Medical Insurance

This covers the costs of private medical consultations and treatment.
This is so that you can get the best care without having to wait on the state system.

If you’re unfortunate to develop a serious medical condition then you will have three priorities:

• To get yourself fixed & healthy as quickly as possible.
• To get the best medical care that you can.
• To get that care without having to worry about what it’s going to cost.

Medical insurance is designed to cover these priorities; no waiting lists, access to the best specialists for your medical condition, and protection from the sometimes staggering amounts that you would normally have to pay.

Types of Medical Cover

Base Cover:

• Hospital & Surgical Plan
  Covers the costs of hospitalization, surgery, major diagnostic tests such as MRI and CT scans, as well as any other minor diagnostic tests or specialist visits that are related to a hospital or surgical procedure: this is the cheapest type of plan, but still provides excellent protection for all of the expensive areas of healthcare.

Optional:

• Specialists option
  This extends the Hospital & Surgical Cover to include all minor diagnostic tests or specialist visits, even if they are not related to a hospital or surgical procedure. The extra cover can be useful; especially if you have younger children, but it’s not really worth it if you have a $500 or more excess.
• GP & Prescriptions option
  These plans extend cover to include smaller more routine costs. Although they may seem attractive; the far higher premiums and waiting periods that apply do not make these types of policy viable, and they are not recommended.
• Optical & Dental and other Benefit
• Optional Cover For Non-Pharmac Supplied Drugs
  Drugs & medications prescribed by GP’s & Specialists in New Zealand are all approved by Medsafe. Not all of these drugs are offered and subsidized by Pharmac however; and the majority of insurance companies will only cover Pharmac approved drugs.
  There have been several cases in recent years in which a specialist would have liked to prescribe a drug listed by Medsafe, but not covered by Pharmac. This has resulted in patients having to make the difficult choice of either paying a very large sum themselves, or to take an alternate medication which was not the first choice of the specialist.
  Out of the total number of major medical insurers in New Zealand, only a few cover non-Pharmac Medications.
• Excess Options
  Most providers offer a range of excess options;
  usually $0, $250, $500, $1,000, $2,000, $4000, $5000 , $6000 and $10,000.
  Adding an excess is recommended – paying the first $250, $500 or even $1,000 of each claim won’t increase your risk by a great deal, but the reduction in premium will make a big saving in the total premiums paid over 10 or 20 years.

The plan details will vary from insurance company, please refer to the policy wording of the cover.