Sun Life Financial has announced underwriting changes to individual insurance and enhanced its life insurance products in Canada to include coverage for HIV-positive Canadians. The changes aim to make it easier and more convenient for Canadians to access insurance.

On top of offering insurance coverage of more than $3 million for people living with HIV; Sun Life will roll out HIV life coverage to other Sun Life markets around the world. Sun Life is also changing underwriting requirements for medical exams such as ECG, stress ECGs, oral fluid samples and urine HIV tests, which won’t be routinely required for either critical illness or life insurance. Sun Life will only need an application (no fluids or blood samples) from the majority for Canadians applying for these products.

Automatic pre-screening for type 2 diabetes

 The insurer says three quarters of its critical illness insurance clients and half of life insurance clients will benefit from these changes. Sun Life is also introducing automatic pre-screening for type 2 diabetes (using A1C test) when blood samples are required.

Kevin Dougherty, president of Sun Life Financial Canada, says the changes the changes the company is  making to underwriting and product enhancements are some of the biggest changes they’ve made over the past decade.

Innovative solutions

“We are strengthening our commitment to making it easier for clients to plan for lifetime financial security and well-being. We are focused on continuing to develop innovative solutions that help do just that,” he says.

Sun Life says by monitoring global medical advances, it was able to review underwriting requirements and make the client experience easy and helpful.

Enhanced life insurance products in Canada

With the tax exempt rule changes coming into effect on Jan. 1, 2017, Sun Life has changed its individual life insurance products to make them easier to understand.

Some of these changes include:  

• Offering clients the opportunity to have guaranteed paid-up participating life insurance policies in as little as eight or 10 years, while having protection for life
• Offering tailored universal life insurance with two new death benefit options, one targeted toward business owners and the other which gives clients the opportunity to leave their beneficiaries the basic insurance amount plus all payments made to the policy.
• Offering diversified investment account options within universal life, including access to funds managed by Sun Life Global Investments (Canada) Inc.