Find the Best Life Insurance in Australia

The best life insurance policy depends largely on your personal circumstances, and our best pick may not always be the best for you. To give you a starting point, we reviewed and scored over 20 Direct Australian life insurance policies.

Alexandra Holderness Health & Life Insurance Publisher

Direct Life Insurance Award Winner: NobleOak Life Insurance

NobleOak's life insurance policy offers up to $15 million in cover which is fully underwritten.

It allows policyholders to increase cover in the future by 20% without another medical assessment. It also offers a counselling benefit up to $1,000.

$15,000,000
Maximum Cover
$3,000,000
Terminal Illness Benefit
$15,000 Funeral Benefit

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Our 2019 Finder Awards for Best Life Insurance Insurance looked at 26 brands across 12 different personas for both male and female aged between 30 and 50.
Multiple quotes were obtained from each provider. The following product features ("metrics") were scored and weighted as follows:
- Fully underwritten: 7%
- Max sum insured: 10.5%
- Guaranteed renewability: 7%
- Expiry age: 10.5%
- Counselling benefit: 3.5%
- Premium cover suspension: 3.5%
- Interim accident cover: 7%
- Options: 7%
- Funeral advancement benefit: 3.5%
- Max entry age: 10.5%
- Cost for a nonsmoker: 20%
- Cost for a smoker: 10%
You can read in full here

Your search for the best life insurance starts here

Updated February 20th, 2020

Name	Maximum Cover	Maximum Entry Age	Minimum Sum Insured	Expiry Age
Real Family Life Cover	$1,000,000	64	$100,000	No expiry age as long as premiums are paid	Get a refund of 10% of the premiums you've paid (in the first 12 months) with The Real Reward™ .	Get Quote View details	Compare	loading Fetching your data...
NobleOak Life Insurance 2019 Winner	$15,000,000	69	$50,000	99	Get your first month free. T&C’s apply. Offer ends 27 February 2020.	Get Quote View details	Compare	loading Fetching your data...
AAMI Life Insurance	$1,000,000	60	$100,000	99	Get Quote View details	Compare	loading Fetching your data...
ahm Life Insurance	$1,500,000	65	$100,000	No expiry age as long as premiums are paid	ahm Health members can save 10% off premiums.	Get Quote View details	Compare	loading Fetching your data...
Zurich Ezicover Life Insurance	$1,500,000	69	$50,000	99	Get your first month free. T&Cs apply.	Get Quote View details	Compare	loading Fetching your data...
Medibank Life Insurance	$1,500,000	65	$100,000	No expiry age as long as premiums are paid	10% discount for Medibank health members.	Get Quote View details	Compare	loading Fetching your data...
Guardian Life Insurance	$1,500,000	64	$100,000	No expiry age as long as premiums are paid	Get Quote View details	Compare	loading Fetching your data...

Compare up to 4 providers

Compare more life insurance features side by side

Company	Policy	Underwriter rating (Use Omnium)	Upfront medical assessment	Future Insureability	Level premiums offered?	Price score	Finder score
TAL	Lifetime Protection	N/A	Yes - Online	Yes	Yes	D+	C+
AAMI	Life Insurance	93	Yes - Online	Yes	No	C+	C-
NRMA	Life Insurance	83	Yes - Online	Yes	No	D+	C
Allianz	Life Plan	100	Yes - Online	No	No	A	B-
Insureme Now	Superior Life Insurance Cover	N/A	Yes - Online	No	No	B+	B-
GIO	Life Protect	N/A	Yes - Online	No	No	C-	C-
Suncorp	Life Protect	N/A	Yes - Online	Yes	No	C-	C-
NAB	Essential Life	100	Yes - Online	No	No	C	D+
Bendigo	MaxLife Life Protect	N/A	Yes - Online	No	No	B-	C
NobleOak	Premium Life Direct	100	Yes (Over the phone)	Yes	No	A	A-
ANZ	Life Insurance	100	Yes - Online	Yes	Yes	B+	B-
HBF	Ezicover Life Insurance	93	Yes - Online	Yes	No	A-	B-
Zurich	Ezicover Life Insurance	N/A	Yes - Online	Yes	No	A-	B
Guardian	Life Insurance	N/A	Yes (Over the phone)	No	No	D	C+
Insuranceline	Life Cover	83	Yes - Online	Yes	No	B-	C+
Medibank	Life Insurance	100	Yes (Over the phone)	Yes	No	B	B-
NIB	Value Life Insurance	83	Yes - Online	No	No	C+	C-
Real	Family Life Cover	100	Yes (Over the phone)	No	No	C	C+
AHM	Life insurance	N/A	Yes (Over the phone)	Yes	No	B	B-

Best life insurance for claims outcomes

There are three ways you can purchase life insurance in Australia:

Direct (bought from an insurance brand)
Retail (bought with an adviser)
Super (cover that's included with your superannuation)

Here are the top life insurers in regards to claims outcomes for each category.

We looked at claims data from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) from January 2018 to December 2018 (this is the most recent data available). The tables below focus on "death cover" claims across each purchase channel: retail (adviser), direct purchase with an insurer and purchase through super.
To get the score, we then weighted the following aspects of the claim data:
- How often a claim is accepted
- The time it takes to accept or deny a claim
- The rate of disputes

Best direct life insurer for claims outcomes: ClearView

Overall claims score: A

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Direct life insurance is when you purchase directly from an insurer, rather than through an adviser or broker. You can do this online or over the phone.
Here's why ClearView Life Insurance bought directly has an excellent claims score.

Best retail life insurer for claims outcomes: TAL

Overall claims score: B

More info

Life insurance bought retail is usually recommended through an adviser. The broker assesses your current financial situation and medical history to determine the level of cover you need.
Here's why TAL Life Insurance bought with an adviser has a high claims score.

Best super life insurer for claims outcomes: MetLife

Overall claims score: B

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In Australia, it's often the case that you can buy insurance through your super. Your life insurance through super usually comes as a group policy, which allows you to pay a premium that's standard for all members.
Here's why MetLife Life Insurance bought through super has a high claims score.

Insurer	Claims accepted rate	Average claim time (months)	Disputes per 100 lives insured	Overall claims performance score
Industry average	88.00%	3.3	15.7	C+
ClearView	97.70%	2.4	3.8	A-
Westpac	94.60%	3.1	8.3	B+
Zurich	94.30%	2.4	14.1	B
TAL	72.80%	3.1	18.9	C+
CommInsure	93.30%	4.1	22.2	C-
Suncorp/Asteron	88.00%	3.6	29.4	C-
OnePath	94.50%	5.4	66.6	C-
Hallmark	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
MetLife	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
NobleOak	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
AIA	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
MLC	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
AMP	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Insurer	Claims accepted rate	Average claim time (months)	Disputes per 100 lives insured	Overall claims performance score
Industry average	96.30%	3.1	7	B-
TAL	98.40%	0.9	9.2	B+
Zurich	96.30%	1.4	3.4	B
MLC	97.90%	2.4	6	B-
Suncorp/Asteron	97.20%	1.9	8.8	B-
Westpac	95.00%	2.2	2.6	B-
OnePath	96.50%	4.3	5.6	C+
AMP	97.50%	5.4	7	C+
AIA	97.40%	2.3	9.4	C+
CommInsure	88.50%	2.1	11.5	C-
ClearView	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Hallmark	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
MetLife	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
NobleOak	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Insurer	Claims accepted rate	Average claim time (months)	Disputes per 100 lives insured	Overall claims performance score
Industry average	98.20%	1.3	0.8	C
MetLife	99.60%	0.8	0.4	A
MLC	99.10%	0.7	0.4	A
AMP	99.90%	8.4	0.4	B
TAL	98.50%	0.8	0.7	B-
Suncorp/Asteron	94.00%	1	0	B-
AIA	98.50%	0.8	1	B-
Westpac	98.40%	1.6	0.5	C
CommInsure	96.50%	1.3	0.8	C-
OnePath	97.10%	1.2	1.6	C-
ClearView	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Hallmark	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
NobleOak	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Zurich	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Best life insurance for various categories

Best cover that is fully underwritten: NobleOak

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One of the big reasons NobleOak took out the Finder Award for Best Life Insurance was because it is fully underwritten.

Best cover for older Australians: TAL Lifetime Protection and Qantas Life Insurance

Getting the best cover as you get older is not so much about the ability to get the most cover dollarwise, but the right amount of cover to suit your changing needs.
When looking at which insurer offered the best choices for older Aussies, we looked at three key areas: minimum sum insured, the maximum entry age and the policy expiry age. It turns out that both TAL and Qantas scored well according to our algorithm.

It may sound counterintuitive but as you get older, the amount of cover you actually need gets less and less. Your kids have flown the nest (hopefully) and you no longer have to worry about looking after their day-to-day expenses. However, you might have a little way to go on your mortgage and want to make sure you've got enough to cover it should the worst happen. So, having the ability to take out cover for a low amount can come in handy. Both TAL and Qantas allow you to take out cover starting from as little as $50,000.

Best additional coverage: Guardian

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Life insurance is a very broad term and can offer additional coverage such as total and permanent disability (TPD) insurance and trauma cover. Others provide cover such as counselling benefits and guaranteed renewability. We looked at how well insurers covered these areas and more and found that Guardian Insurance offered the best additional coverage.

Best income protection insurance policy

Winner: Virgin Income Protection Insurance

Go to Site More info

Standout feature: Up to $10,000 of income is covered (to a maximum of 85%)

Finder rank	Policy	Maximum monthly benefit	Waiting/benefit period options	Additional features
1	Virgin Tailored Income Protection	85% of monthly income to a maximum of $10,000	Choice of 4 benefit periods Choice of 4 waiting periods	Redundancy cover option
2	NobleOak Income Protection Insurance	75% of monthly income to a maximum of $25,000	Choice of 2 benefit periods Choice of 2 waiting periods	Death and TPD benefit
3	ANZ Income Protection	85% of monthly income to a maximum of $10,000	Choice of 3 benefit periods Choice of 2 waiting periods	Redundancy cover option
4	NRMA Income Protection	85% of monthly income to a maximum of $10,000	Choice of 4 benefit periods Choice of 4 waiting periods	Redundancy cover option
5	Insuranceline Rate Saver Income Protection	85% of monthly income to a maximum of $10,000	Choice of 4 benefit periods Choice of 4 waiting periods	Redundancy cover option

_{* The products compared on this page are chosen from a range of offers available to us and are not representative of all the products available in the market. There is no perfect order or perfect ranking system for the products we list on our Site, so we provide you with the functionality to self-select, re-order and compare products. The initial display order is influenced by a range of factors including conversion rates, product costs and commercial arrangements, so please don't interpret the listing order as an endorsement or recommendation from us. We're happy to provide you with the tools you need to make better decisions, but we'd like you to make your own decisions and compare and assess products based on your own preferences, circumstances and needs.}

Thank you for your feedback!

Richard Laycock

Richard Laycock is Finder’s insights editor after spending the last five years writing and editing articles about insurance. His musings can be found across the web including on MoneyMag, Yahoo Finance and Travel Weekly. When he’s not doing deep dives on data, he is testing the quality of cocktails in his newfound home of New York. Richard studied Media at Macquarie University and The Missouri School of Journalism and has a Tier 1 Certification in General Advice for Life Insurance.

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4 Responses

LawandaOctober 25, 2017

Is there life insurance coverage available for someone who has Sickle Cell Disease, which is a genetic, inherited disease from birth and not something that you contract?

Reply
- finder Customer Care
  
  JoanneOctober 26, 2017Staff
  
  Hi Lawanda,
  
  Thanks for reaching out.
  
  There are life insurances available to cover pre existing medical conditions. However, it is very important that you disclose any relevant medical history during the application process.
  
  Moreover, in applying for a life insurance, it is a standard practice that a client will be asked to fill out a questionnaire which would ask you some pertinent questions. The questions might ask you to disclose details about any health issues. On this page you can make an enquiry with an adviser to get possible quotes. And by entering your phone number you will get an accurate, personalized no obligation quote from an experienced life insurance adviser.
  
  If you can find an insurer who specialises in your particular condition, they will be able to assess your risk factors in a detailed way and give you the best value life insurance coverage.
  
  Cheers,
  Joanne
  
  Reply
JenniferDecember 4, 2016

Is there a life insurance policy for a minimum of $50,000 payout?

Reply
- finder Customer Care
  
  RichardDecember 5, 2016Staff
  
  Hi Jennifer,
  
  Thanks for getting in touch. Several life insurance brands offer cover starting from $50,000 including ANZ, Noble Oak and Zurich.
  
  I hope this was helpful,
  Richard
  
  All the best,
  Richard
  
  Reply

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Direct Life Insurance Award Winner: NobleOak Life Insurance