Death cover is a type of insurance that can provide a benefit to your loved ones if you die. It can be hard to think about your own death. If something happens to you, people depending on your income may be affected. Having death cover in place means your loved ones can be more financially secure.
Key points:
- Death cover pays out an amount of money:
- to you if you are diagnosed with a terminal illness, or
- to your beneficiaries if you die.
- Death cover is not always an automatic part of your super, so it’s a good idea to check what you’re covered for.
- You can work out how much death cover you need in a few simple steps.
- If you don’t have death cover, you can apply for it.
- If your existing cover isn’t enough, you can apply to top it up.
How death cover works
Death cover is a type of insurance paid out to your loved ones if you die, or to you if you become terminally ill. This payment is called a death benefit and includes your super account balance.
If you die, we can pay your death benefit to your nominated beneficiaries. You can have more than one nominated beneficiary, and you can also request payment to your estate. If you don’t have a valid, binding death benefit nomination in place, we’ll decide who to pay your death benefit to. In most cases, the death benefit will be paid as a lump sum.
How terminal illness cover works
If you’re diagnosed with a terminal illness, we can pay the death benefit insurance amount to you. This is called a terminal illness benefit. A maximum terminal illness insurance amount of $5 million applies, even if your death cover is higher. If you make a claim, you'll need to meet certain criteria to have a terminal illness benefit paid. The insurer generally considers you to have a terminal illness if:
- two registered medical practitioners certify your illness or injury as terminal. One of these medical practitioners must be a specialist in the area related to the illness or injury
- it is likely to result in your death within 24 months.
You can find more information in the relevant Insurance handbook
Basic Cover
This gives you death and total and permanent disablement cover equal to the age-based cover scale. You might already have Basic Cover through Aware Super.
Find out more about Basic Cover in the relevant Insurance handbook
If you’re not covered and are eligible, you can apply at any time.
Basic Plus Cover
This option gives you double the Basic Cover amount. If you are eligible, you can apply for Basic Plus Cover at any time.
You can find more information in the relevant Insurance handbook
You can find out what insurance you have by:
- logging into your Member Online account
- logging into your Aware Super app
- clicking on the insurance tab.
Our insurance calculator can help you to work out how much cover you need, and how much it will cost.
The cost of your cover is known as an insurance premium. The premium is based on several factors such as:
- your age
- your cover type and amount
- your insurance category
- any premium loadings the insurer applies.
In addition to your insurance premiums, we deduct an insurance administration fee. This fee is $1.85 per month and helps cover the cost of managing your insurance.
You can apply for insurance in your Member Online account or you can fill out the Application for insurance or increasing cover form and send it back to us.
Scroll table horizontally on mobile
| Type of insurance | What it's for | How it's paid by the insurer |
| Death cover | If you become terminally ill or die. |
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| Total and permanent disablement cover | If you become disabled due to an illness or injury and are unlikely to ever work again. |
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| Income protection cover | If you become disabled due to an illness or injury and cannot work for a long period of time. |
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Underwriting is the process an insurer takes to assess an insurance application. This is how they decide if they can offer any cover, the cost of cover, and if any special conditions will be applied.
Insurance is underwritten by our insurer.
The insurer's decision is based on various factors such as the applicant’s:
- type and level of cover applied for
- personal medical history
- lifestyle information
- occupation.
Underwriting may result in the insurer:
- applying standard premiums rates
- applying a premium loading, which would mean higher insurance costs
- excluding some conditions from cover
- deferring an application
- denying the cover due to an unacceptable high risk.
Some members are eligible for automatic insurance. This does not require underwriting.
Related information
- Calculate your insurance
- Types of insurance
- How much insurance you need
- Making an insurance claim
- Total and permanent disablement cover
- Income protection cover
Related documents
Where to next?
Calculate your insurance needs
Our insurance calculator can provide an estimate for how much you need and what it will cost. Simply answer a few questions such as your age, salary, number of dependants and expenses.
Check your insurance
Did you know you can check and change your insurance using your Aware Super Member Online account?
Transfer insurance to Aware Super
If you have insurance somewhere else, you can apply to transfer it to us. This means you could save money and maintain your existing cover.