The US division of Sun Life Financial has introduced Retro Disability Benefits, which provides extra financial benefits for seriously ill or injured employees.
Only the Sun Life Financial companies offer this benefit, which is now included in all new Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada group long term disability contracts.
Typically, long-term disability (LTD) plans have an elimination period when benefits are not paid. Now, with Retro Disability Benefits, if an employee was continuously hospitalized for 14 days or more at the onset of total disability, and is approved for LTD benefits, Sun Life will retroactively pay that claimant his or her LTD benefits from the first day the claimant was deemed totally disabled.
The Retro Disability Benefit is paid to the claimant as a lump sum, and there are no offsets for earnings, sick pay or other insurance benefits.
Scott Beliveau, vice president of multi-line products business at Sun Life Financial, said: As a national leader in the Medical Stop-Loss market, our data confirms that more than 90% of Stop-Loss claims we pay are a result of a hospital stay of 14 days or more. Employees in this situation need extra financial support, especially in today’s environment of high health care costs.