Sun Life Financial has introduced a flexible set of voluntary group disability insurance options, including Voluntary Short Term Disability (VSTD) and Voluntary Long Term Disability (VLTD) for workers.
According to life insurer, the policy has been developed to fulfill the diverse financial needs of the US workforce and comes with an duration benefit option, which determines the benefit term for a qualifying disability.
A study points out that medical problems contribute to half of all personal bankruptcies and home foreclosures in the US, 65 million full-time workers do not have access to group long-term disability insurance.
Sun Life's US voluntary benefits division vice president Bob Klein said, "Voluntary Short Term Disability (VSTD) and Voluntary Long Term Disability (VLTD) allows employers to give millions of workers the chance to gain short-term and long-term disability coverage at group rates, tailor-made to their wallets, and without increasing their employer's overhead costs."
The underwriter has given the freedom to employees to select either a dollar amount, or a percentage of salary to replace a portion of income in case of disability, or an elimination period, which defines how soon a claimant would receive a benefit after the start of disability.
Sun Life's US employee benefits group division senior vice president and general manager Michael Shunney said that the recent study suggests that many workers don't protect themselves against the risk of long-term disability even when they have the chance to purchase group coverage.
"So we've decided to do more than release a suite of versatile workplace benefits. We're offering educational resources that help workers learn about their risks and take prudent action to protect themselves and their families, Shunney added.
Sun Life Financial offers a wide array of protection and wealth accumulation products and services to individuals and corporate customers and operates in key markets worldwide, including Canada, the US, the UK, Ireland, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, India, China, and Bermuda.