Juno launches first child disability product in the U.S.

By Susan Rupe

Snaebjorn (Snae) Gunnsteinsson grew up in Iceland and received a Ph.D. in economics at Yale University. While he was working as a university professor, his sister-in-law in Iceland gave birth prematurely to a baby boy weighing only 1 ½ pounds.

The baby spent four months in a NICU. But unlike in the U.S., Iceland provided financial support to Gunnsteinsson’s brother and sister-in-law so they could take time off from work and be with their son.

When Gunnsteinsson was preparing to become a father himself, he sought an insurance policy that would protect his family if his child were disabled, and found nothing available in the U.S. He met Jordan Epstein, an experienced entrepreneur and a new father of a baby boy. The two men decided there was a need for a product that would support families in the event of a child’s illness or disability.

After five years of development, they created Juno, the first-of-its-kind child disability insurance in the U.S. The company began selling coverage this year as a workplace benefit in companies of 200 or more workers. Benefits brokers can offer Juno to their employer clients, and employers either can offer the coverage as a voluntary benefit or can pick up some or all of the premium costs for their workers.

The company is named for the mother of the Roman gods, Juno. Juno is the only mother of a child with a disability in Roman mythology.

Juno directly pays covered families cash benefits of up to $500,000, typically over a period of several years. The benefits can be used for anything from hiring caregiving support to installing home modifications to paying for treatment that traditional medical insurance doesn’t cover.

Child disability is the largest uncovered financial risk parents face, often resulting in more than $1 million in out-of-pocket costs and lost wages, said Hall Kesmodel, Juno’s managing director.

“From the research that our founder did, we knew that this is a significant problem, a financial wellness problem, a career issue for parents and particularly for working mothers,” he said. “We knew that nobody had built a product or had thought of building a product, and we learned that people would buy it.”

Along with cash benefits, Juno provides covered families with one-on-one guidance to help them apply for state and federal programs, find peer groups, identify caregivers and plan for the future.

Juno child disability insurance covers severe illness, disability and injury in children. Included in the list of covered conditions are cancer, genetic conditions such as Down syndrome and Rett syndrome, and severe cases of autism, cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, injury and more than 7,000 rare diseases that affect children.

The company also donates 2% of every premium to help children and families, Kesmodel said. Juno donates to organizations that research childhood disabilities and diseases, as well as those that directly help families caring for children who are ill or have a disability.

Susan Rupe is managing editor for InsuranceNewsNet. She formerly served as communications director for an insurance agents' association and was an award-winning newspaper reporter and editor. Contact her at [email protected]. Follow her on X @INNsusan.