How to personalise your insurance

Income protection insurance may help eligible members to maintain the lifestyle you've built for yourself and your loved ones by paying you a weekly benefit if you are unable to work due to serious illness or injury.

To personalise your income protection insurance, you may change:

• How much you're insured for (up to set limits)
  While income protection products typically only protect 75% of your income, QSuper offers up to 87.75%, which includes a payment into your QSuper account.² This means that if you're unable to work, you can still cover everyday living expenses and continue to grow your super.
• How long before you receive payments (your waiting period)³
  If you make a claim and it is approved, your income protection payments will start as early as 90 days after the date you can't work because of illness or injury. If 90 days is too long and you don’t have enough sick leave or cash in the bank to meet expenses until your wait period is over, you might want to reduce your waiting period to 30 or 60 days. If you shorten your waiting period, you have to wait the length of your previous waiting period before your new waiting period applies to a claim.
• How long you'll be paid (your benefit period)³
  If you get sick or injured, eligible members can receive payments for up to two years, giving you time to recover and focus on your health. This is known as a benefit period. You can change your benefit period to receive payments for up to five years or until you reach age 65.
• How much you pay based on your current job (occupational rating)
  You may be paying more than you need to. If you're currently working in a role that's considered to be a lower risk, your occupational rating could mean you pay less for your insurance.
  Members pay for insurance at our applicable default rates unless you review your cover and advise whether you fall into the standard, professional, white collar or high-risk rate.

Life insurance pays a benefit if you die or suffer from a terminal illness, while TPD cover pays a lump sum to you if you are unlikely to ever be able to work again after meeting the definition of total and permanent disablement.

To personalise your Life or TPD insurance, you may change:

• How much you're insured for (up to set limits)
  Life and TPD cover comes in units of cover, with each unit worth a dollar value based on age. You can apply to buy additional units up to the maximum levels of cover of $3 million ($1 million if you are a casual employee or unemployed). There are some conditions around increasing your cover.
• How much you pay based on your current job (occupational rating)
  You may be able to change the amount you pay for your insurance by occupationally rating yourself. If you personalise any of your cover, all your premiums will be payable at the relevant occupational rate.
• Whether your cover is 'fixed' so the dollar amount doesn't change unless you request it 
  Fixed cover is based on a fixed dollar amount nominated by you and will remain unchanged until you want to change it. You can switch between fixed cover and unitised cover at any time, although you must always switch both life insurance and TPD cover at the same time.