Sun Life (U.S.) life insurance

Overview

Sun Life U.S. is the American business of Sun Life Financial Inc., a Toronto-based insurer and asset manager chartered in 1865 whose shares trade on the Toronto and New York stock exchanges (SLF). In the U.S., Sun Life is an employee benefits company. It sells group life, disability, absence management, dental, vision, medical stop-loss and supplemental health coverage through employers, and through its DentaQuest unit it is one of the largest dental benefits providers in the country. It also owns the U.S. investment manager MFS.

Sun Life does not sell individual life insurance in the U.S. It closed its individual life and variable annuity products to new U.S. sales on December 30, 2011. The individual life premiums that put the Sun Life Financial group at #69 among U.S. life insurance groups by 2024 individual life direct premiums written, according to NAIC market share data ($286.6 million, a 0.18% share), come from policies sold before then. Those are mainly universal life, whole life and term policies issued by Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada through its U.S. branch and by its subsidiary Independence Life and Annuity Company. Sun Life keeps servicing these policies, so if you own one, it remains in force on its original terms.

History

Sun Life was chartered in Montreal in 1865 and grew into one of Canada's largest insurers, with a long-standing U.S. presence run from Wellesley Hills, Massachusetts. In December 2011, after a strategic review under new CEO Dean Connor, Sun Life announced it would stop selling individual life insurance and variable annuities in the U.S., citing poor product economics after the financial crisis.

On December 17, 2012, it agreed to sell Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada (U.S.) to Delaware Life Holdings, owned by shareholders of Guggenheim Partners, for US$1.35 billion. The deal included its U.S. fixed, indexed and variable annuities, corporate- and bank-owned life insurance and variable life. That company was renamed Delaware Life Insurance Company after the sale closed in 2013. Sun Life kept other individual life blocks and refocused on group and voluntary benefits. A former Sun Life New York company, now Delaware Life Insurance Company of New York, was acquired by Nassau Life Insurance Company in July 2023 (see Nassau Financial Group); Sun Life's support page has listed service contacts for those policies.

Since then Sun Life has built its U.S. benefits business through acquisitions:

• 2016: Assurant Employee Benefits.
• 2018: Maxwell Health, a benefits technology firm.
• June 1, 2022: DentaQuest, for US$2.475 billion. DentaQuest is the largest provider of U.S. Medicaid dental benefits, with more than 33 million members at the time.

David Healy, who ran Sun Life's dental and group benefits businesses, became president of Sun Life U.S. on September 1, 2025, succeeding Dan Fishbein, M.D., who retired in March 2026.

On August 25, 2026, Sun Life and Wilton Re agreed to form Windsor Life Re, a U.S.- and Bermuda-domiciled reinsurer managed by Wilton Re. Windsor will take on blocks of in-force life and annuity business, starting with about US$1.7 billion from Wilton Re. The partners expect to put in about US$900 million of capital, with Sun Life and Wilton Re each supplying about a third of the equity. Sun Life's SLC Management will be lead asset manager for up to US$10 billion of assets. Launch is expected in the first half of 2027, subject to regulatory approval. The deal is an investment by Sun Life in Wilton Re's closed-block business. It does not transfer Sun Life's own U.S. individual life policies.

Life insurance products

Sun Life sells no individual term, whole or universal life in the U.S. Its life insurance today is group life, including employer-paid coverage and employee-paid voluntary life, sold to employers through benefits brokers. Group life is underwritten by Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada in every state except New York, where Sun Life and Health Insurance Company (U.S.) issues it. If you leave your job, ask about portability or conversion rights before coverage ends.

For older individual policies, Sun Life still services universal life, whole life (including participating policies that may pay dividends) and term policies. Term policies whose numbers begin with SC or SU are handled by a separate Sun Life Term Center. Policyholders can still make contract changes, pay premiums, take policy loans, change beneficiaries and file claims.

Other products

Group disability and absence management, dental (including DentaQuest's Medicaid and Medicare Advantage dental plans), vision, medical stop-loss for self-funded employers, and supplemental health coverage such as critical illness, accident and hospital indemnity make up most of Sun Life U.S.'s business. Independence Life and Annuity Company remains a Sun Life subsidiary.

Buying and service

You can't buy a Sun Life individual life policy in the U.S. Employers buy group coverage through a benefits broker or consultant, and employees enroll at work. For general and employee benefits inquiries, Sun Life's number is 800-786-5433 (800-SUN-LIFE).

Owners of individual universal life and whole life policies can call Individual Customer Service at 800-862-6266 (fax 888-863-8311). Sun Life's support page lists regular mail to Sun Life, P.O. Box 219957, Kansas City, MO 64121-9957, and overnight mail to its Wellesley Hills office. Holders of SC- and SU-prefixed term policies contact the Sun Life Term Center at 877-431-7379 (SC) or 877-431-7377 (SU), or [email protected]. Policy forms, including beneficiary and ownership change forms, are on sunlife.com.

Claims

For an individual life policy, the beneficiary should call Individual Customer Service at 800-862-6266, or the Term Center for SC/SU term policies, to start a claim. Have the policy number and a certified death certificate ready. For group life through an employer, start with the employer's HR or benefits office, which reports the death to Sun Life; Sun Life's website also has submit-a-claim and track-a-claim tools. The claims guide covers the general process.

Ratings and reputation

On April 3, 2025, AM Best affirmed the A+ (Superior) financial strength rating of Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada and Sun Life and Health Insurance Company (U.S.), with a stable outlook. It assessed the group's balance sheet as strongest and its enterprise risk management as very strong. In the same action AM Best affirmed Independence Life and Annuity Company at A (Excellent), following an upgrade in February 2024. Sun Life Financial is also rated by S&P, Moody's and Fitch; check the company's investor relations site for current ratings.

Sun Life was not ranked in the J.D. Power 2026 U.S. Individual Life Insurance Study; it no longer sells individual policies.

Who it suits

Sun Life U.S. matters to two groups of people. Employers and workers deciding on group life, disability, dental or stop-loss coverage can rely on its size, A+ (Superior) rating and long record in employee benefits. Owners and beneficiaries of Sun Life individual policies sold before 2012 need to know that their coverage is still in force and serviced by Sun Life. People shopping for their own term or permanent life policy will need another insurer.

• Strengths: A+ (Superior) from AM Best, affirmed April 2025; a large, diversified group benefits and dental business backed by a major international parent; continued service for legacy individual policies; clear separate contacts for UL/whole life and term policyholders.
• Weaknesses: no individual life insurance for sale in the U.S. since 2011; group life usually ends or must be converted when you leave your employer; legacy policies split among several contacts and companies, and some former Sun Life business now sits with Delaware Life and Nassau, which can confuse policyholders.

How to contact Sun Life (U.S.)