Sony Life Introduces Cancer Hospitalization Insurance, Advanced Medical Treatment Rider and Hospitalization Surgical Benefits Rider

March 23, 2009

Sony Life, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony Financial Holdings, announced that it would commence sales of three new products on April 2, 2009—cancer hospitalization insurance, an advanced medical treatment rider and a hospitalization surgical benefits rider. As part of its social contribution efforts, Sony Life will also revise its benefit payments for medical insurance and other policies to pay surgical procedure benefits to bone marrow donors. By expanding product lineup, Sony Life will meet a wider range of customer needs.

1. Cancer Hospitalization Insurance

1. Background

Thanks to recent advances in medical technology, it is probable that more promising cancer treatment methods are developed in the future. However, taking such medical treatments is likely to be more expensive. So as to afford such high medical costs for their own peace of mind in the future, customers may need to prepare financially.
Medical and cancer insurance that features surrender payments not only provides protection if illness strikes but also enables policyholders to plan financing by making use of surrender payments. For instance, policyholders can secure financing by taking out policyholder loans, utilizing the surrender payments, in case their actual medical care fall outside the policy's original scope of coverage, owing mainly to advances in medical technology in the future, and that they can not afford entirely from the benefits.
Therefore, Sony Life starts offering Cancer Hospitalization Insurance which provides a higher surrender payment ratio (surrender payment ÷ previous premium payments), compared to the company's whole-life cancer insurance, by limiting the scope of coverage to basic "hospitalization due to cancer" and "death directly attributable to cancer".

2. Product features

• Cancer hospitalization benefits
  The policy provides cancer hospitalization costs for as many days as the policyholder remains in the hospital expressly for the treatment of cancer that is diagnosed after coverage begins.
• Cancer death insurance payment
  The policy provides death insurance payment equal to 1,000 times the daily hospitalization benefit for policyholders whose death is directly attributable to cancer that is diagnosed after coverage begins.
• Premium payment exemptions
  The policyholder is exempt from premium payments for up to 180 days in the event of injury or severe disability resulting in illness that occurs after coverage begins, including the day on which such injury is sustained. If the policyholder is diagnosed with a permanent physical disability after coverage begins, he becomes exempt from all future premium payments.
• Non-cancer-related death
  In the event of a non-cancer-related death, the current policy reserve amount is paid to the policyholder and the contract is dissolved.
  Although policy reserve amounts are not disclosed, they are never lower than surrender payment amounts. This product has a five-year non-cancellation period. Therefore, if the policyholder dies of a non-cancer-related cause after that five-year period the policy reserve payment amount equals its surrender value.

2. Advanced Medical Treatment Rider

1. Background

Owing to recent progress in medical technology, advanced treatment methods have emerged and are becoming more commonplace. Some of such treatments are classified as "advanced medical treatments" under the public health insurance regulations and the number of people seeking such treatments is increasing rapidly in recent years. However, technology-related costs in advanced medical treatments are not covered by public health benefits. Therefore there is a case that a substantial cost burden are placed on the patient depending on the medical technologies he/she takes.
For this reason, Sony Life starts to offer Advanced Medical Treatment Rider, which covers the amount equivalent to the technology-related costs when policyholders take advanced treatments. With the new rider, Sony Life aims to create an environment in which policyholders and their families can receive the care they need, by alleviating the potential financial burden and worry of paying for effective medical treatment.

2. Product features

This rider covers the amount equivalent to the technology-related costs of any medical treatment of injury or the onset of illness developed after the period of coverage begins and that the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare certifies as an advanced medical treatment.

3. Hospitalization Surgical Benefits Rider

1. Background

Sony Life's comprehensive medical insurance surgical procedure coverage applies only to the 88 different types of surgical procedures listed on the appendix to the policy titled Surgical Procedure Benefit Multiplier Chart. Surgical procedures not listed on this chart are not covered by these policies. As specific names of every type of surgical procedure are not all provided in the Surgical Procedure Benefit Multiplier Chart, in the past policyholders could not judge from their insurance policy by themselves and had to confirm with Sony Life beforehand whether their particular surgical procedure will be covered.
For this reason, and to provide policyholders with coverage that is easier to understand, Sony Life starts to offer Hospitalization Surgical Benefits Rider with extensive coverage of surgical procedures that take place during hospitalization and covered by public health insurance.

2. Product features

Surgical procedure benefits are paid for surgical procedures conducted while hospitalized for longer than one day to treat an illness or injury. Furthermore, new benefits also include coverage for out-patient surgical procedures, as well as for surgical procedures conducted for reasons other than those for which the policyholder is hospitalized and receiving treatment.

4. Additional Benefits for Bone Marrow Donors

As part of its social contribution efforts, to reduce the economic burden on bone marrow donors and promote donor registration Sony Life will pay surgical procedure benefits to bone marrow donors.
For donors who undergo surgery to transplant bone marrow stem cells, the company will pay surgical procedure benefits equivalent to 20 times the daily hospitalization benefit.

Note: This is an English-language summary of a Japanese announcement made by Sony Life on March 23, 2009. The summary was prepared by Sony Financial Holdings Inc. solely for the convenience of non-Japanese readers.