Sun Life raises limit for non-medical life insurance coverage to $5 million

Sun Life Financial Inc. is relaxing underwriting requirements for life insurance, boosting its non-medical coverage limit to $5 million for Canadian adults 40 and under.

The new underwriting rules mean roughly three in four clients may not need lab tests to apply for life insurance, Sun Life said Monday in a release. The previous coverage limit for Canadians aged 18–40 without medical exams was $2 million.

When the Covid-19 pandemic struck last year, disrupting access to lab tests and medical exams, many insurers loosened underwriting requirements to allow for higher life insurance coverage without providing vitals or fluids. The limit at many providers before the pandemic was around $1 million.

Advanced use of data and artificial intelligence are making it possible for insurers to offer higher limits for non-medical underwriting. Some insurers have struggled to sell products to younger consumers accustomed to making frictionless online purchases.

In a release on Monday, Sun Life said predictive models have helped the firm identify risks that used to require health tests.

“Our goal is to create an insurance experience that is simple, fast and worry-free for all Canadians,” said Norm Leblond, vice-president, chief underwriter and claims risk officer with Sun Life, in a statement. “By using advanced analytics, we’re able to identify whether clients need lab exams for their life insurance applications.”

Mark Burgess

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Mark was the managing editor of Advisor.ca from 2017 to 2024.