Super outcome after Jake’s diving disaster

JAKE Tasker was aged 28 when he became a quadriplegic after diving into shallow water while trying to rescue a drowning swimmer.

“I dived in to save him and hit a sandbar on my chest … I was stuck in the water for five-and-a-half hours,” Mr Tasker said.

Many months of rehabilitation have followed since the mechanic’s February 2017 accident, but one thing he hasn’t had to worry about is money, thanks to a superannuation insurance policy he never knew he had.

Mr Tasker was lying in a hospital bed when his mother suggested he check his MTAA Super fund policy, which has provided a valuable TPD (total and permanent disability) payout to help fund his rehabilitation and fuel his love of cars.

“I now have five modified cars ... I was able to drive as soon as I got out of rehab,” Mr Tasker said. “I’m sure a lot of people don’t realise that they have got insurance.”

Mr Tasker’s mates had since checked their own insurance policies in super, because they no longer saw themselves as “bulletproof”, he said.

“You don’t think of it until it happens. I never did.”

Checking insurance cover will soon become more important as the Federal Government prepares to stop default life insurance in super for under-25s from July 2019, with a vote in parliament likely this month. It’s part of this year’s Budget package to prevent the erosion of members’ money but has been criticised by the super and insurance industries, which say it removes protection for young people and will push up premiums for everyone else.

Life insurance company MetLife’s acting CEO, Vince Watt, said banning default insurance would have ramifications and super funds were working to educate their members.

“The assumption that people under 25 don’t need it because they don’t have family or debts is wrong,” he said.

Mr Watt said many young workers might pay only $1.50 a week for around $100,000 of death and TPD cover.

Last year, MetLife paid out about $180 million in claims to about 1750 people aged under 25, with an average claim size near $100,000. MBA Financial Strategists director Darren James said everyone should try to understand their super, regardless of what happened with insurance.