synergy advisor guide (mk2598e) - manulife · synergy is a unique combination insurance solution...

COMBINATION INSURANCE

Advisor’s guide to Synergy®

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Most Canadians understand the value of life insurance. And most understand how vulnerable they and their families are if they can’t work. After all, so much depends on their income.

Yet many aren’t prepared for the financial impact on themselves or their families if the paycheque stops because of a disability, critical illness or early death.1

So why don’t more Canadians protect themselves against life’s unexpected risks?

Maybe they haven’t had the right insurance solution.

That’s why Manulife created Synergy – to provide Canadians with a simple, cost-effective solution to help cover the risks they face.

1 Online research conducted for Manulife by Research House, March 7 – 15, 2011.

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Synergy is a unique combination insurance solution consisting of a life insurance policy, a disability insurance policy and a critical illness insurance policy all rolled in to one affordable and easy-to-manage plan.

Synergy is designed to provide your young, underinsured, mid-market clients with a cost-effective way to help protect themselves and their families against life’s unexpected risks during their income-earning years.

Synergy offers several sales opportunities:■■ Provide your middle-income clients, ages 18 to 50,

an affordable, three-in-one income protection solution to age 65

■■ Give your clients an alternative to creditor protection insurance

■■ Help your clients supplement their employer-provideddisability, critical illness or life insurance coverage

■■ Offer coverage for a stay-at-home spouse who may not otherwise financially qualify fordisability protection

■■ Show parents how they can help protect their children with the Synergy solution – a valuable gift for young adults just beginning their careers, buying their first home or starting a family

Plus, with Synergy, you and your clients benefit from:

■■ One risk-management conversation

■■ One illustration

■■ One application

■■ One simple underwriting process

■■ One amount to pay

Synergy. A unique three-in-one insurance solution that’s cost-effective,easy to manage and easy to sell

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Synergy underwriting starts with a life underwriting approach. In fact, with Synergy underwriting, the age and amount requirements are the same as term life insurance.

Our underwriters then do a simple review to make sure both the critical illness and disability insurance risks are acceptable.

The result? A faster, easier underwriting process for you and your clients. Exclusions apply where appropriate to make sure more of your clients benefit from the Synergy solution.

Easier disability application processMany advisors shy away from disability insurance because the application and underwriting process can be challenging. With Synergy underwriting we’ve made it easier for you to offer your clients disability coverage:

■■ No need to determine your client’s occupation class

■■ No supporting proof of income required

Our commitmentIf for any reason your client doesn’t qualify for Synergy, the discussion isn’t over. We’ll contact you to suggest other options that may be available for your client.

Innovative underwriting

TIP: The Synergy pre-underwriting checklist is a valuable, time-saving tool to help you evaluate whether or not your client should submit a Synergy application.

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The Synergy solution is made up of three separate single life, single coverage insurance policies with an overall plan summary. Since the policies are sold as a package, they cannot be separated.

■■ Your clients can purchase a minimum of $100,000 to a maximum of $500,000 Synergy amount of insurance.

■■ There are two ways to pay for Synergy: 10-year Renewable or Level cost to age 65.

When your clients buy Synergy, they get the solid protection of:

Solid protection with Synergy

Synergy’s to-age-65 disability protection offers a monthly benefit if your client can’t work in their regular occupation because of illness or injury.

There is a 90-day waiting period (180 days if your client’s income is less than $15,000).

No partial, residual or catastrophic disability benefit.

Synergy payments are waived if yourclient is on claim for disability.

Synergy’s to-age-65 critical illness insurance is based on our best-in-classLifecheque coverage. This means your clients receive most of Lifecheque’s benefits, including coverage for 24 conditions, our Early Intervention Benefit2 and the Recovery Benefit3.

Plus, they have access to a second opinion service with Health Service Navigator®.

Your life insurance death benefit is 100% of your available amountof insurance.

LIFE INSURANCECRITICAL ILLNESS INSURANCEDISABILITY INSURANCE

2 Early Intervention conditions include: chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) Rai stage 0, coronary angioplasty, ductal carcinoma in situ of the breast, papillary or follicular thyroid cancer stage T1, stage A (T1a or T1b) prostate cancer and stage 1 malignant melanoma.

3 The Recovery Benefit provides fast access to a portion of the covered condition benefit.

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At the core of Synergy’s design is a pool of money referred to as the available amount ofinsurance. Each time we pay a benefit, it reduces the available amount of insurance. Thebenefit we pay is the lesser of the benefit amount or the available amount of insurance.

Synergy offers protection until your client’s available amount of insurance is reduced to zero, or until age 65, whichever is first.

Your clients can access their available amount of insurance three ways:

THE DISABILITY BENEFIT THE CRITICAL ILLNESS BENEFIT THE LIFE BENEFIT

Your monthly disability benefit amount is the lesser of:

1) 0.5% of your Synergy amount of insurance, and

2) the available amount of insurance

The critical illness covered condition insurance benefit amount is the lesser of:

1) 25% of the Synergy amount of insurance, and

2) the available amount of insurance (less any Recovery Benefit4 paid or payable)

The Recovery Benefit is 10% of the covered condition benefit amount, up to a maximum of $10,0004.

The Early Intervention Benefit is 6.25% of the Synergy amount of insurance and can be paid more than once, but not in connection with a covered condition claim. The first Early Intervention Benefit does not reduce future benefit amounts payable5.

The life insurance death benefit amount is 100% of the available amount of insurance.

4 If the available amount of insurance is less than the Recovery Benefit, the lesser amount will be paid.5 If the available amount of insurance is less than the Early Intervention Benefit, the lesser amount will be paid.

The pool of money approach provides different benefits than owning three stand-alone products. But that’s the point. By using a pool of money, Synergy can provide solid protection at an affordable price.

Synergy’s unique pool of money approach

TIP: Typically, the greatest Synergy cost-savings are for younger clients with renewable coverage. As clients reach the maximum issue age of 50, the cost-savings are less. The illustration software can help you demonstrate different issue-age and payment-type scenarios.

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Synergy not only offers solid insurance protection, it provides your clients with additional benefits:

Disability waiverPremiums are waived if your client is on claim for disability.

Health Service Navigator®

Health Service Navigator is an integrated health informationand online resource centre offering your clients and their eligible family members access to information about the Canadian health care system and a world-class medical second opinion service.

What’s also great about Health Service Navigator is your clients don’t have to make a critical illness claim to use it–it’s available right away.

For your client’s futureSynergy expires at age 65. But we want to make sure your clients have an option to protect their loved ones into the future. That’s why Synergy gives them the option to purchase a Manulife permanent life insurance product if they have an available amount of insurance remaining when Synergy expires – with no medical underwriting required.

The amount of permanent insurance your clients can purchase without medical underwriting is limited to their remaining amount of insurance and Manulife’s minimum issue limits for the product they choose. The permanent insurance purchase option is not available if your client has received a critical illness covered condition benefit.

If your client purchases the Term Insurance rider, that coverage is fully convertible to permanent insurance up to age 65.

Your clients can customize their Synergy solution with these optional riders:■■ Term Insurance rider for added life insurance protection

(10-year Renewable to age 65).

■■ Child Protection rider (life) and the Child Protection rider (critical illness) provide additional coverage for your client’s children, up to age 25.

Value-added benefits Optional coverage

TIP: Here’s who qualifies as an ‘eligible family member’for Health Service Navigator:

1) The legal spouse or person living with the insuredperson in a role like that of a marriage partner.

2) The insured person’s natural or adopted child or stepchild (stepchild must be living with the insured person) who is:

unmarried, not employed full-time, and not yet 21 years old (or, if a full-time student at an accredited school, college or university, is under 25 years old).

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Ryan is 32 years old and buying his first home. After meeting with his advisor he decides to purchase $250,000 of Synergy.

Here’s a look at Ryan’s available benefits on the effective date of the policy, prior to any claims.

Nine years later Ryan is injured and unable to work and claims a monthly benefit on his disability insurance policy. Over the course of his time off work, Ryan receives $15,000 in disability benefits and his Synergy payments are waived.

Ryan’s available amount of insurance is now $235,000.

SYNERGY AVAILABLE AMOUNT OF INSURANCE = $250,000

DISABILITY BENEFIT CRITICAL ILLNESS BENEFIT LIFE INSURANCE BENEFIT

Available monthly disability benefit = $1,250

Available critical illness covered condition benefit = $62,5006

Available Early Intervention Benefit = $15,6257

Death benefit = $250,000




Available critical illness covered condition benefit = $62,5006



How Synergy comes together. Meet Ryan.

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When Ryan is 45, he is diagnosed with a condition covered under his Synergy critical illness policy. Ryan meets the requirements for the Recovery Benefit and receives $6,250 to help deal with the early stages of treatment. The remainder of his covered condition benefit - $56,250 – is paid to Ryan once his claim is approved.

Ryan recovers. Moving forward, his benefits still allow him to:■■ Submit another disability claim

■■ Submit an Early Intervention Benefit claim

■■ Provide a life insurance death benefit to his beneficiary with the remaining available amount of insurance should he pass away before age 65




Available critical illness covered condition benefit = $0



6 Reduced by any Recovery Benefit paid.7 The Early Intervention Benefit can be paid more than once. The first Early Intervention Benefit does not reduce the available amount of insurance, but subsequent Early Intervention Benefit payments do.

TIP: A life insurance claim closes all other claims.

When a Synergy life insurance claim is received, we stop processing any other claims and monthly benefits and process the death claim immediately.

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At every point in the Synergy sale, we have the tools and resources for your Synergy conversations. You’ll find them all on Repsource.

Prepare yourselfKey pieces to help you understand and position Synergy:

1. Underwriting handbook for Synergy (MK2536)

Includes height and weight charts and non-smoker details.

2. Synergy sample contract

Get the word outMake sure your clients hear about Synergy fromyou first:

3. Client brochure (MK2531) and mortgage protection flyer (MK2558)

Client meetingsChoose the right tools for your client meetings:

4. Pre-underwriting checklist

To help determine your client’s eligibility for Synergy

5. Infographics – two options to show your clients how Synergy fits into their insurance insurance plan in an easy-to-understand format:

■■ Synergy infographic brochure

■■ Synergy infographic PowerPoint presentation

6. Risk calculator tool (web-based)

7. Synergy client guide (MK2530)

A informative reference brochure to leave with your client.

8. Health Service Navigator brochure (MK3399)

A helpful leave-behind showcasing one example of the value-added features of Synergy.

After the saleKeep the communication strong:

9. Synergy product guide

A valuable reference tool to help answer questions about changes clients can make to their plan.

10. Policy change guide

Outlines all the information and forms you need to make a change to your client’s Synergy solution, including term conversions.

Your guide to Synergy marketing materials

TIP: Make the Synergy sale even easier by using ez-app.

Simply complete the online application, have your client sign the Signature booklet and we’ll do the rest, including asking the medical questions.

Remember to complete one ez-app and one Signature booklet for each Synergy client.

Synergy is sold by, and is a registered trademark of Manulife (The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company). Health Service Navigator® is powered by WorldCare Inc. WorldCare and The WorldCare Consortium are trademarks of WorldCare Limited, used under license. Manulife, Manulife Insurance, the Block Design, the Four Cube Design, and Strong Reliable Trustworthy Forward-thinking are trademarks of The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company and are used by it, and by its affiliates under license.

MK2598E 01/18

synergy advisor guide (mk2598e) - manulife · synergy is a unique combination insurance solution...

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