A Quick Guide to New Zealand Health Insurance@Allfinanz

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) November 7, 2011 -- We’ve created this to answer some of the most common health insurance questions we receive from people immigrating to NZ. We hope it’s useful – and if you have any questions yourself don’t hesitate to ask!

A quick bit of fine print!
As you’d expect, the info in this guide is general and might not be relevant for your individual situation. So please make sure you get advice before taking any action based on the information in this guide.

The basics

Q. So what is health insurance for in New Zealand?

If you’re faced with a serious health problem, instead of receiving treatment through the public system, with its waiting lists and associated delays and access problems, a person with health insurance can receive private treatment quickly, at the hospital of their choice.

Q. If there is a public health system, why do I need health insurance?

NZ’s public health system still provides good services for emergency situations (like a car crash) but for other health problems - even very serious ones, like cancer treatment - people can spend months or even years on waiting lists. If you have health insurance you won’t need to wait - you can access high quality treatment quickly and focus on getting better.


Choosing the right plan


Q. What type of cover should I get?

First, make sure your plan covers 100% of your major medical expenses. These days private hospitalisation costs can be huge (easily many tens of thousands of dollars and sometimes more). Your plan needs to offer 100% cover for these. If it doesn’t, then keep looking.

But there’s a bit more to it…Your health insurance also needs to cover non-surgical hospitalisation (cancer treatment like chemotherapy for example), and it needs to cover it well. It’s a little known fact that many health insurance plans on the market don’t cover this area adequately - so you need to check this point carefully.

Q. Do I need to worry about limits and maximums?

Yes, you need to make sure your plan has generous maximums. Broadly speaking, NZ plans can cover your costs in two ways. One is to give a long list of various medical treatments and procedures and assign each one a dollar value (for example “Surgeons fee - $6,000 per operation, Laparoscopic disposables - $4,500 per operation”).  The dollar value is the maximum that the plan will pay. The other option is to give a total amount that the plan will pay (for example “Surgery - $250,000 per annum”). Because future medical costs are so hard to predict, we reckon that you get better protection with the second option.

Q. What’s “Pharmac” and how does this affect health insurance?
In NZ there is an organisation called Pharmac, which chooses whether or not to subsidise various medicines in the public health system. The result of this is that there are a number of drugs, which are readily available overseas, that are not available in the NZ public system in many situations. A high profile example of a ‘non-Pharmac funded’ drug was the breast cancer treatment Herceptin. This is now publicly funded, but many other treatments are not.

Most health insurance plans will only cover medicines that are on the Pharmac ‘list’, which restricts possible treatment options. Out of the different insurers, as far as we’re aware, only one covers medicines that are not on the Pharmac list.


What about cover for GP or Dentist costs?
This is a major point of difference between plans in NZ and overseas – here, plans that cover “day-to-day” medical costs are seldom good value for money. We recommend that people get cover for major medical expenses and pay for things like GP and dentist visits themselves. A good rule when looking at insurance is to only get it for things that you can't afford to pay for yourself (like large medical bills).

Pre-existing conditions

Q. What about pre-existing conditions?

A pre-existing condition is basically a health issue that you know about (or suspect), that occurred before you started your health insurance.  Health insurance plans are usually not designed to cover pre-existing or recent health problems, so treatment relating to the pre-existing condition will usually be excluded from your health insurance (this means that the plan won’t pay for costs relating to this issue). Some pre-existing issues will be permanently excluded from the health insurance, while others can sometimes be covered after a period of time. Or the insurer might charge a higher premium to cover the issue. There is a lot of variation here, so while it’s always personal, it’s important to discuss pre-existing or recent health issues with your adviser – as this might have a big impact on the health insurer that’s right for you.

Visa requirements


Q: I don’t have Permanent Residency or a 2 Year Work Visa – can I get cover?

The minimum requirement for "normal" NZ health insurance policies is a two year visa with at least one year remaining until expiry (because this is the usual requirement to access free treatment under NZ’s public health system). If you don’t meet this requirement then you need a plan that will also cover treatment in NZ’s public hospital system. Inform can outline a good option for you if you’re in this situation.

Inform’s service

Q. How can Inform help?

We are online insurance advisers, and can help you look at the different health plans on the market and choose the best one for you. With Inform you get the best of both worlds – online convenience, and the confidence and security of personal, professional advice and service. You can sort out your insurance when it suits, where it suits, and without the complication, pushy sales, or the usual hassle. 

Q. So how do I get started?

In order to put together a recommendation for you we first need to know some of your personal details (for example dates of birth, smoking status, etc). Different plans suit different people, so these things have a big impact on which insurer will be the best for you.

We have an online “Fact Finder” form, which is quick and easy to complete.


For more information you can visit us at: http://www.allfinanz.co.nz/ Of course, we are here to help if you have any questions. You can call us on 0800 427 378 or email us at askus@allfinanz.co.nz.

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