How To Change Your Income Shield Benefits

Transcription

1 Enhancements Income Shield Super

2 CONTENTS 1.0 Summary of changes Enhancements to Included Income Shield Super Benefits New 5 Year Benefit Period for S Class Occupations Improved Sick Leave Offsets Improved Statutory Insurance Offsets (Occupation Classes AA, AP, LP or MP only) Improved Capability clause (only due to causes other than sickness or injury) New Income Protection available to Part-Time Workers Improved Definition Partial Disability New Temporary Extended Waiting Period Improved Replacement Ratio & Maximum Cover Limit of $60, Improved Payments Whilst Overseas (Occupation classes AA, AP, LP, MP, A1 or A2) New Waiting Period Conversion Benefit New Concurrent Disability Benefit Improved Recurring Disability Benefit Improved Optional Benefits Improved Increasing Claim Option New Booster Plus Option Contact us 6

3 Enhancements Income Shield Super 1 At Life, we regularly review our policies to ensure that they are at the forefront of industry developments and will continue to meet the financial challenges which may occur as a result of sickness or injury. Providing regular updates is an integral part of our service philosophy at Life. As a result, we have automatically upgraded your policy to reflect some of the innovations we have made to our Income Shield Super product. This ensures that your policy remains at the leading edge of insurance and gives you and your family even better value protection at no extra cost. In this brochure you will find a summary of both the automatic enhancements we have made to your policy plus a series of new optional enhancements that you can apply to have added to your existing Life policy. These improvements offer you an increased number of benefits, improved definitions on benefits and the opportunity to add additional features to your policy. Automatic Enhancements We will enhance your policy without any further cost to you. You will not need to undergo any further medical assessments to benefit from these automatic enhancements, so you can start enjoying your new improved cover today. In the event of a claim, you will be assessed against the most recent, upgraded version of the policy. If, in your opinion, the improvements are less favourable, we will assess you against your previous policy terms. We will work with you and your adviser to ensure that the cover you have is most appropriate to your needs. Optional Benefits Some optional benefits have also been improved. Any optional benefits that you already have will also be upgraded from the effective date of upgrade. We understand that, over time, your needs may change so we have also created some new optional benefits that you may be eligible to have added to your policy. Adding some or all of these options to your policy may result in an increased premium and may also require additional underwriting. We can work with you and your adviser to explain these. Changes to Policy Terms Included within this brochure is a summary of changes to the policy terms. If you have any questions or need any further information on these please contact your adviser or our Life Customer Service on where one of our team will be delighted to help you.

4 2 Enhancements Income Shield Super 1.0 Summary of changes This brochure includes a summary of all of the upgraded benefits for Income Shield policy. Depending on the PDS issue number you applied with, some or all of these upgraded terms will already be included in your policy. Included benefits are automatically provided as at the effective date listed below. Where an upgrade: has been applied to your policy the field below will include 3. was already included in your policy terms the field below will note INC (included). issue 2 issue 3 issue 4 issue 5 Enhancements Included Benefits Effective Date of upgrade 15 April August May 2010) 15 November 2010) New 5 Year Benefit Period for S class Occupations New Income Protection Cover Available to Part-Time Workers 10 November INC INC INC 19 August INC INC INC Improved Sick Leave Offsets 19 August INC INC INC Improved Definition Partial Disability New Temporary Extended Waiting Period Improved Capability clause (only due to causes other than sickness or injury) Improved Replacement Ratio & Maximum Cover Limit of $60,000 Improved Payments Whilst Overseas (Occupation Classes AA, AP, LP, MP, A1 or A2) New Waiting Period Conversion Benefit New Concurrent Disability Benefit Improved Recurring Disability Benefit Improved Statutory Insurance Offsets 19 August INC INC INC 19 August INC INC INC 19 August INC INC INC 24 May INC INC INC 15 November INC 15 November INC 15 November INC 15 November INC 15 November INC issue 2 issue 3 issue 4 issue 5 Enhancements Optional Benefits Effective Date of upgrade 15 April August May 2010) 15 November 2010) Improved Increasing Claim Option 19 August INC INC INC New Booster Plus Option 19 August INC INC INC

5 Enhancements Income Shield Super Enhancements to Included Income Shield Super Benefits Below is a summary of changes to included benefits each with a simple description of how it affects you. Some of the terms and expressions used in the policy wording quick reference below have specific meaning and the meaning of these words and expressions can be found in the glossary of our current Product Disclosure Statement (PDS). A copy of our latest PDS is available on our website, or by contacting Life Customer Service on In the event of a claim, you will be assessed against the most recent, upgraded version of the policy. If, in your opinion, the improvements are less favourable, we will assess you against your previous policy terms. We will work with you and your adviser to ensure that the cover you have is most appropriate to your needs. Please note that if you are suffering from a preexisting condition before or at the effective date that an upgrade applies to your policy, the benefits introduced in that upgrade will not apply when assessing any claim affected by that preexisting condition. The effective date for each upgrade is denoted in the summary of changes. 2.1 New 5 Year Benefit Period for S Class Occupations If your occupation is higher risk and is rated in our S class occupation category, you are no longer limited to applying for a 2 year benefit period and can now apply to have the option of a 5 year benefit period to better protect your income security. Changing from a 2 year benefit period to a 5 year benefit period will require underwriting. 2.2 Improved Sick Leave Offsets We will no longer offset Income Protection payments for Severe or Partial Disability if you receive (or are entitled to receive) payments for sick leave. This allows you to manage your own sick leave balances without impacting your monthly benefit. 2.3 Improved Statutory Insurance Offsets (Occupation Classes AA, AP, LP or MP only) It is normal for income protection policies to limit benefit payments if you are also receiving other benefits from other insurance policies including statutory insurance schemes such as Workers Compensation, Accident Compensation, social security etc. If you work in an occupation that is classified by us as AA, AP, LP or MP at the time of claim, we will not limit your benefits under this policy even if you receive payments under any statutory insurance schemes. For all occupations, the amount payable will be recalculated if you or the Policy Owner receive other payments in relation to the sickness or injury causing your disablement by way of: other disability, group sickness or accident insurance cover, including cover under a mortgage repayment insurance policy or through a superannuation fund that were not disclosed to us at the time you applied for the policy. For occupations classified as A1, A2, B, C or S, in addition to the above, the amount payable will also be recalculated if you or the Policy Owner receive other payments in relation to the sickness or injury causing your disablement by way of: any payments from Workers Compensation schemes, social security, Accident Compensation schemes and other statutory insurances payable for loss of income. We will recalculate the benefit so that the amount we pay, when added to your monthly income and the other payments to be taken into account, is no more than the greater of: 75% of your pre-disability income, (or 80% of your pre-disability income if the SuperSaver Option applies) where the Severely Disabled Benefit, Accidental Injury Option or the Accidental Injury Plus Option is payable, or 100% of your pre-disability income where the Partially Disabled Benefit is payable; and the benefit otherwise payable. 2.4 Improved Capability clause (only due to causes other than sickness or injury) If you are partially disabled due to a sickness or an injury, clearly you are unable to work to your full capability due to that sickness or injury. Therefore, we have modified the wording for the capability clause to specify that while assessing capability, we will only consider whether you are working to your capability as a result of causes other than sickness or injury. If you are partially disabled and you are not working to your capability as a result of causes other than sickness or injury and this situation continues for at least 2 months, then your monthly income while partially disabled will be calculated based on what you could reasonably be expected to earn if you were working to the extent of your capability. In determining what you could reasonably be expected to earn if you were working to the extent of your capability, we will take into account available medical evidence (including the opinion of your registered doctor) and any other relevant considerations directly related to your medical condition (including information provided by you).

6 4 Enhancements Income Shield Super 2.5 New Income Protection available to Part- Time Workers If you are working part-time for more than 20 hours per week you may be eligible to increase your cover. 2.6 Improved Definition Partial Disability Rather than having two different partial disability definitions, we have simplified our Partial Disability definitions to a single definition across our income protection range. While the level of cover has not changed we believe this change will make this benefit easier to understand. If either: a) you were working full-time in your usual occupation during the 12 consecutive months prior to the commencement date irrespective of whether you are working full-time or part-time immediately before your disability started; or b) at the commencement date you were working part-time in your usual occupation and immediately before your disability started you are working full-time We will consider you to be partially disabled if: you are working for more than 10 hours per week in your usual occupation or a gainful occupation or; you are working for 10 hours or less per week and you are not severely disabled; or you are not working and you are not severely disabled; and solely due to sickness or injury your monthly income is less than your pre-disability income, as long as you are following the advice of a registered doctor in relation to that sickness or injury. If you were working part-time in your usual occupation during the 12 consecutive months prior to the commencement date and you are working part-time immediately before your disability started We will consider you to be partially disabled if: you are working for more than 5 hours per week in your usual occupation or a gainful occupation; or you are working for 5 hours or less per week and you are not severely disabled; or you are not working and you are not severely disabled; and solely due to sickness or injury, your monthly income is less than your pre-disability income, as long as you are following the advice of a registered doctor in relation to that sickness or injury. 2.7 New Temporary Extended Waiting Period If your policy has a 30 day waiting period, you can choose to increase the waiting period applicable to the policy to 60 or 90 days for a period of up to 13 months. This option can be exercised only once during the lifetime of your policy. If the schedule states a 30 day waiting period applies, the Policy Owner can elect to increase the waiting period applicable to the policy to: 60 days; or 90 days for a period of up to 13 months. The waiting period can be reduced back to 30 days without the need for further underwriting during this time. The Policy Owner must write to us in order to apply to reinstate the original waiting period before the end of the 13 month period. The application to increase the waiting period and subsequently reinstate the original waiting period can be made only once during the lifetime of your policy. 2.8 Improved Replacement Ratio & Maximum Cover Limit of $60,000 Higher income earners can now apply for a higher proportion of their income to be covered. You can now apply for 75% of the first $320,000 annual income, 50% of the next $240,000 and 20% of the balance. The maximum cover that you can apply for has also been increased from $40,000 per month to $60,000 per month. You can apply for an overall maximum* Total Monthly Benefit of up to $60,000. The maximum monthly income that can be insured is: 75% of the first $26,667 (of monthly income); 50% of the next $20,000 (of monthly income); and 20% of the balance (of monthly income). Cover above a Total Monthly Benefit of $40,000 may be available to occupation classes AP, LP, MP and selected AA occupations, subject to eligibility 1. A 2 year benefit period will apply to any cover above $30,000. * maximum level includes insurance cover of a similar type offered under another insurance policy issued by any insurer including us. 1. Certain occupations may not be eligible. For more information, speak to your financial adviser.

7 Enhancements Income Shield Super Improved Payments Whilst Overseas (Occupation classes AA, AP, LP, MP, A1 or A2) Your protection now fully applies overseas in exactly the same way it applies at home. You now have the security of knowing that if you claim outside of Australia and New Zealand and are unable to return home, your income protection is not limited simply because your condition occurred overseas. If you are disabled outside Australia and New Zealand and are entitled to receive payments from us, and in our opinion can still meet our claim requirements, benefits will continue to be paid whilst you remain outside Australia and New Zealand New Waiting Period Conversion Benefit Some employers or superannuation funds provide salary continuance cover for up to 2 years. You can then supplement this by choosing individual income protection cover with a 2-year waiting period, allowing payments under the individual income protection cover to commence after the salary continuance cover. This reduces your premium and you only pay for the cover needed. If employment is changed and the salary continuance is no longer provided, then typically the policy would need to be re-underwritten in order to apply for a shorter waiting period. We have now relaxed this requirement so you can now reduce your waiting period to 30, 60 or 90 days with no underwriting. If your schedule states a 2 year waiting period applies and you have comparable insurance cover provided by an employer or superannuation fund, you may apply to reduce your waiting period to 30, 60 or 90 days should that cover no longer apply. You must apply within 30 days of your previous cover ceasing to apply and evidence of the previous cover must be supplied New Concurrent Disability Benefit There may be occasions where your sickness or accident causes multiple disabilities, each of which would normally qualify for payment under the policy. While it is not possible to pay benefits on more than one condition at any one time, your policy now stipulates that you will always be paid under the disability which qualifies for the highest benefit amount. Where you are suffering from two or more concurrent disabilities and are eligible for more than one payment for the Severely Disabled Benefit or Partially Disabled Benefit (whichever is applicable), payment will only be made for the condition that entitles you to the highest benefit. We will not pay for more than one benefit at the same time Improved Recurring Disability Benefit Your policy already has special provisions that cater for a condition which causes recurring claims. Previously, if you suffered from the same or a related condition (to the first claim) within 6 months of the earlier claim ending, this would be classified as a recurring claim and benefits would commence without a waiting period. This period has now been extended to 12 months if your policy has a benefit period longer than 5 years. This means that should the same or related condition occur, you can get paid without serving a waiting period which ensures you can access your insurance payments quicker. If you suffer from the same or a related sickness or injury within: 12 months of disability claim payments ending (if the benefit period is longer than 5 years); or 6 months of disability claim payments ending (if the benefit period is 5 years or less), we will consider your disablement as being recurring. If we consider you to have a recurring disability, the monthly payments for the Severely Disabled Benefit or Partially Disabled Benefit (as applicable) will recommence without applying a new waiting period and the benefit period will be reduced by any previous periods for which benefits were paid for the disablement and each recurrence of the disablement. 3.0 Improved Optional Benefits Below is a summary of changes to optional benefits each with a simple description of how it affects you. Some of the terms and expressions used in the policy wording quick reference below have specific meaning and the meaning of these words and expressions can be found in the glossary of our current Product Disclosure Statement (PDS). A copy of our latest PDS is available on our website, or by contacting Life Customer Service on

8 6 Enhancements Income Shield Super Some or all of these options may be limited to certain occupations only. Where you already have an optional benefit applied to your policy any improvements to that optional benefit will be automatically applied to your policy. All other new options can be applied for and will require underwriting. In the event of a claim, you will be assessed against the most recent, upgraded version of the policy. If, in your opinion, the improvements are less favourable, we will assess you against your previous policy terms. We will work with you and your adviser to ensure that the cover you have is most appropriate to your needs. Please note that if you are suffering from a preexisting condition before or at the effective date that an upgrade applies to your policy, the benefits introduced in that upgrade will not apply when assessing any claim affected by that preexisting condition. The effective date for each upgrade is denoted in the summary of changes. 3.1 Improved Increasing Claim Option Most people would not imagine their income remaining static for the rest of their working life, so why should your income protection be any different? Including the Increasing Claim Option ensures your claim payments will increase with inflation on each policy anniversary. Up until now, this increase was capped at 10%, but this has now been removed so that your claim payments can increase in line with inflation without any restrictions. Speak to your adviser now if you don t have this benefit attached to your policy. If the Increasing Claim Option applies, the Total Monthly Benefit will be increased at each policy anniversary whilst the policy owner is receiving payments by the indexation factor (the Pregnancy Premium Waiver Benefit and the Unemployment Benefit are not considered to be a payment for this purpose). When you are no longer disabled, the indexed Total Monthly Benefit will not be reduced unless the policy owner requests the reduction in writing. 3.2 New Booster Plus Option In addition to Recovery Booster, we have introduced a new Booster Plus option, which will take away the need to choose, and combines the benefits of the Recovery Booster and Booster options. This allows you to be insured for the 25% income protection gap for: the first two years of a claim, if the claim is as a result of a listed crisis condition; or the first 3 months of a claim if the Severely or Partially Disabled Benefit is payable. If the schedule states that the Booster Plus Option applies, you will be covered for all events under the Booster Option and the Recovery Booster Option. If the Booster Benefit and the Recovery Booster Benefit are payable at the same time, the higher benefit, but not both, will be payable. 4.0 Contact us If you have any queries about the automatic enhancements to your policy, or want to find out more about the optional benefits, contact your adviser, visit our website or call our Life Customer Service team on Important note This information is general advice and doesn t take into account a person s objectives, financial situation or needs. A person should consider the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) available at and consider obtaining financial advice before making any decision about this product. This product is not a bank deposit or other bank liability. Products and services are provided by different entities in the Suncorp Group and each entity is not responsible for, does not guarantee and is not liable in any respect for products or services of other Suncorp entities. is issued jointly by Suncorp Life & Superannuation Limited ABN AFSL and Suncorp Portfolio Services Limited ABN AFSL RSE Licence No L

9 Enhancements Income Shield Super 7 This page has been left blank intentionally.

10 8 Enhancements Income Shield Super This page has been left blank intentionally.

11

12 Contact Life or the Trustee Mail Life Customer Service GPO Box 68 Sydney NSW 2001 Fax Phone (outside Sydney) Web Life state offices NSW/ACT Level Kent Street Sydney NSW 2000 GPO Box 4252 Sydney NSW 2001 T F NSW callers outside Sydney VIC/TAS Level 8 15 William Street Melbourne Vic 3000 PO Box Collins St West Melbourne VIC 8007 T F Vic callers outside Melbourne & Tasmanian callers QLD Level 4 50 McDougall Street Milton QLD 4064 PO Box 5229 West End QLD 4101 T F QLD callers outside Brisbane SA/NT Level Grenfell Street Adelaide SA 5000 PO Box 429 Unley Business Centre Unley SA 5061 T F SA callers outside Adelaide WA Level 3 37 St Georges Terrace Perth WA 6000 PO Box 444 West Perth WA 6872 T F WA callers outside Perth Suncorp Life & Superannuation Limited ABN AFS Licence No Level Kent Street Sydney NSW 2000 Suncorp Portfolio Services Limited ABN AFS Licence No RSE Licence No. L Level 18 Suncorp Centre 36 Wickham Terrace Brisbane QLD 4000 AS /01/12 B