The long term care insurance you own provides a weekly benefit when declining health leads to a need for substantial assistance from others. The premiums you pay for this protection are adjustable and can vary based on how old the insured person was when this policy was issued and their birth sex.
Your policy guarantees that premiums won’t change for the first 5 policy years. After this period, we may increase or decrease the premium on a policy anniversary. If we change the premium, we’ll tell you in advance and the new premium will be guaranteed for at least another 5 policy years.
An increase is now required.
Why are we increasing your premiums now?
Pricing of any insurance product has the primary goal of maintaining the financial strength to pay future claims.
When premiums are adjustable, we regularly look at our experience with various factors to determine if an adjustment is necessary. These factors include:
- Morbidity – our estimates for the number and length of long term care insurance claims
- Expenses – the cost of selling and administering these policies
- Lapses – the number of policy owners cancelling their coverage
- Interest rates – the rate we earn on the premiums we invest to pay future claims.
We recently reviewed our adjustable insurance products within the context of the ongoing low interest rate environment and increased claims cost we have found it necessary to adjust in-force long term care insurance premium rates
What does this mean for your policy?
An increase is now required.
On your next policy anniversary, the premium will automatically increase. We guarantee this new premium will stay the same for a 5-year period.
Any premium adjustment doesn’t change your coverage.
We will send you a letter at least 10 weeks in advance of the policy anniversary when the change becomes effective.
We encourage you to connect with your advisor to discuss the change and any concerns you may have.
Your next steps
Review your coverage and this premium increase
As you think about this premium increase and why you purchased long term care insurance, reflect on the care you may need as you age. Research from the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association, published in A guide to long-term care insurance, shows there will be a substantial cost to provide long term care to Canadians over the next 35 years. Government health-care programs won't cover many of these costs. This reinforces the importance of being prepared with a financial plan to help cover the costs of the care you may need as you age.
Consider managing your plan and premium
If the cost of your coverage concerns you, there are options to help you keep coverage while lowering your premiums, this is called a plan change. We can help you adjust the features of your coverage.
Examples of available plan changes include reducing the weekly benefit amount, moving to a longer waiting period, or shortening the benefit payment period for your policy.
Your advisor can help
We encourage you to review your overall financial plan and discuss your options with your advisor to determine which one is right for you. Your advisor’s contact information will be included in your letter. You may also call the Customer Care Centre at 1-877-SUN-LIFE (1-877-786-5433) for assistance.
Remember, a plan change will not only lower premiums but also reduce the coverage offered by your Clarica Long Term Care Insurance policy. We want to help you make the choices that are right for you.
When you own a long term care insurance policy with Sun Life, you automatically have access to LifestageCare – a members-only website and toll-free telephone service that provides you with unbiased information about local, qualified health care and personal care providers. LifestageCare provides resources that can help you care for yourself and your family.