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Insurance disclosures

more information found here The information on this web page forms part of the AvSuper Product Disclosure Statement and AvSuper Corporate Product Disclosure Statement (both dated 1 February 2012). You can print this page or bookmark it for future reference.

Like all insurance, AvSuper insurance is offered under a series of terms and conditions. For all AvSuper insurance, you must be an AvSuper member and have an account balance of at least $1,200 or be receiving regular superannuation guarantee contributions into your AvSuper account. Refer to your PDS for general information about your insurance options.

Please refer to all of the following terms and conditions when making decisions about your AvSuper insurance cover. Payment of any insurance claim is subject to these terms and conditions so it is important that you read and understand them.

Note that additional loadings, rules, health evidence requirements and exclusions may apply for individual members' circumstances.

eligibility rules when cover ends when cover starts duty of disclosure

income protection terms life changes cover terms transfer of cover terms

total & permanent disablement (TPD) total & temporary disablement (TTD)

For all premiums associated with AvSuper insurance, please refer to our insurance premium tables

Eligibility for AvSuper insurance

For all AvSuper insurance, you must be an AvSuper member and have an account balance of at least $1,200 or be receiving regular superannuation guarantee contributions.

For death only cover you must be under age 70.

For death and TPD cover, you must be under age 65.

For Corporate cover:

You must be a Corporate member (i.e. you currently work for Airservices or CASA), and
Your full superannuation guarantee contributions are paid to AvSuper
You join AvSuper within six months of starting with your Corporate employer

For Automatic cover, you must be working for an AvSuper employer⁶ when you join AvSuper and meet all voluntary cover criteria.

For income protection cover, you must be working at least 15 hours a week when you apply for this cover. You must be under 60 (short term) or 65 (long term).

If you have previously claimed (or been eligible to claim) a TPD from any super fund or life insurance policy, you can only apply for Death cover.

You should note that the availability and amount of cover you receive in a claim may be affected by factors such as:

deliberately causing or aggravating your disablement or death
failing to undergo tests and treatement
failing to provide requested or relevant information
a war or invasion involving Australia or your country of residence, whether declared or not
you commencing service with any armed forces

When cover starts

Providing you are eligible, Corporate or automatic insurance cover usually commences on the first day of your employment and voluntary cover starts when our insurer accepts your application in writing. However, if you are not actively at work¹ on the day you join AvSuper you will not have insurance cover until the first day after you start work.

If you apply for additional cover above your default cover, health evidence may be required and will start from the date the insurer agrees in writing to that extra cover.

Interim cover is provided while your application for voluntary cover or corporate cover above the automatic acceptance level (AAL) is being processed.

When cover ends

Your death and TPD cover will generally cease on the earliest of the following events:

you become entitled to the payment of a Death or TPD Benefit
you reach age 60 (Corporate cover), 65 (voluntary death & TPD cover) or 70 (voluntary death only cover)
you commence active duty with the armed forces of any country
you leave AvSuper
the insurance policy held by the Trustee is terminated or cancelled (in which case you will be given appropriate notice)

Income Protection Cover ceases on the earliest of the following events:

you reach age 60 (long-term protection)
you reach age 65 (short-term protection)
you choose to opt out or change your type/level of cover
your accumulation balance falls below $1,200
you cease to be a member of AvSuper
the policy is terminated by the Trustee or is cancelled by the insurer, in which case you will be given appropriate notice
the date you commence active duty with the armed forces of any country.

The following additional insurance cessation rules also apply

Your Corporate TTD insurance cover will cease if you’re accepted for income protection cover
Voluntary insurance cover will cease if you choose to opt-out or cancel it.
Corporate cover ends 30 days after you cease Airservices/CASA employment unless you maintain a minimum $1,200 balance with AvSuper (when voluntary premiums will apply and you may adjust the level of cover)

Other income protection terms

There are some limitations on the cover. It is important to note that payments of claims may be reduced by other disablement payments such as workers’ compensation, Centrelink payments and other insurance payments.

A maximum of $25,000 a month is covered which includes up to 75% of your salary and an optional further payment of 10% of your salary to maintain your super contributions while you are not working.

No Income Protection is payable if the event giving rise to the claim is caused directly or indirectly by:

war, or act of war
an insured member’s intentional self-inflicted act, or
events related to pregnancy

Payments will cease after six months (or longer if the insurer agreed in writing) of you being out of Australia. They may recommence when you return to Australia.

The insurer may also reduce or refuse to pay out any claims:

while you are imprisoned
if you do not comply with the insurer’s claim requirements
if you do not advise the insurer at the time a disability starts

Total and permanent disablement (TPD) definition

Total and permanent disablement (TPD) means the inability for you to work under one or more of the conditions listed below.

If you are under 65 and working more than 15 hours a week within the six months prior to suffering an injury or illness and, as a result of that injury or illness, you:

are unable to work for six consecutive months; and determined by us at the end of that six month period, to be unlikely to ever resume your previous occupation or any other occupation²
suffer the permanent loss of the use of two limbs or the sight in both eyes, or one limb and the sight in one eye
suffer cognitive loss

Members not gainfully employed at the time must satisfy part 2 or 3 above or suffer an Injury or Illness that wholly prevents them from performing two of the Activities of Daily Living³ without the assistance of someone else for at least 6 consecutive months, are unlikely to ever do so again, and are under the regular care of a doctor for the illness or injury.

‘Cognitive loss’ means a total and permanent deterioration or loss of intellectual capacity which requires you to be under the continuous care and supervision by another adult person for at least six consecutive months and at the end of that six month period, you are likely to require permanent ongoing continuous care and supervision by another adult.

What is a Total Disability?

If you have income protection cover, Total Disability means, solely as a result of injury or illness, for two years you are

incapable of performing one or more duties of your usual occupation necessary to produce income, and
following the advice of a qualified medical practitioner, and
not engaged in any occupation (whether for reward or not).

Beyond two years, you must be unable to perform duties of your occupation or any other occupation for which you are reasonably capable of performing by reason of education, training or experience.

If you are classed as a heavy blue collar worker, to maintain a claim beyond five years, you must be unable to perform at least two Activities of Daily Living³ without the assistance of someone else.

Total and temporary disablement (TTD)

Corporate insurance cover may also provide you with an income maintenance benefit known as total and temporary disablement (TTD) cover. You may be eligible to receive TTD payments if you are determined to be totally and temporarily disabled.

The amount payable is calculated as 65% of your gross salary⁴ up to a maximum of $25,000 per month. Your premium is waived while you are receiving TTD payments. Payment commences after 180 days from the date of disablement, and is reduced by other disablement payments such as workers’ compensation, Centrelink payments and other insurance payments. TTD cover ends if you get AvSuper income protection.

Any payments made to you by TTD reduces your TPD benefit.

Total and temporary disablement (TTD) – An injury or illness, confirmed by a Medical Practitioner, that stops you performing one or more duties of your usual income producing occupation. You can not be engaged in any occupation at that time.

Any TTD payments you become eligible for will cease once you:

have received payments for 12 months
are no longer TTD
have a TPD claim accepted⁵
die, or
reach 60 years of age

Life Changes cover terms

Eligible events include becoming a parent, getting married, buying a house, getting divorced and starting a child at private secondary school. Each type of event can only be used for life changes cover once per member.

If you experience an included major life event you must meet the following conditions to qualify for an automatic increase in cover:

submit a completed life changes form within 60 days of the event
have existing AvSuper insurance cover
no loadings, exclusions or restrictions apply on existing cover
have not been refused life insurance cover in the past by any insurer
provide relevant evidence to verify the event (as indicated on the form) - ensure all evidence is provided as a certified copy of the original
have an AvSuper accumulation or income stream account (members with only a defined benefit account must open an accumulation account)
be under 55 years
have not accepted a Life Changes increase within the previous twelve months
have accepted Life Changes cover increases less than 3 times in the past

You can choose to increase your current cover by one or two units of this pre-approved cover; additional units require an application for more cover. The same terms and conditions (including premium rates) apply to the additional units as per your existing cover.

The additional cover and premiums will apply from the date AvSuper receives your completed form and certified evidence. In the first six months, the additional units will only cover accidents.

Transfer of insurance cover terms

You may be able to transfer any existing super-based insurance cover to AvSuper when rolling in your super savings - without providing further health evidence.

To transfer any old insurance cover to AvSuper, you must

also transfer any super savings from the old fund to AvSuper
complete an AvSuper Transfer Insurance Form
already have AvSuper insurance
work for an AvSuper employer⁶
your old Fund must have been an employer default fund for you

AvSuper may accept your transfer even if you have specific restrictions, loadings, conditions or exclusions associated with your old cover. However, these requirements will also apply to your AvSuper cover unless the insurer waives this in writing.

Duty of Disclosure

As part of applying for insurance cover, you have a duty under the Insurance Contracts Act 1984 to tell the insurer every matter that you know, or could reasonably be expected to know, is relevant to the insurer’s decision whether to accept your application and, if so, on what terms.

Your duty of disclosure continues until the insurer has assessed and accepted your application for new or increased insurance cover.

You have a duty to disclose such matters to the insurer before you change your insurance cover or apply for new cover. Your duty, however, does not require disclosure of a matter that:

diminishes the risk to be undertaken by the insurer
is of common knowledge
the insurer knows, or in the ordinary course of business, ought to know or
the insurer has waived.

Non-disclosure

If you fail to disclose something that would have stopped the insurer agreeing to insuring you on any terms, the insurer may avoid the contract within three years of entering into it. If your non-disclosure is fraudulent, the insurer may avoid the contract at any time.

Instead of avoiding a contract, the insurer may choose to reduce the sum that you have been insured for within three years of starting the contract. The reduced sum will be based on a formula that takes into account the premium that would have been payable if you had disclosed all relevant matters to the insurer.

AvSuper's insurance is provided by Hannover Life Re (the Insurer) ABN 37 062 395 484

¹ Actively at work means you are:

Carrying out the specific duties you are employed to carry out
Not on paid sickness/injury leave
Able to perform your duties on a full time basis (even if you are a part time or casual worker)

² Any occupation you may be reasonably suited to by your education, training or experience.
³ Activities of daily living are bathing, dressing, feeding, toileting and mobility (using a chair or bed).
⁴ Your salary is provided to AvSuper by your employer when you commence employment and at 30 June each year for accumulation members and on your birthday for defined benefit members.
⁵If your TPD claim is subsequently accepted, the TPD Benefit payable is reduced by any TTD payments made for the same condition.
⁶ AvSuper employers are those who have chosen AvSuper as their default super fund for employees who don’t make a choice of fund. There are no employer fees or complicated forms so why not ask your employer to become an AvSuper employer if they aren’t already?