Hostplus Life Insurance

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Hostplus is an industry super fund which provides life insurance and salary continuance insurance to its members.

Hostplus life insurance is not available to non-members and is not rated by Canstar at the time of writing, but we’ve rounded up some of the key info below.

What life insurance products does Hostplus offer? 

Hostplus offers the following options as part of its life insurance offering to members:

Death only cover

  • Provides a lump sum payout to your dependants in the event of your death
  • The death benefit is paid out on top of your super balance
  • Includes cover for terminal illness – if a terminal illness benefit is paid to you, your death benefit will be reduced by the amount of the terminal illness benefit paid

Total & Permanent Disability only cover

  • Provides a lump sum payout in the event that you become totally and permanently disabled
  • You are not eligible for TPD cover from Hostplus if you have previously received a TPD benefit from any other source

Combined Death and Total & Permanent Disability cover

If you’re aged 16-69 when you join Hostplus and are eligible for insurance, you will receive ‘unitised’ Death and TPD cover, which provides the cover types outlined above. You must be ‘At Work’ on the date your cover commences in order to have full cover, Hostplus says.

Unitised and fixed cover options

If you’re applying for Death Only, TPD Only, or combined Death & TPD cover, you will be given the choice of either unitised or fixed benefit cover.

Unitised cover entails paying a set price for each unit of cover you hold. The benefit value of each unit you hold decreases as you increase in age, and the amount you pay per unit remains the same.

Fixed cover means that your “insured benefit value remains the same”, however from age 61 your payable TPD benefit reduces each year by 20% of the cover held at age 60, Hostplus says. At age 64, your benefit will be fixed at 20% of the cover you held at age 60. The cost of your fixed cover may also increase with your age, according to Hostplus.

How much does Hostplus life insurance cost? 

The cost of any life insurance you take out is likely to vary depending on several different factors, such as your age, occupation and choice of insurer. Hostplus offers an online premium calculator you can use to estimate how much you might pay for life insurance through Hostplus. Note that Hostplus life insurance premiums are deducted from a member’s super balance, rather than paid out of pocket. 

You can take a look at the average premiums for direct life insurance on our database to get an idea of what other providers may charge for life insurance.

Compare Life Insurance

Eligibility to apply for Hostplus life insurance

Hostplus members aged between 16 and 69 are eligible to receive Death and Total Permanent Disability insurance when they join Hostplus. Depending on their age and super balance, some members will be opted in to receive life insurance cover by default.

Bear in mind that Hostplus says that people working in certain professions are excluded from over under its death and/or TPD cover.

How to apply for a Hostplus life insurance policy

If you are a member of Hostplus’ super fund, you may already hold Hostplus life insurance through your super. Hostplus life insurance is only available to Hostplus members, so if you are not already with Hostplus you would need to change funds in order to gain access to its insurance products. The Hostplus website has a guide to transferring your existing insurance-through-super cover to Hostplus.

If you are already a Hostplus member but do not have life insurance through the fund, you can apply through the Hostplus Member Online service.

Compare Life Insurance

Hostplus offers an online guide to managing your insurance, which says that you can apply to increase, decrease, or cancel your insurance through Hostplus’ Member Online service. You can also nominate a non-binding beneficiary online.

You or your beneficiaries can claim with Hostplus by calling its claims team on 1300 803 745. 

If your insurance claim is approved, Hostplus will proceed with arranging the payment of your benefit.

Generally speaking, premiums paid for life insurance products such as term life insurance, TPD insurance or trauma insurance tend not to be tax deductible, according to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). You may want to ask your tax accountant or financial adviser for more details on this. 

However, the ATO does state that you can claim the cost of premiums you pay for insurance that covers the loss of your income, such as income protection insurance. You can’t, however, claim a deduction for premiums that compensate you for physical injury or are taken out through your super fund. You may want to ask your tax accountant or financial adviser for more details on this.

At the time of writing, medical tests are not required to apply for Hostplus life insurance. However, in the event of a claim, Hostplus may require additional evidence or do a full review of your medical records. 

Once you’ve applied for cover, Hostplus will contact you if a medical examination is required throughout the claims process.

You can increase or decrease your level of life insurance cover through Hostplus’ Member Online service. 

Keep in mind that changing your level of cover or adding your spouse or children to your policy is likely to change the premiums you pay.

This may depend on the condition in question. When applying for Hostplus life insurance, you must disclose (tell Hostplus about) any pre-existing medical conditions you have now or had in the past, as well as current medications and health issues.

For Personal Super Plan members, Hostplus says that it will not pay a benefit where the cause of death, terminal illness or total and permanent disablement is caused directly or indirectly as a result of a pre-existing condition, either wholly or partially.

Hostplus was founded by the Australian Hotels Association and United Voice in 1988. It now has over one million members, more than 185,000 employers, and $53 billion in funds under management.

Written by: Nina Rinella | Last updated: April 17, 2020