The U.S. business group of Sun Life Financial Inc. (NYSE: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)
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