Sun Life report flags comorbidities, hospital stays as key drivers of $3 million-plus claims

• Sun Life published its annual High-Cost Claims and Injectable Drug Trends report, analyzing more than 70,000 high-dollar medical claims from over 3,300 self-funded employers.
• Secondary health conditions, long inpatient hospital stays, specialty injectable drugs, complicated surgeries, congenital anomalies, gene therapies drove claims above $3 million.
• Million-dollar-plus claims rose 46% in frequency from 2022 to 2026, signaling rising exposure for employers as high-cost treatments become more common.
• Orthopedic and musculoskeletal conditions joined cancer and premature birth as leading sources of claims above $3 million, pointing to higher severity and costlier treatment pathways.
• Elevidys was the highest-cost drug treatment at an average of $3.6 million, while blood cancers generated the largest multimillion-dollar claims at an average $5.45 million in 2025, with a single leukemia claim nearing $8 million.

Disclaimer: This news brief was created by Public Technologies (PUBT) using generative artificial intelligence. While PUBT strives to provide accurate and timely information, this AI-generated content is for informational purposes only and should not be interpreted as financial, investment, or legal advice. Sun Life Financial Inc. published the original content used to generate this news brief via PR Newswire (Ref. ID: 202605211845PR_NEWS_USPR_____NE65742) on May 21, 2026, and is solely responsible for the information contained therein.