The new design sees the default death and TPD cover for members over 30 doubling, in recognition of the fact that most people are underinsured and rarely get around to assessing their insurance needs, let alone actually implementing appropriate cover.
However CareSuper was concerned that younger members should not have to pay for cover they don’t really need and in a unique move, has set the default cover for members under the age of 30 at 1 unit of death cover and 4 units of TPD cover. ‘While members are less likely to die in their 20s, or have dependants, we wanted to ensure that they would be well covered if they suffered an accident or illness, rendering them totally and permanently disabled.’ says CareSuper CEO, Julie Lander.
The new benefit design was developed in conjunction with IFSIB, CareSuper’s insurance broker following analysis of claims history and member research. The arrangements were negotiated with CommInsure, the Fund’s existing insurer.
Importantly, upon joining the fund, under automatic acceptance, members may elect to increase their death & TPD cover to 10 times their salary, capped at $1.5 million and to take income protection which reflects their actual salary level.
They can at any time apply for additional cover or income protection by meeting underwriting requirements. They may also fix their cover at a dollar value and pay relevant premiums as they get older.
While the majority of members are office based, for some years now, CareSuper has had three insurance scales – general, office and professional and therefore offers broad-based cover for all categories of the membership.
While it is difficult to provide exactly the right cover for individual members, we are confident that we have addressed the major issues of our membership, allowing for both over and under insurance and providing the flexibility for members to tailor their cover. Encouraging members to evaluate their needs against their cover is a further priority and our education and advice services support this goal.
For more information please visit the Insurance section of our website
