Sun RHA priced age nearest?
With Sun RHA you continue to get the advantage of age last pricing. You'll find Sun RHA rates are very competitive when compared against the key competitors in the Canadian LTCI market. Because Sun Life Financial continues to uses age last pricing, many clients may actually be a year younger on a Sun Life Financial illustration than they would be on a quote from a competitor.
Is it possible to pay premiums for Sun RHA over a shorter period of time?
Is it not available on Sun RHA. Sun RHA have lifetime premiums payable to age 100.
For Sun RHA, the waiting period is the length of time the insured person must be continuously dependent after the coverage effective date and before a claim will be paid. If the insured person's dependency begins on or after the coverage effective date, the waiting period starts on the date they first require assistance for two or more activities of daily living or the date they first require continual supervision. If the insured person's dependency begins before the coverage effective date and it continues, the waiting period starts on the coverage effective date. There are two options to choose from: 365 days (1 year) and 730 days (2 years).
What are the criteria for assessing a Sun RHA claim?
The insured person is considered to be dependent when there is a need for:
- constant supervision by another person because of deteriorated mental ability (loss of short-term or long-term memory, orientation as it relates to people, place and time, reasoning, or judgment as it relates to safety awareness), or
- substantial physical assistance with at least two activities of daily living (bathing, dressing, toileting, transferring, continence or feeding), or
- stand-by assistance to perform bathing and transferring.
Can a client make an LTCI claim when they're travelling outside Canada or the United States?
Our long term care insurance contracts state that "the insured person must be in Canada or the United States at the time a claim is made. If they are not, they must return to be assessed by a physician licensed and practicing in Canada or the United States". Therefore, if the insured person becomes physically dependent and the physical dependency continues longer than the applicable waiting period, they may submit a claim once they have returned to Canada or the US.
Can a client receive LTCI benefit payments while they are outside Canada or the United States?
We will not pay benefits when the insured person is outside Canada or the United States for more than 8 consecutive weeks. The insured person must inform us of the date of departure and when they return to their permanent residence. The insured person must return to their permanent residence for benefit payments to resume.
At the end of each 8 weeks absence, the insured person must return to Canada or the US and their dependency will be assessed as determined by us. If they do not return, benefits payments will cease until they return as required for assessment.
How much long term care insurance can one person purchase from Sun Life Financial?
The maximum weekly benefit amount for all LTCI coverage on one insured person is $2,300 per week. This applies to coverage from all sources in Canada.
Are LTCI benefits taxable? Will payment of an LTCI benefit affect a client's government benefits?
Any cash benefits from an income-style long term care insurance plan, should not be taxed when the policy is owned by and the benefit is payable to an individual.
With an income-style plan, actual medical expenses (e.g. nursing care, facility care, drug costs) may still be used when calculating the medical expense tax credit because the long term care insurance plan provides a cash benefit, not a reimbursement of expenses.
The benefit from the policy is not reported as income, so it should not impact other government benefits, but Sun Life Financial cannot guarantee this.
What is LifestageCare™? Is this similar to Best Doctors® services?
These services are not the same. Both are value-added services provided to policy owners. Best Doctors services are available for most Sun Life Financial policy owners with critical illness or personal health insurance.
LifestageCare is available to all new and existing long term care insurance policy owners of Sun Life Financial. It's an additional service provided to policy owners and is not a guaranteed feature of the product. The policy owner can access this unique service immediately after the policy is issued and without having to make a claim for benefits, as long as the policy remains in force. LifestageCare services are for the policy owner's personal use but can also be used to help any family member. The service helps families find and assess services in their own community to help with elder, child and personal care.
Click on the following link for more information about LifestageCare services.
What is the coverage effective date on Sun RHA, and how does it impact claiming for the benefit?
The coverage effective date is unique to Sun RHA. It is the date from which a claim for benefits may be submitted. It is the later of:
- five consecutive policy years from the policy date, or
- the policy anniversary immediately following the insured person's 65th birthday. If the policy anniversary is the same day as the insured person's 65th birthday, then the coverage effective date is the insured person's 65th birthday.
When the insured person's dependency begins on or after the coverage effective date, the waiting period starts on the date they first require assistance for two or more activities of daily living or the date they first require continual supervision. The claim must be submitted within 120 days of the start of the insured person's dependency.
What if the insured person becomes dependent before the coverage effective date?
If the insured person's dependency begins before the coverage effective date and continues beyond the coverage effective date, the waiting period starts on the coverage effective date. We must receive a claim as soon as possible and no later than 120 days after the coverage effective date.
- When dependency begins on or after the coverage effective date:
- The waiting period starts on the date they first require assistance for two or more activities of daily living or the date they first require continual supervision. The claim must be submitted within 120 days of the start of the insured person's dependency.
- When dependency begins before the coverage effective date and continues beyond the coverage effective date:
- The waiting period starts on the coverage effective date. We must receive a claim as soon as possible and no later than 120 days after the coverage effective date.
There are two types of Return of premium on death (ROPD) for Sun RHA. What are the key the differences?
The first Sun RHA ROPD is automatic ROPD. It is built into to the Sun RHA coverage, and there are no extra premiums to pay for this added protection.
This means that if the insured person dies before the coverage effective date and before being eligible to make a claim for benefits, we will return all premiums to the ROPD beneficiary named in writing, or if none are named, the owner of the policy or their estate.
The second Sun RHA ROPD is optional ROPD. The client must choose to add this benefit and pay additional premiums to extend their ROPD coverage for the life of the policy. This means that if the insured person dies at any time while the policy is in force, we will pay the returnable premium amount to the ROPD beneficiary named in writing, or if none are named, the owner of the policy or their estate.
The returnable premium amount is calculated as follows:
- the sum of all premiums paid for the policy including optional benefits
- minus any benefit payments made
- minus any unpaid premiums plus interest
Why is optional Return of Premium on Death (ROPD) on Sun Retirement Health Assist (Sun RHA) more expensive than ROPD on Sun Critical Illness Insurance (Sun CII)?
The reason for the difference in price is because:
- With Sun CII, we’ll pay the benefit amount or the returnable amount, but not both.
- With Sun RHA, we can pay benefits and still pay the returnable premium amount.
With Sun RHA’s optional ROPD benefit, we’ll pay the returnable premium amount to the named ROPD beneficiary (or their estate) if the insured person dies while the policy is in force.
When this happens, the returnable amount equals:
- all premiums paid,
- minus any unpaid premiums + interest,
- minus any benefit payments made.
This means that in some cases the estate will receive the balance of premiums paid, even when we’ve paid benefits.
Clients can add optional ROPD at time of application only. This optional benefit extends the ROPD beyond the coverage effective date.
The optional ROPD guarantees that all money paid into the plan will be paid out in some form. It provides added estate protection for the Client.
Should I sell Sun RHA in combination with Sun CII?
Sun RHA, with a two year waiting period, is a very cost effective way to add long-term care protection to existing critical illness insurance (CII) coverage - especially for those clients deciding whether to keep their CII coverage in retirement. The CII lump sum benefit can be used to deal with the immediate impact of an illness and the Sun RHA benefit is then available to help with any lingering dependencies that result from the illness.
Can the Long term care conversion option on Sun CII be converted to Sun RHA?
Yes - because the Sun RHA benefit period is unlimited, it qualifies as a product offering under the Long term care conversion option on Sun CII.
What is the commission for Sun RHA?
For IID commission rates, refer to Broker (MGA) Commission Schedule on Suncentral.