your insurance options

Our default Income Protection (IP) Cover provides a monthly benefit to help you and your family meet ongoing living expenses, in the event you are sick or injured and cannot work.

Our default IP Cover means that if you're totally disabled either permanently or temporarily, we’ll pay you a benefit every month for up to 5 years, after a 90-day waiting period (conditions apply and is subject to policy terms and conditions).

Key features

• cost that varies with your age
• benefit payments for up to 5 years, with cover through to age 67
• monthly disability payments
• also provides cover for members even if only partially or temporarily disabled
• option to reduce waiting periods to 30 or 60 days
• flexibility to change cover expiry age to 60
• you can apply for a benefit payment period to age 60 or age 67 or for two years
• a Permanent Incapacity Support Benefit of $10,200 to eligible members after a qualifying period
• insurance fees waived for up to 12 months of approved parental leave (for eligible members)
• a reduced insurance fee for those members who meet certain occupational criteria.

What is Default Cover?

Eligible HESTA members automatically receive default insurance cover when they are at least aged 25, have had an account balance of $6,000 after joining and are receiving employer Superannuation Guarantee contributions. Alternatively members can opt into cover earlier. Eligible HESTA Personal Super members can choose to receive the Default Cover when they join. Read Insurance options (PDF) for information on when cover starts.

You may be able to get Default Cover before it automatically starts by letting us know when you join us. After 90 days, HESTA members need to complete a short personal health statement if they want cover before becoming automatically eligible. 

Default Cover through HESTA varies with your age and provides two units of Income Protection Cover with a benefit payment period of up to 5 years, a 90-day waiting period and a cover expiry age of 67; and two units of Death Cover to age 75.

Our default Death Cover provides a lump-sum benefit to help with ongoing expenses and one-off costs your family may face in the event of your death or in some cases, terminal illness. 

Key features

• cost that varies with your age
• cover to age 75 (cover expiry age)
• provides a lump-sum benefit which varies with your age, ranging from $25,000 per unit to $92,800 per unit if you are under age 40,  then progressively decreasing from ages 40 to 74 
• choose between unitised or fixed cover
• insurance fee waived for up to 12 months of approved parental leave (for eligible members)
• a reduced insurance fee for those members who meet certain occupational criteria. 

What is Default Cover?

Eligible HESTA members automatically receive default insurance cover when they are at least aged 25, have had an account balance of $6,000 after joining and are receiving employer Superannuation Guarantee contributions. Alternatively, members can opt into cover earlier. You may be able to get Default Cover before it automatically starts by letting us know when you join us. After 90 days, HESTA members need to complete a short personal health statement if they want cover before becoming automatically eligible.

Eligible HESTA Personal Super members can choose to receive the Default Cover when they join. Read Insurance options (PDF) for information on when cover starts.

Default Cover through HESTA has an insurance fee that varies with your age. It provides two units of Income Protection Cover with a benefit payment period of up to 5 years, a 90-day waiting period and a cover expiry age of 67; and two units of Death Cover to age 75.

In addition to the default IP Cover and Death Cover, you also have the option of applying for TPD Cover, which provides a benefit to assist you and your family in the event you are totally and permanently disabled and unlikely ever to be able to return to work.

Key features

• provides a benefit of up to $85,000 per unit, decreasing from age 40, in the event of total and permanent disablement
• choose between unitised or fixed cover*
• a reduced insurance fee for those members who meet certain occupational criteria.

Find out more in Insurance options (PDF).

_{*If you fix your TPD cover, your benefit amount will be fixed until you reach age 61 at which point your cover amount will decrease by 10% for each full year until age 70 when cover stops. If applicable, the insurance fee payable will be based on the reduced TPD Cover.}