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.

Frequently Asked Questions

If you change your employer in most instances you can request, they pay your super into your Vision Super account. Simply fill in the Choice of Fund form and hand it in to your payroll officer.

If you have to go with your employers default super fund you may be able to keep your insurance benefits with us because your insurance cover with Vision Super doesn’t necessarily cease when you change employers (provided that you satisfy the terms and conditions contained within the relevant insurance policy).

We’d encourage you to talk to us before you engage a lawyer. Vision Super pays more than 85% of insurance claims, so the likelihood is your claim will be paid if you work with us directly, and you’ll end up with more of your money. Many lawyers advertise that they’ll work for you on a ‘no win, no fee’ basis, but if your claim is approved, they may take a large chunk of your payout – it can be around 30% of an entitlement. Our insurance team is here to help you through every step of the claims process, including all the paperwork, without having to get a lawyer involved and potentially losing money you need to pay for medical treatment or maintain your lifestyle.

Call us on 1300 300 820 and we will answer any questions and send you the required information.

Yes, you can cancel your cover at any time. Any cancellation or reduction of cover will take effect from the date we receive your request or the date you specified in your request (as long as it’s after the date we receive it). If you are replacing your existing cover with an alternative cover, before cancelling we recommend that you have your replacement cover in place first. To talk to us about cancelling a policy, please call us on 1300 300 820.

If you are thinking about changing your insurance please consider seeking financial advice before making any changes to make sure it is right for you and your needs and circumstances.

 

You may be able to get cover if you have a pre-existing medical condition. You will just need to apply to remove the pre-existing condition exclusion when you join by filling in a Personal Statement. Our Insurer will review your application taking into consideration any pre-existing conditions and general health and advise if your request has been accepted.

If your application is unsuccessful,  there will be a two-year Pre-Existing Condition (PEC) exclusion on Death and TPD cover and Income Protection cover. This means that no benefit will be paid if you are totally and permanently disabled, terminally ill or die as a direct or indirect result of a pre-existing medical condition in the first two years of your insurance cover.

You can have multiple income protection policies, and there are legitimate reasons why people choose more than one product.

However, some income protection policies prevent claimants from receiving more than a certain percentage of their gross salary while off work. What that means is you could have three income protection policies that all offer payments equalling 75 per cent of your gross salary, but you wouldn’t be able to claim the full amount from all three. You would typically be limited to a combined maximum of 75 per cent across the policies.