1. Inflation

Over time, inflation affects not only your income but also expenses such as rent, fuel, food, and of course your health insurance premium. This may surprise you (or not), but the inflation rate in the healthcare industry is much higher than in most other industries.

2. Your age

Your health insurance premium is generally dependent on various factors, including your age. Increasing age can affect your health insurance premium on renewal.
What can you do about it?

You can’t turn back time and get younger, but what you can do is to evaluate the plan you go for, for example adding claim excess onto your policy or reducing some optional benefits. So, always customize your insurance based on your age and on your healthcare needs as well.

Don’t panic. Your cover will not immediately stop if you happen to miss a premium payment. Your policy provides 31 days’ grace for any premium due. If you miss a premium payment you should contact your insurer as soon as possible and make arrangements to pay the missed premium. If you do nothing, and the premium remains outstanding beyond the 31-day grace period, then your insurer is entitled to cancel your policy by providing notice to you in writing.

People’s lives are always changing. As a result, any life, disability or health insurance policy needs to be reviewed and adjusted mid-term policy or at renewal to ensure that the solutions currently in place are still ‘fit for purpose’ and that other risk mitigation factors are still relevant.

Timing of a review

• Changes in a person’s circumstances can occur at any time. Unfortunately, unless a client informs an insurer or their adviser of these changes, appropriate adjustments cannot be made.
• This is usually a minimum of one or two years unless certain circumstances are known and identified that will require the situation to be reviewed earlier.

If you consider the current existing policy follow-up service and other issues, our company welcomes clients to transfer the policy to our company for policy follow-up services. The services include: policy review; daily policy update; policy claims; policy payment and other services.

Speak to our Financial Adviser by email us at info@wisdom8.co.nz give us a call at 0800 wisdom.

If you are considering to cancel your policy, please contact us at 09 300 6011.

Please note that when your policy is cancelled, your previous illness will be treated as pre-existing medical condition. If you apply for a new policy later, your pre-existing medical condition may be excluded by the insurance company or you will need to pay a higher premium.

• You are 16 to 70 years of age; and
• You are a New Zealand citizen or a permanent resident or you hold a current New Zealand work permit or a long term New Zealand Working visa

If, prior to applying for cover or prior to the issue of your policy, you have or develop a medical condition or you suffer an injury, then that medical condition or injury must be disclosed to, and accepted by, insurer in order for it to be covered under your policy. A pre-existing medical condition can be accepted with or without an extra premium, or may only be covered from a specified point in time after the commencement date of your policy. In some cases, a pre-existing condition may be excluded from cover.

You can increase your cover in the following ways:
By utilising the Special Events Increase Facility in your policy, which allows you to increase your cover without the need to provide any additional health information if you experience one of a number of special events in your life.
In each case, an increase in cover attracts an additional premium.

Yes, you can. If your circumstances or your financial responsibilities change, you can reduce your Life Cover at any time.

Yes, you can. You may cancel your policy at any time.
All of our policies come with a 15-day free-look period. If, at any time within the first 15 days of receiving your policy, you do not wish to continue your cover (for whatever reason), you may cancel your policy and get a full refund of any premiums paid. You may still cancel your policy at any time after this free-look period, but you will not receive a refund of any premiums paid.

Yes, you are. Regardless of where you travel in the world, the reason for your travel or for how long you are away, you will be covered. This means that you remain covered even if you decide to leave New Zealand to travel or work overseas.

No, you are not covered under your health insurance policy while you are outside New Zealand. Cover in that event is customarily provided by travel insurance policies. However, if you develop a medical condition or suffer an injury while you are overseas, and you then return to New Zealand, you are covered for that medical condition or injury.

If you plan to be overseas for two months or more, then you can apply to your insurer to have your cover suspended during that period. In that event no premiums are payable, and on your return you can resume premium payments and cover under your policy will then be reinstated.

Yes, you can. You may change the owner of your policy at any time. All existing and any new policy owners must agree to the change. For example, you could change the policy owner from just yourself to joint ownership between yourself and your partner. In order to change the policy owner, simply complete a Change of Ownership Form.

No. Under current New Zealand tax legislation there is no tax payable on any Life Cover benefit which is paid under this policy.