There may be insurance inside your super. Here is how to look.

Most super funds attach insurance to their members' accounts, and many people are never told. Moneysmart, the Australian Government's money guidance website, says most super funds other than self managed funds offer three types of insurance: life cover, cover for total and permanent disability, and income protection. It adds that most funds will automatically give you life cover and total and permanent disability cover if you are aged 25 or over, and that some funds automatically give you income protection as well.

If illness or injury has stopped you working, this matters. Support you have been searching for may already be attached to an account in your name. Not always, and not for everyone. But often enough that it is worth looking before you assume there is nothing there.

Automatic insurance is not something you signed up for and forgot. For most people it was attached by default, described once in paperwork years ago, and never mentioned again.

Three kinds of cover can sit inside super

Life cover, also called death cover. It can pay a benefit to your dependants or your estate if you die. Some policies can also pay earlier if you are diagnosed with a terminal illness, depending on the policy terms.

Total and permanent disability cover, usually shortened to TPD. Moneysmart says TPD insurance can pay a lump sum if you become totally and permanently disabled because of illness or injury. Policies define "totally and permanently disabled" in different ways, so the exact wording of your policy matters a great deal.

Income protection, also called salary continuance when it sits inside super. Moneysmart says it pays a regular income for a set time if you cannot work due to illness or injury, and gives two years, five years or up to a certain age as examples of that period. Not all funds switch it on automatically.

None of this means you hold all three, or any of them. It means your super may be more than a retirement balance, and the only way to know is to look.

How to look

Moneysmart says you can usually find out in one of four ways:

• log in to your super account online
• read your most recent annual statement
• find the insurance summary in your member portal or paperwork
• call your fund and ask what cover is attached to your account. If you ask, they have to tell you: the law requires a fund to give a member the information they reasonably need to understand their benefits (Corporations Act 2001, section 1017C).

When you look, four details matter:

• the type of cover
• the amount of cover
• whether the cover is still active
• any exclusions, waiting periods or other conditions

If the documents are confusing, that is a fair reaction. Policy wording is dense even for people who read it for a living.

Aged 25 or over, with $6,000 or more in super?

Moneysmart says insurance through super does not start automatically if you are a new member under 25, or if your balance is under $6,000, unless you contact the fund and ask for it, or you work in a dangerous job and the fund gives you cover anyway. It also says that if you already have cover and your balance later falls below $6,000, you usually keep it.

So if you were 25 or older and your balance had passed $6,000, it is worth checking whether your account included insurance.

That is not a guarantee of cover. Every fund and every policy is different. It is simply a strong enough sign that looking makes more sense than assuming.

Old accounts count too

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) says you can use its online services, through myGov, to see your active super accounts, lost super, and super the ATO is holding for you, all in one place.

This matters because many people have held more than one account over their working life. An older fund from a previous employer may still be relevant when working out whether insurance existed and whether there is a pathway worth exploring.

Cover can end

Moneysmart says that by law, super funds cancel insurance on accounts with no contributions for at least 16 months, and that some funds have their own rules and cancel cover if the balance is too low. Your fund will contact you before your cover ends.

So even if you once had cover, things may have changed if:

• you changed jobs
• contributions stopped
• you rolled your super into another fund
• an account went inactive

If cover has lapsed, that does not always close every door. What was in place at the time your health changed can matter, and that is the kind of question a licensed firm can look at properly.

If you have stopped work because of illness or injury

By this point you may already have been through workers compensation, Centrelink, or both. Insurance inside super runs alongside those systems, not instead of them. Being in one does not close the others.

Depending on your fund and the policy wording, it may be worth reviewing whether your super includes TPD cover, income protection, or benefits connected to life cover. Moneysmart sets out three ways insurers define total and permanent disability: "own occupation", meaning you cannot work again in the job you held; "any occupation", meaning you cannot ever work again in any job suited to your education, training or experience; and an "activities of daily living" test, meaning you cannot do basic self care tasks without help, which Moneysmart describes as the hardest to satisfy. That is why the wording matters more than the label.

Early release of super is a separate door

Early release means drawing on your own super balance before retirement age. It is a different thing from claiming on insurance inside super, and the two are often confused.

The ATO says early release is only available in very limited circumstances, including compassionate grounds, severe financial hardship, a terminal medical condition, temporary incapacity and permanent incapacity. Because the grounds are narrow, it helps to understand your position properly rather than assume either way.

Common questions

How do I find out if I have insurance through super? Log in to your account, read your annual statement, or call your fund and ask what cover is attached. Moneysmart says these are the usual ways to check.

What insurance can be inside super? Moneysmart says most super funds offer three types: life cover, TPD cover and income protection. Life cover and TPD are usually switched on automatically for members aged 25 or over. Some funds switch income protection on automatically too.

Could I have super accounts I have forgotten about? Yes. The ATO says its online services, through myGov, show active, lost and super held by the ATO in one place.

Can insurance inside super be cancelled? Yes. Moneysmart says that by law, super funds cancel insurance on accounts with no contributions for at least 16 months. Your fund will contact you before that happens.

Where we fit

We are not the ones who decide whether you have a claim. That decision belongs to licensed professionals, and we are not licensed to make it.

What we can do is explain how these systems fit together, in plain English, and help you work out which doors exist for your situation. If you want, we will introduce you to a firm on our panel that handles your type of claim. Panel firms work no win, no fee, and each one explains its own costs before you agree to anything.

If you want to talk any of this through, we'll explain which doors exist for your situation and, if you want, introduce you to a firm on our panel. It costs you nothing.

Sources

• Moneysmart, Insurance through super (ASIC), last updated 18 June 2026.
• Moneysmart, Total and permanent disability (TPD) insurance (ASIC).
• Australian Taxation Office, Early access to super.
• Corporations Act 2001 (Cth), section 1017C.