Your super fund may have just put insurance prices up. Here's how to check what you now pay

When your electricity bill goes up, you notice, because the bill lands in your inbox and the money leaves your account. When the insurance inside your super goes up, nothing lands anywhere. The premium just quietly takes a slightly bigger bite out of a balance you probably check twice a year.

That’s worth knowing right now, because several large super funds announced insurance premium increases taking effect in 2026 - AustralianSuper’s changes from 30 May and CareSuper’s from April, among others. If your cover lives inside super, there’s a reasonable chance you’re now paying more for it than you were at the start of the year, and nobody asked you to click “accept”.

Source: Fund announcements, 2026.

Why do super funds put insurance prices up?

Insurance inside super is a group arrangement. The fund’s trustee holds a policy with an insurer covering huge numbers of members, and the pricing gets renegotiated periodically based on how the whole group is claiming, the mix of members, and the insurer’s costs. When those numbers move, premiums move, and the change applies across the membership.

None of that is sinister. It’s how group insurance works. The issue isn’t that prices change - it’s that the change is close to invisible, because the premium never touches your bank account. Cover you set up in your own name sends you a renewal notice you can react to. Cover in super mostly just… adjusts.

Does a higher premium mean I should cancel?

Slow down - no article can answer that for you, and cancelling cover in a hurry is one of the classic ways people end up exposed. A premium increase isn’t automatically a problem. Cover that costs a bit more and does its job is still doing its job. The point of this piece is “know what you’re paying and what you’re paying for”, not “dump your super insurance”, because you can’t weigh up something you’ve never looked at.

The five-minute statement check

Here’s the whole exercise. You’ll need your latest annual statement or a login to your fund’s member portal.

1. Find the insurance section. Every super statement has one. Look for “insurance in your super”, “your cover” or similar. If you genuinely can’t find it, that’s a finding too - you may not have cover at all.
2. Note what types of cover you hold. Typically some combination of death (life) cover, TPD, and sometimes income protection. Write down the cover amount next to each.
3. Find the premium. Statements show what insurance cost you over the year, and portals usually show the current weekly or monthly rate. Compare it against last year’s statement if you have it. This is where a 2026 increase will show up.
4. Check the definitions and the fine print pointers. The statement won’t spell out the TPD definition, but the fund’s insurance guide (part of the PDS) will. Grab it while you’re logged in.
5. Check when your cover could switch off. Look for anything about inactivity or account balance conditions. If you’ve got old funds from previous jobs, repeat this whole check on those too - quiet accounts are where cover gets switched off without fanfare.

Five minutes per fund, honestly. The hardest part is remembering your login.

What do I do with what I find?

Now you’ve got the three numbers that matter: what cover you hold, what it costs, and what the definitions say. From there, the questions worth asking are:

• Does the amount of cover still line up with your life - mortgage, kids, income - or was it set by default years ago?
• Is the price you’re now paying reasonable for what the policy actually promises, definitions included?
• Is the premium erosion of your super balance a trade-off you’re comfortable with, given it compounds over decades?

Worth naming plainly: default cover was never designed around you. It was designed around a typical member of a very large fund. Sometimes that’s roughly right for your situation, sometimes it’s miles off in either direction - too little cover, or cover you’re paying for that doesn’t fit. A price rise is simply a good excuse to finally look.

Where to from here

If the statement check leaves you with more questions than answers, that’s normal - these documents aren’t written for humans. Book a no-obligation chat with Justin and bring the statement. He’ll translate it, tell you honestly whether what you’ve got suits your situation, and if it does, that’s the end of it. You can also start with our cover review page to see how that process works.

Related reading

• Insurance in super, explained
• Reviewing your existing cover
• Insurance documents explained

General advice only. It does not take into account your objectives, financial situation, or needs. Consider whether it is appropriate for you and read the relevant Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) before deciding. Whether a benefit is payable depends on the specific policy terms.