Sun Life Financial Inc. has introduced Sun Care Whole Life, asingle premium whole life insurance policy with a linked benefitthat owners can apply to long term care costs, including in-homecare, assisted living, and nursing home facilities.

Approximately 70 percent of people over 65 will eventually needlong term care, according to the Department of Health and HumanServices. Linked benefit policies can protect beneficiaries againstlong term care expenses while also providing the benefits oftradtional life insurance.

Currently available in 39 states, Sun Care whole life mayprovide a long term care benefit equivalent to as much as three toseven times the value of the policy owner’s single premium,depending on factors such as the riders selected, age, gender, andsmoking status. If the insured passes away without exercising thelong term care benefits, a death benefit goes to the beneficiaries,income tax-free. The policy also provides, for an additional fee,an optional return-of-premium feature, which if elected, allowspolicy holders to recoup the value of their original premium.

Once the policy owner pays the single premium, the policy isguaranteed to provide a benefit, either to the individual or thebeneficiaries. This offers several possible advantages overtraditional long-term care insurance, which only provides a benefitif the client makes a long-term care claim, requires ongoingpremiums to fund the policy, and provides no death benefit if apolicy owner never needs long-term care.

A recent Sun Life Financial survey of Americans aged 50 andolder details the challenge of long term care planning today.Survey highlights include:

• Nearly 60 percent of Americans aged 50and older worry about long term care costs, and don’t feelconfident that they’ll be able to meet those costs: Only 16 percentfeel financially prepared to finance their long term care.
• Despite such concerns, most peopledon’t grasp the scale of rising costs; based on conservativehistorical inflation rates, the cost of nursing home care couldrise in 2030 by more than double what they expect.
• Most Americans aged fifty and older (87percent) would prefer to receive long term care at home and betaken care of by their family, if the burden on loved ones wereminimal.
• People are willing to trade a lot tostay at home. Most Americans aged 50 and older (83 percent) wouldprefer to live in their home to receive long-term care – even ifthat meant surviving only 5 more years — rather than live in a longterm care facility and survive 10 more years.