Insurance changes 1 January 2021

Important changes to your Vision Super insurance

We work closely with our Insurer (MLC Life) to regularly review the insurance we offer our members, to make sure it continues to provide you with the best-value cover and to meet changing government requirements.

Our focus is to keep fees and costs low, so you have more in retirement – that’s why your premiums haven’t gone up for some time. In the last few years many factors have contributed to insurance premiums rising across the superannuation industry, with most funds putting their premiums up – in some cases premiums have more than doubled.

MLC Life has determined that a 17.8% premium increase is required to continue to cover the cost of providing insurance to our members. The changes will be effective 1 January 2021 and are guaranteed for two years.

Why are the premiums increasing?

  • Recent government changes have had a big impact on the way super funds can provide insurance. The government’s ‘Putting Members Interests First’ (PMIF) and ‘Protecting Your Super’ (PYS) packages has meant many members of group life insurance cover have lost their insurance cover so the entire insurance pool is smaller    
  • In recent years, like many other funds, Vision Super has also experienced an increase in the number of claims being paid which has put pressure on premiums
  • More recently the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has also impacted group life insurance policies and put pressure on premiums. 

Your cover with us

For an overview of the new premiums you can check out the premium tables for Super Saver accounts, or Personal accounts. 

Below is an example of how this will affect Jessica

Jessica is 30 years old and has three units of death and total and permanent disablement cover, which for a 30-year-old is $262,500 of cover. Before 1 January 2021 she paid $4.29 a week for her cover, from 1 January 2021 she will pay $4.98.

If Jessica had fixed her cover for death and total and permanent disablement of $250,000, before 1 January 2021 she paid $0.86 per year per $1,000 of cover, which was an annual premium of $215.00. After 1 January 2021, she will pay $247.50.

Change to the definition of ‘total and permanent disability’ (TPD) and ‘income protection’ (IP)

We have also updated some aspects of the way TPD and IP are defined in our policies, to make the definitions more relevant to capacity for work. Please note that this change will be only applied to any events occurring after 1 January 2021.

Do I need to do anything?

If you have insurance, no. The new insurance premiums will apply automatically from 1 January 2021. However, now might be a good time to:

  • Review if your current cover is right for you. If you’re not sure how much you need, calculate your new premiums using our Death and TPD and Income Protection calculators (only for Super Saver Members).
  • Consider seeking financial advice before making any changes – advice on a single topic such as your insurance cover can normally be provided at no cost to you, so if you’re uncertain about how much cover you need or whether you have the right cover, please call us on 1300 300 820 or email [email protected] and we’ll be happy to help.

The new Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) and the Insurance guide will be available on  1 January 2021 at visionsuper.com.au/publications or by calling us.

We're here to help

If there is anything we can do for you, or you have questions about your insurance you can email us at [email protected] or call us on 1300 300 820 between 8.30am and 5pm Monday to Friday.

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