Sun Life and Collective Health kick off partnership to deliver innovative benefits products for self-funded U.S. employers

WELLESLEY, Mass., Feb. 28, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Sun Life Financial, a leading provider of employee benefits, and Collective Health, an innovative healthcare technology company, have joined in a strategic partnership to take the employee benefits experience to the next level for self-funded employers and their employees in the U.S. The companies will integrate Sun Life's stop-loss offering into The Collective Health Platform to protect self-funded employers from the cost of high-dollar claims while creating a seamless purchase, claim and reimbursement experience. Sun Life and Collective Health also will collaborate closely on ways to better serve clients through enhanced data analytics and risk modeling.

Industry data show that 60 percent of all people in the U.S. who get their health benefits at work are in plans that employers establish and fund on their own. A Sun Life poll found that 40 percent of employers with traditional, fully insured plans would consider switching to a self-funded plan. That could translate to nearly 35,000 additional self-funded employers by 2020, a significant market opportunity.

Collective Health, founded in 2013, is powering the employer-driven healthcare economy with its workforce health management system. Purposefully built for modern self-insured employers and their employees, The Collective Health Platform connects and administers the entire benefits ecosystem –– health plan, benefits programs, spending accounts and employee support –– to help companies optimize their healthcare investment and take better care of their people.

"Together, Sun Life and Collective Health will transform the benefits experience," said Dan Fishbein, M.D., president of Sun Life Financial U.S., who has joined Collective Health's Board of Directors in an advisory capacity. "Employers are looking for new benefits solutions built with the latest technology that bend the cost curve. Collective Health is a pioneer in the healthcare space that is making the experience positive and easy. Sun Life shares that philosophy with a strategy to use digital, data and analytics to develop new ways of exceeding client expectations and keep clients for life. By combining our efforts, Collective Health and Sun Life can make a bigger, accelerated impact."

"We are excited to be working with Sun Life—their deep insights in the self-funded marketplace and their extensive risk-management expertise are invaluable as we help U.S. employers take control of their healthcare investment," said Rajaie Batniji, M.D., PhD, co-founder and chief health officer at Collective Health.

Sun Life is the largest independent provider of stop-loss protection in the U.S. for employers insuring their own health plans. The first joint stop-loss offering with Collective Health will be available by mid-2018 for January 1, 2019, effective dates.

Sun Life is also supporting the partnership through an investment in Collective Health's most recent round of funding.

About Sun Life Financial
Sun Life Financial is a leading international financial services organization providing insurance, wealth and asset management solutions to individual and corporate Clients. Sun Life Financial has operations in a number of markets worldwide, including Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, India, China, Australia, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia and Bermuda. As of December 31, 2017, Sun Life Financial had total assets under management of C$975 billion. For more information, please visit www.sunlife.com.

Sun Life Financial Inc. trades on the Toronto (TSX), New York (NYSE) and Philippine (PSE) stock exchanges under the ticker symbol SLF.

In the United States, Sun Life Financial is one of the largest group benefits providers, serving more than 60,000 employers in small, medium and large workplaces across the country. Sun Life's broad portfolio of products and services in the U.S. includes disability, absence management, life, dental and vision, voluntary and stop-loss insurance. For more information, please visit www.sunlife.com/us.

About Collective Health
Collective Health is powering the employer-driven healthcare economy with the world's first workforce health management system, giving employers a platform to simultaneously manage their healthcare investment and take better care of their people. With more than 120,000 members and 30 enterprise clients, Collective Health is reinventing the healthcare experience for self-funded employers and their employees across the U.S. Founded in October 2013 and headquartered in San Francisco, Collective Health is backed by NEA, Founders Fund, GV, Sun Life and other leading investors. For more information, visit https://www.collectivehealth.com.

Media contacts:
Sun Life
Cynthia Michener
781-446-2459
508-864-9532
Cynthia.Michener@sunlife.com

Devon Fernald
781-416-7151
781-800-3609
Devon.Portney.Fernald@sunlife.com

Collective Health
Nicole Colwell
925-699-3380
Nicole.Colwell@collectivehealth.com

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SOURCE Sun Life Financial