The last year has been a tumultuous one for the financial services industry, weathering Parliamentary Inquiries and the Royal Commission, which has brought necessary attention to default insurance, or insurance inside super.
With the spotlight on the category, growing debate among policymakers, and reforms that will impact members cover, you might expect public awareness of insurance inside super to have increased, but in fact its remained flat.
Our second annual Insurance Inside Super Research shows fewer working Australians are aware they have access to Death, Total Permanent Disablement (TPD) and Income Protection (IP) cover through their super fund, and even fewer know what cover they have. In reality they’re likely to have cover, but are just not aware of what cover they have.
We know insurance inside super is built-in protection that serves an incredibly important purpose and has been a safety net for many Australians when the unexpected occurs. We want Australians to know it exists, why it exists and to be confident to make choices about their cover.
Super funds play a significant role in the relationship members have with their insurance inside super. Many members first find out about their cover via their fund, and have a lot of trust in their fund to help them navigate the cover they need. We need to do more to ensure members are informed about insurance inside super as opposed to “discovering” they have this type of insurance.
MetLife works closely with super fund partners, to help members understand that insurance inside super exists and the cover they have. But more needs to be done to ensure Australians are aware of the benefits, are actively thinking about the cover they need and modifying their policies to ensure they have the right cover.
However, we cannot achieve this broad awareness without a commitment across the industry to collaborate and to make insurance inside super simple. Our research suggests that there are benefits for both members and their super funds when Australians are more engaged with insurance inside super.