AustralianSuper Insurance Changes – Harsh Or Fair?
AustralianSuper and their insurer TAL are set to adjust their insurance premiums from May 30th in response to a new trend in the types of claims made during the pandemic. Depending on your age, work rating, policy, and benefit period, some of these changes may reduce or increase your weekly costs.
The amount of death cover claims made by policyholders with professional and standard work ratings has declined significantly over the past year and some of the savings will be passed onto members that satisfy these criteria. For instance, if you are a 27-year blue collar, male with basic Total and Permanent Disablement (TPD), Death and Income Protection cover and have a standard work rating, then you are positioned to put $0.05 back into your pocket per week. It is worth noting that with the drop in death claims for this category and the subsequent reduction of their weekly costs, there has also been an increase in the amount of TPD and income Protection claims that have stymied the potential for more savings.
As per the AustralianSuper website, it can be seen that between three example policy holders, Miriam 39 (female, low risk, White Collar), Lazlo 53 (male, professional), and George 27 (male, standard, Blue Collar), all would be subjected to different rates after May 30th in relation to their category. Miriam’s category of ‘Low Risk ’(White Collar) is subject to an income protection cost increase due to a hike in these claims made in the past year and therefore AustralianSuper & TAL need to cover their costs of providing benefits to these members.
These new trends in the types of claims being made reflect the anomaly of 2020 but some insurers are offering more scope around traditionally ambiguous areas such as mental health. Even prior to the dramatic spike in mental health claims being made last year, reputable providers such as Aspect Underwriting have covered this as an illness and provide assurance to policyholders that they will be covered. If the AustralianSuper insurance changes have any positive reverberations, one may be its prodding of policy holders to consider who are the more suitable insurers, as opposed to a default option.
Policy holders enjoy the peace of mind of being protected against the unexpected and there is no reason to make overcorrections in aid of keeping your costs down. Reputable providers such as Aspect Underwriting are backed by Lloyd’s and comprise a personable team of experts with their fingers on the pulse of all industry changes. As the aforementioned claim trends affect all insurers, it’s a great time to contact your insurer in the interest of revising your benefits, features, and claim period in order to tailor an existing policy to suit your current conditions.
Aspect Underwriting offers transparent and bespoke policies to ensure you’re paying for what you need and are covered against a wide range of risks.
Mike Wallis
Mike has over 25 years experience, having spent his first seven years working as a Broker at Jardine Lloyd Thomson in Melbourne and in 2002 was transferred to JLT’s Accident and Health Department in London. For four years (2002 – 2005) Mike was a specialist A&H Lloyd’s Broker and during this time developed excellent relationships with the Lloyd’s A&H underwriting fraternity. In 2006 he returned to Australia in a senior broking position with overall responsibility for Placement Strategy, including the implementation of underwriting facilities and the various authorities granted by Lloyd’s. Mike was the underwriter at two specialist Underwriting Agencies prior to founding Aspect Underwriting in 2016.
