WELLESLEY, Mass., Feb. 28, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Sun Life
Financial, a leading provider of employee benefits, and Collective Health, an innovative healthcare technology company, have
joined in a strategic partnership to take the employee benefits experience to the next level for self-funded employers and their
employees in the U.S. The companies will integrate Sun Life's stop-loss offering into The Collective Health Platform to protect
self-funded employers from the cost of high-dollar claims while creating a seamless purchase, claim and reimbursement experience.
Sun Life and Collective Health also will collaborate closely on ways to better serve clients through enhanced data analytics and
risk modeling.
Industry data show that 60 percent of all people in the U.S. who get their health benefits at work are in plans that employers
establish and fund on their own. A Sun Life poll found that 40 percent of employers with traditional, fully insured plans would
consider switching to a self-funded plan. That could translate to nearly 35,000 additional self-funded employers by 2020, a
significant market opportunity.
Collective Health, founded in 2013, is powering the employer-driven healthcare economy with its workforce health management
system. Purposefully built for modern self-insured employers and their employees, The Collective Health Platform connects and
administers the entire benefits ecosystem –– health plan, benefits programs, spending accounts and employee support –– to help
companies optimize their healthcare investment and take better care of their people.
"Together, Sun Life and Collective Health will transform the benefits experience," said Dan
Fishbein, M.D., president of Sun Life Financial U.S., who has joined Collective Health's Board of Directors in an advisory
capacity. "Employers are looking for new benefits solutions built with the latest technology that bend the cost curve. Collective
Health is a pioneer in the healthcare space that is making the experience positive and easy. Sun Life shares that philosophy with
a strategy to use digital, data and analytics to develop new ways of exceeding client expectations and keep clients for life. By
combining our efforts, Collective Health and Sun Life can make a bigger, accelerated impact."
"We are excited to be working with Sun Life—their deep insights in the self-funded marketplace and their extensive
risk-management expertise are invaluable as we help U.S. employers take control of their healthcare investment," said
Rajaie Batniji, M.D., PhD, co-founder and chief health officer at Collective Health.
Sun Life is the largest independent provider of stop-loss protection in the U.S. for employers insuring their own health
plans. The first joint stop-loss offering with Collective Health will be available by mid-2018 for January
1, 2019, effective dates.
Sun Life is also supporting the partnership through an investment in Collective Health's most recent round of funding.
About Sun Life Financial
Sun Life Financial is a leading international financial services organization providing insurance, wealth and asset
management solutions to individual and corporate Clients. Sun Life Financial has operations in a number of markets worldwide,
including Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Hong Kong,
the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, India, China, Australia, Singapore, Vietnam,
Malaysia and Bermuda. As of December 31,
2017, Sun Life Financial had total assets under management of C$975 billion. For more
information, please visit www.sunlife.com.
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, Sun Life Financial is one of the largest group benefits providers,
serving more than 60,000 employers in small, medium and large workplaces across the country. Sun Life's broad portfolio of
products and services in the U.S. includes disability, absence management, life, dental and vision, voluntary and stop-loss
insurance. For more information, please visit www.sunlife.com/us.
About Collective Health
Collective Health is powering the employer-driven healthcare economy with the world's first workforce health
management system, giving employers a platform to simultaneously manage their healthcare investment and take better care of their
people. With more than 120,000 members and 30 enterprise clients, Collective Health is reinventing the healthcare experience for
self-funded employers and their employees across the U.S. Founded in October 2013 and headquartered
in San Francisco, Collective Health is backed by NEA, Founders Fund, GV, Sun Life and other
leading investors. For more information, visit https://www.collectivehealth.com.
Media contacts:
Sun Life
Cynthia Michener
781-446-2459
508-864-9532
Cynthia.Michener@sunlife.com
Devon Fernald
781-416-7151
781-800-3609
Devon.Portney.Fernald@sunlife.com
Collective Health
Nicole Colwell
925-699-3380
Nicole.Colwell@collectivehealth.com
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SOURCE Sun Life Financial