"Sun Life is committed to identifying new health care trends that help us develop innovative ways to protect our Stop-Loss customers and their employees from financial loss," said Bob Klein, Sun Life's Senior Vice President for Voluntary and Multiline. "The American Cancer Society estimates that over 1.6 million new cancer cases will be diagnosed this year alone. As cancer affects more and more lives every year, Sun Life is proud to offer solutions that help protect employers and their employees against serious financial loss."
The Sun Life Stop-Loss Cancer rider will provide qualifying employers with a stop-loss deductible reduction up to $10,000, depending on the size of the deductible, when Sun Life reimburses an employer for a catastrophic claim associated with cancer. Sun Life's Critical Illness policies provide covered employees with a lump sum payment ranging from $5,000 to $50,000, depending on coverage levels, upon diagnosis of a covered condition.
Sun Life's critical illness and cancer products are not available in all states. Benefits sales professionals should call their Sun Life group representative for more information. For more information, please visit www.sunlife.com/us.
About Sun Life Financial
Sun Life Financial is a leading international financial services organization providing a diverse range of protection and wealth accumulation products and services to individual and corporate customers. Sun Life Financial and its partners today have operations in key markets worldwide, including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, India, China, and Bermuda. Sun Life Financial Inc. trades on the Toronto (TSX), New York (NYSE), and Philippine (PSE) stock exchanges under the ticker symbol SLF.
In the United States and elsewhere, insurance products are offered by members of the Sun Life Financial group that are insurance companies. Sun Life Financial Inc., the holding company for the Sun Life Financial group of companies, is a public company. It is not an insurance company and does not offer insurance products for sale in the United States or elsewhere, and does not guarantee the obligations of its insurance company subsidiaries. In the United States, Sun Life Financial provides a range of products and services to employers and their employees. In the United States, Sun Life Financial provides a range of products and services to employers and their employees, including Group and Voluntary Life, Disability, Dental, Critical Illness, Accident, and Stop-Loss insurance products.
For self-funded employers, Sun Life provides a Stop-Loss product suite designed to meet customer needs including value-added services such as SunElite®, SunResources®, SunExcel®, and SightlinesTM Medical Intelligence.
For more information, please visit www.sunlife.com/us.
1 The Stop-Loss Cancer rider is available to U.S. employers that have active Stop-Loss coverage with Sun Life and have either the group insurance critical illness/cancer policy or the cancer-only policy in force with Sun Life. These coverages are available at no additional cost to the employer.
2Sun Life Financial's "Leading Catastrophic Claims Conditions" report presents an analysis of Stop-Loss catastrophic claims spanning from 2008 to 2011 from Sun Life Stop-Loss policyholders located across the U.S. with up to 25,000 employees. [May 2013]
3Sun Life Financial's "Well-Placed Fears: Workers' Perceptions of Critical Illness" white paper was based on responses from over 4,000 U.S. workers about the potential costs of a critical illness. [July 2013]
SLPC 25321 9/13 (exp. 9/18)
Sun Life Financial
Tim Stone, 781-416-2185
tim.stone@sunlife.com
KEYWORDS: United States North America Massachusetts
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