Vision Super changes to insurance

Effective 9 May 2018 Vision Super and MLC Life Insurance have made some changes to the insurance cover offered through super. If you have existing cover, it will be even easier to manage and make claims.

This article provides a summary of these changes but for more details, please visit visionsuper.com.au/about-us/fund-information

Pre-existing conditions

Default insurance cover includes a two-year pre-existing condition exclusion which can now be lifted by going through an underwriting process to have it removed.

Increases in cover due to key life events

• Key life events are now extended to 90 days.
• The short underwriting process has been reduced to answering 5 quick questions.
• You can now apply via the insurance portal, LifeView, via your Member log in.

Transferring your insurance cover

• Where previously you had to be under 55 to transfer your insurance, we’ve extend this to age 60.
• You can now transfer your insurance even if you only want to roll over part of your account balance. However, you will still need to transfer all your insurance cover from the other fund.
• We’ve increased the amount of life/total and permanent disability insurance you can transfer to $2 million.
• We’ve increased the amount of income protection cover you can transfer to $20,000 a month.
• The short underwriting process has been reduced to answering 5 quick questions.
• You can now apply via the insurance portal, LifeView, via your Member log in.

Workplace modification expense benefit

An additional benefit which covers any modifications to your workplace to allow you to return to work. This benefit covers expenses up to a maximum 2.5 times your monthly benefit, on top of what you already get paid in income protection payments.

Interim accident cover

If you apply for an increase in your cover, while it’s going through the underwriting process we provide interim accident cover, which means you’re covered if you suffer an illness or injury due to an accident. Previously we only offered on this on income protection applications, but you’ll now get interim accident cover if you’ve applied for an increase to your life and total and permanent disability policy as well.

Maximum payment for disability outside Australia

The maximum time for which we will pay income protection benefits while you are outside Australia is 12 months. This is an increase from the previous limit of six months.

Changes to policy exclusions

The exclusion for suicide has been reduced to 12 months, and the self-inflicted infection and pandemic illness exclusions have been removed, which increases the circumstances in which a claim can be made.

Partial disability definition

Under your previous cover, to make a claim for a partial disability benefit, you had to show you had been totally disabled for nine out of 14 consecutive days. This has been reduced to seven out of 12 consecutive days.

To view the Insurance Significant Event Notice (SEN) in greater detail please visit our website at visionsuper.com.au/about-us/fund-information

If you have any questions about the changes to your insurance cover, or want to discuss your insurance needs, we’re always here to help. Please don't hesitate to contact our Member Services team on 1300 300 820. Our phone lines are open Monday – Friday, 8.30am – 5pm.