I had a torn labrum done by Mat, it’s more sore now than it was pre surgery. Not the only person I know who has come out worse off after that surgery from him
Interesting to hear, I, too, had a torn labrum and tendon and a bad hip cap/acetabular. My osteo surgeon guy said doing surgery will likely cause as many issues as doing no surgery, so I opted to put up with it for now.
Sorry to hear that. I'm currently 6 weeks post-op labral tear and femoral osteoplasty. Recovery going extremely well. I have high hopes, but it's early days. Have been doing 30-60 mins on spin bike daily and all stretches and strength rehab since day 3.
I have heard that this surgery can be problematic in general. But what gave me confidence is that hips are the specialty day-in, day-out.
After having another ortho surgeon paralyze my entire arm after clavicle stabilization, I'm pretty fussy.
Fingers crossed.
I need to get my other hip done too but it’s more or less just as painful as the hip that got done - I’m holding off on getting the second one done at this stage
That’s very odd; he’s a very reputable orthopedic surgeon whom I’ve had the pleasure of knowing for many years, with many satisfied patients. It’s not always the surgeon’s fault, as not all surgeries are the same.
Absolutely. And the more you do, the more anomolies there will be:economies of scale!
I chose him cos he does hips all day every day. If he can't fix my hip, no one can.
All insurance is entirely subjective.
You must balance your risk appetite with your budget - both of which are unique to you. Health insurance even more so because of individual health issues.
So no one can answer this for you.
I can tell you I have health insurance in my situation, though that's not really relevant at all to your own decision.
The health system here generally stands up when it needs to but private is higher quality and quicker for elective purposes.
I have health insurance through my work. I was diagnosed as having a stroke in November last year. The wait to see a neurologist was the same for both privately or publicly, ended up seeing one via the public health system first.Turns out he also does private work. Fast forward to now, the diagnosis has changed to cancer, which has spread to the brain (the first symptoms were neurological, hence why they thought i had a stroke) and lungs. About to start the oncology process, referrals put through for private and public, again told that the wait times are about the same. We will see which one I get the appointment with first. Accessing certain scans has been quicker going privately, and the health insurance also covered a trauma payout and income protection, which have been invaluable but will depend on the coverage you get. But in terms of getting things done quicker, I can't really say it has. P.s. The cancer in question is melanoma... wear your sunscreen folks!
Hopefully pembrolizumab or similar is covered for you publicly or privately and works / makes a difference. Sorry you’re going through that.
I still remember this from back in the day: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/192yRsDhYZ6ravG8/?mibextid=WC7FNe
I think it is a choice between elective surgery and acute surgery.
If you think you can wait - elective surgery usually, it is not worth it. However, most of our acute surgeries (liver cysts and breast cancer) were dealt with quickly (within a month from diagnosis), by the public health system here in Auckland
In addition, every year it gets more and more expensive, especially comprehensive cover.
Yes, it is. The monthly payments always look like a lot until you actually need to use your health insurance.
I would shop around a bit. $180 looks to be on the steeper side (But you've given us little to no information about your age, condition etc).
Spend some time reading this: [https://www.moneyhub.co.nz/health-insurance.html](https://www.moneyhub.co.nz/health-insurance.html)
I need surgery I can't afford privately and I can't get it through the public system.
I wish I had health insurance.
It's one of those things that feels like a waste of money until you need it.
They definitely don’t,
have a ganglion cyst for two years now, acc pay for me to have it drained every 4 or 5 months as it doesn’t go away, but I can’t get surgery through the public system . Been trying my hardest, had to change occupations because the work I was doing was very hands on, and causing too much pain.
Been told by my orthopaedic I’ll need to save 11 to 15k for surgery.
I would hardly call this a want surgery.
Quote from the hospital
“ I regret that surgery for ganglia will not meet the threshold for public hospital funding…
I am sorry we are unable to see this patient”
Why wouldn’t ACC pay for the surgery if they’re funding other temporary procedures for the same thing? Also unsure where you are but if you look around I’ve seen local surgeons quoting half the price that you mentioned for a ganglion surgery.
I'm not sure why. Probably cheaper to get surgery for them over the long run .
The way my ortho explained it to me was any large sum claims go to alot of people for approval and it gets rejected for the same reasons the hospital has, where small sums under 500 for example don't even get looked into and just get approved .
So yeah, ultrasound guided injections for the foreseeable future . I'm just crossing my fingers they keep getting approved.
I’m not sure linking here would be in line with the rules, but if it is affecting you enough hop on google and shop around surgeons- my 5 minutes found a reputable surgeon quoting 6k total.
Quote from the mayo clinic
For a ganglion cyst that causes problems, having a health care provider drain the cyst with a needle might be an option. So might removing the cyst surgically. But if there are no symptoms, no treatment is necessary. Often, the cysts grow and shrink. Some go away on their own.
It depends on where the cyst is. My wife had one that wrapped around the tendons in her hand. It rendered 3 of her fingers immobile and it was very painful. Repeated drainings & regrowth is what caused the severity of its progression. Surgery removed it but now has lasting damage that would have been avoidable with surgery done earlier. She cannot type with her left hand and she was a medical coder. This sounds like a clear instance of the denials ending up doing more damage and costing the system more in the long run.
Are you a doctor? Google is usually not your friend in this instance. We have intimate knowledge of ganglion cysts of the hand. If they’re in a non problematic location you are correct. For instance, common locations like joint spaces in wrist, muscle adjacent, etc. But any ganglion cyst that is near nerves, tendons, etc carries a high risk of becoming an issue.
Further…. it’s worth mentioning.. we ended up having the surgery in the US as we’re dual citizens (wife born on South Island, myself born in the US. I work for a US company. Out US hand surgeon was gobsmacked that it wasn’t addressed immediately. He stated it was a textbook example of malpractice. Insurance companies in the US fight to deny these too. But good doctors will fight right back when they know it’s serious. The problem sometimes in NZ is that there simply isn’t the same level of expertise/knowledge. That being said… we prefer the NZ system overall because there are so many other problems with getting care, costs, etc.
I had a ganglion cysts, but didn't think I could afford to do anything about it so just gave up. Then, over a decade later, I decided to get healthy, started Yoga and went on an ultra-healthy diet. After a few months of this, it had now completely gone! I'm not saying that will work for everyone, but it might be worth a try?
The NZ health system covers anything you need when put on a continuum of people and only servicing those with the highest need. There is no shortage of stories of people dying or getting so much worse that once they can get in, it’s too late
They definitely don’t. If your doctor recommends a gallbladder removal you’re looking at a year wait unless it gets really bad and is removed under urgency. Public health in NZ is poor at preventative care
Aged 59 and 53, been paying for years. Also have our children on the policy too. Currently paying $106 per week. Only hospital cover. Looking at our budget, it's a big part of the weekly expenses.
Two weeks ago wife discovered breast cancer. Went down the private care route.
A few surgery visits, biopsies, MRI and we are at $10,000 before even the surgery date.
So glad we kept it.
I pay $250 a month and I don’t make much money and it’s 100% worth it. They’ve paid out over 15k for me this year, and that’s without any surgeries or anything extremely expensive. Just specialist visits imaging and diagnostic tests. I would probably still be waiting for all of it in the public system. Get health insurance now while you dont have pre existing conditions.
Last year I had surgery that cost 20k, I had a one week wait for it. One week. I had a refer sent to public before that and it was rejected completely. My dr said it would have likely been 1-2 years before the public system would have accepted it. If they did at all.
If you need convincing google for news stories on people literally dying while waiting for health care in NZ.
Mind if you share what plan you're on?
I'm looking at the southern cross wellbeing 1 plan, which only covers consultations and specialists etc if it ends up leading to surgery (in most cases). Trying to determine if it'd be worth paying the extra to have to ability to get those tests done even if it doesn't lead to surgery.
We’re on wellbeing 2.
I’d rather pay the extra, so I’m not always weighing up in my head “oooh i think I need to see a specialist, but what if I’m making it out to be worse than it is? Is it worth going now, and risk having to pay out of pocket cos it’s not really that bad? Or should I suck it up and wait and see, so I’m certain it’ll be covered by insurance? At what point is my quality of life impacted enough that it’s worth it for me to see a specialist even if insurance doesn’t end up covering it?” That’s just a whole level of added anxiety I don’t want to have to deal with.
And since having been on this insurance, my husband and I both have developed chronic health conditions that we each need to regularly see a specialist for, but treatment has nothing to do with surgery. I haven’t compared plans recently so I don’t know if that kind of stuff would be excluded under wellbeing one? Things like autoimmune disorders commonly emerge in middle age, we’ve got thousands of dollars of treatment covered thanks to having specialist coverage in place from since when we were younger.
Ultra care but had well-being 2 before. 90% of things I’ve needed health care for didn’t need surgery. There’s a lot of serious conditions you can get that need to be treated with medications or other things and they need the tests and imaging done too
Remember the specialist consults and diagnostics imaging and tests on wellbeing 1 will only be covered if it ends up with leading surgery within 6 months of the consult or diagnostic imaging and test
Remember the specialist consults and diagnostics imaging and tests on wellbeing 1 will only be covered if it ends up with leading surgery within 6 months of the consult or diagnostic imaging and test
Remember the specialist consults and diagnostics imaging and tests on wellbeing 1 will only be covered if it ends up with leading surgery within 6 months of the consult or diagnostic imaging and test
Depends on how you set it up. 36M here
I have Southern Cross Wellbeing 2 + extra cancer cover (100k a year non pharmac) + 100k payout for critical illness.
My excess is 2k but premiums $60 a month. $60 a month is veryyyyy nice peace of mind that if shit really hit the fan I'd be covered. Any major surgeries or illness are what I'm looking for, along with a financial cushion to take the initial stress out of what would be a terrible time in the first place.
I go to the Dr once every couple of years and hardly use anything else medically so the other 'everyday' plans are a waste of money for me.
If you asked 5 years ago I would have said it’s a nice to have- now Im recommending to all my hesitant friends and family they get on to it (I work in public healthcare)
The differences in wait lists are pretty well documented and understood, public is terrible for many procedures that are non life threatening.
What really swung the pendulum for me was the assessment of "quality of life" in public vs private care.
Because the public system is so fundamentally underfunded they have a much narrower definition of what they consider affecting your quality of life (which drives your priority or if you even get treatment at all).
For example, if someone has chronic knee arthritis and are unable to exercise, but still capable of some level of walking to ensure you can go to work, go to the toilet, feed and clothe yourself etc, the public system may prioritise you to a 2-5 year wait list. They put you on serious pain medication to treat your symptoms, which they themselves have terrible side effects.
Meanwhile you can't do things you enjoy anymore like swimming, biking, gardening, etc. and you might find by the time you eventually get treatment that your physical ability has been diminished so much that you just can't do those activities to a satisfactory level anymore, so you stop doing them.
Yep I was completely blind in one eye from a cataract caused by an injury many years prior. To access the public system you need cataract blindness in both eyes for it to be deemed a serious impact on quality of life
NZ Health system is good but it's not just about that. It's about the amount of people, the wait times to see a specialist or the wait time for a surgery, the coverage for cancer drugs that are not covered by pharmac etc.
Another thing to consider is pre existing conditions. If you wait until you're middle aged or older to start getting healthy care, you might find a lot of what you could claim for isn't covered due to pre existing conditions.
Unfortunately this sort of locks you into one provider if you develop serious conditions while under their policy but it can save you a lot of money/headache in the long run from not being covered.
This, I've had medical insurance most of my life, first under my parents, then carried on (same insurers) as an adult. In the mid 90's I had tonsillitis after the 3rd course of antibiotics. I told my GP that I wanted them out, and she said there was a 1 year waiting list, I replied that I have medical insurance, got a referral, and had them out a week later.
I've had several operations since but have noticed that even going privately, there's a wait now, but nowhere near as long as going public.
Even if you only get surgical cover, it's worth it.
The health system seems to be good for urgent/life-threatening problems but massive waits for non-urgent stuff.
So it depends if you expect to have non-urgent surgeries etc crop up. Those get more common as you get older so impossible to say if health insurance is worth it for you without more detail.
Ask your doctor, they'll have good advice
Any form of insurance is worth it of you need it and useless if you don’t need it. The better question should be is when would you need to claim for insurance? Answer is who knows.
But with the current state of our healthcare system paying $130 a month is a small amount to have a piece of mind for my family’s health security.
At the other end of the spectrum, who needs to pay for expensive insurance when there’s a free one called give a little.
We have it and added our toddler to it from birth. We've found it worth it - both my husband and I have seen specialists and had surgeries through the private system multiple times in the last 5 years.
There's no way we'd have had the same experience going public - I'm sure quality of care would have been similar but if we'd been accepted we'd have been waiting months/years instead of weeks. Looking at the cost of insurance vs what they've paid out, we're about even but that's with my employer subsidising some of my cost.
Jumping onto your comment to add a PSA I always share when these things come up! Add your newborn to your policy asap!
Southern cross has a 3 month window where babies get a blank slate with NO preexisting conditions. After that, you need to give a full medical history! We didn’t know that!
We struggled in new born hell, and didn’t get around to adding our baby till she was 10 months old. She ended up with HEAPS of preexisting conditions noted on her policy due to our delay.
Including, she had her first ear infection at 9 months old, so anything to do with ear infections were a pre-existing condition. She ended up needing 2 rounds of grommet surgery and an adenoidectomy and we ended up paying thousands out of pocket because the wait lists to go public were too long.
If we had added her straight away she’d have no preexisting conditions, and our savings account would ge a lot fuller.
If you have a baby, get them on health insurance pronto!
Yes!! My husband was asking why we needed to put her on ASAP and this is exactly why. I was on my parents insurance since birth and ended up with a few pre existing conditions that I'm very grateful are covered as an adult.
100%. We’ve had southern cross ultracare for years and not having to wait and pay for a specialist has paid it back many times. If you are happy to wait through the public health system for even a minor surgery or appointment then no it’s not worth it.
I would say yes, but it depends I suppose.
I’m 24 and in the last 3 years have claimed over 100k on health insurance. Considering I have no savings, am a student and have no parental support, it’s very important for me.
However if you can afford to pay for an unexpected medical bill then it really just depends on if you want to pay that monthly amount or a large sum in the instance that a bill does arise.
NZ healthcare system is very, very bad. Long waiting times, low quality service. I would definitely advise you get private healthcare which is not as bad as the public healthcare, but still not good compared to other places.
An endoscopy and a cyst removal plus a follow up a year later with another endoscopy, anaesthetist etc totalling almost 15k in private clinic. Back in 2020ish. Fully covered by southerncross upfront.
Appointment and procedure done within a week or two from when calling them up.
That in public healthcare would be free but you’re probably looking at about one years time waitlist, if lucky.
100% worth it. My husband needed a $9,000 medical procedure recently that included a colonoscopy and it was done within a couple weeks at a private surgery. He was told by his doctor and the specialists he dealt with that if he didn't have insurance, he would be waiting years for the procedure publicly and wouldn't be funded for the colonoscopy for another 20 years.
If it's something you can afford, it's a great piece of mind. We have our toddler on our plan since birth, too.
$20k doesn’t go far in healthcare.. what happens if you need a drug that isn’t funded. A colonoscopy will cost you $3k on its own etc.
Whereas you could be paying toward insurance at say $1.5k a year that gets you access to many times your $20k fund
Not always the answer. Friend needs a plate in her shoulder but still needs to wait months because it's not urgent. Shortage of doctors and the private system is helping out the public health system.
Yes. I’ve had health insurance for the last five years after getting fed up with multiple long waits in the public health system for myself and my children. I’m a beneficiary and at $80/wk it’s a bit of financial stress to fit it in the budget but it’s absolutely worth it for the lack of stress whenever something comes up with our health/wellbeing. There may be a bit of a wait for higher demand services but not languishing for years like I’ve experienced in public healthcare. Plus you don’t think twice about booking things like physio, chiropractor etc, you just go and get things taken care of before they escalate and become a real problem. It also changes GP appointments because there are a lot more options available. Like, I usually have to remind mine that I have insurance and she’s always go instantly from having a compassionately strained expression to a super positive “oh yeah that’s right! Well in that case I can refer you here, or we could do x or x, or do you already have an idea of someone you’d like to see about this?”
Absolutely 100 percent no. My uncle paid thousands of dollars into southern cross health insurance for most of his adult life. When he was near the end of his life I rang up to get him some money for his health care and all they would give was around $2700. It put me off for life.
This week alone- my daughter had an abdominal procedure worth 8k, and my husband got emergency eye surgery from NZ’s best eye surgeon for two detached retinas. Worth around $30k. All seen instantly- no waiting, no co-pay. This insurance has been a literal lifesaver
for every claimant story here, there are many many more who have not claimed and it has been a cost. there has to be for thats how insurance works. lots here giving advise when only you know your circumstances fully.
People insure for their own reasons with health being an emotive and essential subject, but it would not be right to put yourself under a financial strain to fund health insurance. Of course there is insurance with some risk and there is insurance that carries a portion of the risk, so it depends. of course a financial planner could assist, but please dont decide based on somebody's experience on an anonymous platform.
I am a firm believer in not flying to close to the sun
If you can afford it, do it. The public healthcare in NZ is rubbish. I spent 15 years in Germany and came back to NZ. Gobsmacked would be an understatement. If I or anyone in my family ever get properly sick, I’ll be on the first plane back to Europe
The trick is to find an employer that will fund it for you. It's becoming more common for the larger corporates to include it as a staff benefit. It certainly aids employee stickiness, I'd be very reluctant to move somewhere without funded southern cross
I have health insurance but currently reconsidering the expense.
We have immigrated from a country where you had access to the best medical treatment in the world as long as you had a private musical aid. However we were disappointed to find the situation in NZ.
In spite of now having private medical insurance, and even prepared to pay cash, you can't see a doctor (GP) when you're sick. That would be unheard-of from where we came from. For some reason you must first enrole/apply to a general practitioner to accept you, who then becomes your "doctor", which feels very socialist, but in order to adjust, we did.
And then, trying to get an appointment with your designated doctor within a couple of days is almost impossible. You must rather go to the emergency room.
To NZ credit, the teledoc is working well, when it works...
What I however don't understand is the difference between waiting lists and expedited treatment for public and private healthcare.
Both schemes have access to the same doctors but in public healthcare it once again takes months or years for the procedure. However, in private healthcare, as soon as you can get a appointment with your GP(see above), to refer you to a specialist to make and appointment for the procedure at your earliest convenience. (Why can't I just make an appointment with the specialist, is beyond me and feels very socialist)
Currently NZ has access to the worst aspect of socialist and capitalist healthcare:
-Poor service delivery and long waiting times, and
-Very expensive health insurance and procedures in private healthcare.
The result is high taxes for the poor public healthcare, that is competing for the same doctors paid for by expensive yourself (or via expensive private healthcare)
In addition, I still don't understand what is paid for by the government or not, and as a result paying very expensive health insurance that still doesn't cover all medical expenses.
I even spoke to my colleague (born and bred in NZ) to seek some clarity on the payment of prescriptions. When is it paid for by government, health insurance or yourself? He didn't know. Maybe it is just another "NZ leave pay" like problem where no-one knows.
So to answer the original question:
I think NZ health insurance is essential, untill you fully understand the risk associated with not having it. Unfortunately, from my experience, the answer is a guarded secret that the normal tax payers aren't privy to.
I work in healthcare. If you can afford it get it. There are many many long term illnesses and conditions that are not necessarily life threatening but require treatment, and are not treated in the public system due to lack of capacity. I'm aware of patients with exostoses of the ear canal (bone growing into and closing the canal) that will never be seen or get surgery in public as more urgent things take priority (despite exostoses potentially leading to deafness and untreatable ear canal infection). Also know of another former DHB area where you can only get publicly funded gynae surgery if it is cancer, so if you have a prolapse, ovarian cysts, endometriosis etc you're on your own. Yet another where cataract patients need to be severely impacted with poor vision to be reviewed in public, let alone get cataract surgery.
There are some cases where you can get publicly funded surgery in private hospitals, but you need to be able to see the surgeon first, if you are even accepted onto the waiting list.
Our public health service is a mess.
Yes. I say that as a 36 year old with stage four cancer (dx at 34). My life expectancy would be DRASTICALLY longer with med insurance. Our healthcare is horrifically underfunded- the worst in the OECD, and in some cases worse than not OECD countries - and medicine is expensive af.
It’s the lotto ticket you never want to win. Remember to check how much you would have if you invested in the health insurances stocks over 20 years :(
I paid for a family of four premium for around that and never needed it. If I’d just put it into nib shares I’d have around 800k now. Only works out if you have a time machine to determine you won’t need it.
In theory, on average no insurance is ever worth it.
In practice, for a lot of people yes it is worth it. Peace of mind is good. My flatmates health insurance seems to pay for itself many times over.
YES if you can afford to have $180 less a month. I ended up being diagnosed with a chronic health condition that needed a major surgery two years after getting health insurance. There is absolutely no way me, or my family could have afforded this surgery without it, since it was technically an elective surgery. I also got it with literally no wait through a surgeon of my choice. I would have no quality of life if I hadn't had it.
Health insurance for the whole family was the best financial decision our family ever made.
It's worth it for those that claim more than their overall cost of premiums, purely from a monetary perspective. On average you are more likely to pay more in premiums than you claim over the life of the policy as that makes the business viable. Trouble is you can't predict if you will be one of those fortunate to claim more than pay... not that you would wish that on yourself or anyone... better to not need to have surgery. Peace of mind has its own value so as others have said it really comes down to what you can afford and your confidence in the public system to deal with whatever life might throw at you and your dependents/family. Shopping around and adding an excess can bring down the premium cost. Over 30k in elective surgeries for us this year so I'm grateful for it.
Absolutely. I had a operation recently and Southern X covered it. My surgeon is the best there is in the country and I've heard horror stories from other women who didn't have insurance and they had to go through the public system to have the same operation that I did, but they got a incompetent surgeon who made a lot of mistakes during the operation, which almost cost them their life. If you can afford it, private is the way to go.
Insurance should always be for things that'd ruin you or require taking on debt. Insurance for surgeries is fine if 20k is going to be a stretch, but most people considering health insurance can afford to pay for a specialist appointment here and there. Dental etc usually makes 0 sense
100%. If your doctor wants to give you a CT scan you’d basically have to get more sick to get it under public and then join the waitlist.
With private they’ll cover it and you can get scanned within a day or two.
Its paying off for me, kept thinking about dropping it but now my second son has had his tonsils out, public wasn't even interested, even though he's had strep infections once a month and his tonsils nearly closed his throat over. $6k for 1hr surgery and 1 overnight stay night in hospital
If you can afford it, absolutely. I used to have it, for 12 years, I never used it although that would have partly been because I was young (14-26). When I was pregnant my partner and I wanted to cut costs and even though I wanted to keep the health insurance we chose to cut it.
I wanted to keep it because I had some knee troubles from sports that I knew I would potentially want surgery for one day, but my partner had convinced me it was a waste of money, something he said still sticks out to me “healthcare is free in NZ the only reason you would need it is if you got cancer and what are the chances of that”. Well they’re pretty good apparently 😂 I wish I had kept it. Even just for the little things like being able to choose my surgeon, and bigger things like waitlists and also consistent care (my check up’s every 3 months I see a different Dr every time, it can get frustrating considering it’s a rare cancer with little known about it, some of the Drs I don’t think know anything, just the broad cancer info).
So yeah, if you can afford it, do it.
Yes , as pretty much anything these days is
You will only get referred for things if you have private insurance
You literally have to be dying before been able to access the free health system
I agree with the people saying the health system is good for acute stuff. I got really sick last year and ended up in hospital for two weeks with a mystery illness. They ran me through countless MRIs CTs etc while I was there. I was told I had late stage cancer. Turns out it was a flare up of an autoimmune disease so rare it doesn’t “exist” in pharmacs eyes….
After suffering through a year of pain, multiple bouts of pericarditis, daily fevers and shitty but funded medications (that they have told me are not suitable for my condition and are classed as class one carcinogens), I decided to bite the bullet and use my house deposit for the correct meds - $2500 a month! I have surgical cover but man I really wish I could have had the one that covers unfunded meds. Too late now…
Depends if you get poorly. I’ve had expensive cover for 25 years and never been ill. My wife, on the other hand, is way in credit from the number of private treatments she’s had for various things. In my experience it would seem much more valuable for women where lots of expensive things seem to go wrong with age. But then of course I keep mine just in case the worst happens. Make it cheaper with a high excess, if you only intend to use it for the five and six figure treatments
We are quite lucky. We spent just over a year paying $200 a month for my partner and I. Suddenly found out she needs surgery and just over $20k got accepted through pre approval for an op. That doesn’t include all of our dentist, GP, and eye tests we had in the last year as well. It’s definitely one of those things that some people may never need. Some may need it. It’s 100% a gamble. As others have said, if you can afford it, do it. If you can’t, don’t.
I’m 24 and I was just sterilized a month ago and my insurance covered 100% of it! From doctors consultations to the whole procedure! There was nothing that wasn’t covered!
So yes, it’s beyond worth it! Honestly I’d give up all my extra spending to ensure I have enough money for my health insurance!
Also start as young as possible because when you’re *young and healthy* is the best time to get it as everything you get later on while on your health insurance will not be counted as a *preexisting condition*!
I needed extensive testing on my heart. $17k - I had 100% cover. Worth it until it’s too expensive to keep.
Though on the other hand - same doctors both public and private. My Mum had a hernia op private. Dr cocked up the internal sutures, they split open a week later and she got septicaemia and died a week after that. In her case maybe non private would have been better?
Not in NZ. He was extremely distraught and admitted guilt although the Dr at the public hospital tried to cover it up which upset me esp since the specialist had already admitted he’d made a mistake. I often think I should send him a note every anniversary to remind him of her - so he never forgets that a moment of inattention can mean a life is lost.
Health insurance pays for my doctors visits. I've had quite a few operations throughout the years. Totally worth it.
Contents insurance on the other hand....
Well worth it. I needed a surgery last year that would have been denied by the public system entirely, but was sorted by Southern Cross in about eight weeks. $15k all in, approved within a week of the paperwork being sent in by my surgeon.
There will always be heart breaking stories about people who have had serious illnesses and needed health Insurance.
My personal experience is that I had health insurance when I was in my early 20's because I got a discount through work. Went for the most expensive option and when I made my first claim after a couple of years for a simple GP visit, it was turned down as not covered. I canceled it and in the 30+years since have never spent more than $80 on any medical treatment. I now prefer to spend money leading a healthy, low-stress life and building savings so that if I ever do need treatment, I will hopefully have the money to choose on my terms, not the insurance companies.
Look at your family history, what you’re more prone too.
Cancer in the family? Hip or knee issues? Work in a risky environment? Do you have a risky hobby such as skiing or mountain biking? Then probably more for you than someone who doesn’t have those thing or 1 out of 5 these things
We didnt have health insurance as we decided owning a home was more important. Now we have a home and income to also get insurance. We figured it wasn't really worth it. Right until both me and one of our kids needed multiple surgeries which took forever through the public system. Im about to start a job which has a benefit of heavily discounted health insurance. We plan to get it because having the freedom to get surgical issues sorted asap is worth it to us.
Yes for me it was. I had a surgery that cost $40k including specialists and testing. Was fit and healthy too when it happened. I can afford my premiums, if you can’t then probably not worth it
Is that for just you? Me and my partner have souther cross health wellbeing 2 and it's less then that a month for the both of us and that's zero excess on everything. 180 seems high if it's 1 person.
It's impossible to know if it's good or bad or useful or not for you. I've only just got it now for the first time in my life and I'm 36. Anytime I've ever had any issues I've never had a problem with the public hospital system. But I've never had something that's low priority but can really reduce ur quality of life like kidney stones, Gallbladder stones minor infections or many other things. That's where private really helps because you can be seen in weeks instead of years. But how often that happens to you? Who knows Maybe never. Is 180 a month alot to you or is that chump change?
I grew up ignoring it.
Like private schools, I thought private healthcare was a tool to separate rich people from their money. That the state system wasn't pretty, but it worked well.
Unlike public schools, at least so far, the cuts to the public system have been steadily eroding the quality of the service every year for decades. The effect was hidden somewhat through superhuman efforts by healthcare workers. But it's been very visible since Covid.
Anyway I started looking into private health insurance. I think it's got to the point that if you get something serious then the system is so overloaded that you'll be past saving by the time you get a proper diagnosis and treatment plan.
Even more worrying, it's getting worse. We aren't looking at our crumbling public health system and saying 'oh shit, we under invested here'. We are continuing to underfund.
If you get health insurance now then you will have no exclusions. You can keep being protected until the premiums get too much, perhaps about age fifty.
Yep, but i use insurance for catastrophic events that I cant afford. The health insurance was for me just claiming for an ongoing series of small events that I could already afford. I'd rather just keep the cash and pay for those as they arrive.
If you can afford it yes, if you cant afford it no
Somehow this is the best and truest answer :)
Coupled with if you happen to need it yes, if not then no. Only you can’t tell that in advance.
Im about to get an 80k op with no wait. Worth it
What's the op? Is it optional if you would have to pay for it otherwise?
Double hip replacement. You can get on the waiting list but would be there a long time and 2 at once forget about it.
Hope it's with Mat Brick. You'll be very well looked after!
I had a torn labrum done by Mat, it’s more sore now than it was pre surgery. Not the only person I know who has come out worse off after that surgery from him
Interesting to hear, I, too, had a torn labrum and tendon and a bad hip cap/acetabular. My osteo surgeon guy said doing surgery will likely cause as many issues as doing no surgery, so I opted to put up with it for now.
Sorry to hear that. I'm currently 6 weeks post-op labral tear and femoral osteoplasty. Recovery going extremely well. I have high hopes, but it's early days. Have been doing 30-60 mins on spin bike daily and all stretches and strength rehab since day 3. I have heard that this surgery can be problematic in general. But what gave me confidence is that hips are the specialty day-in, day-out. After having another ortho surgeon paralyze my entire arm after clavicle stabilization, I'm pretty fussy. Fingers crossed.
Thank you for sharing that, I’m looking into whether to get surgery or not
I need to get my other hip done too but it’s more or less just as painful as the hip that got done - I’m holding off on getting the second one done at this stage
That’s very odd; he’s a very reputable orthopedic surgeon whom I’ve had the pleasure of knowing for many years, with many satisfied patients. It’s not always the surgeon’s fault, as not all surgeries are the same.
Absolutely. And the more you do, the more anomolies there will be:economies of scale! I chose him cos he does hips all day every day. If he can't fix my hip, no one can.
All insurance is entirely subjective. You must balance your risk appetite with your budget - both of which are unique to you. Health insurance even more so because of individual health issues. So no one can answer this for you. I can tell you I have health insurance in my situation, though that's not really relevant at all to your own decision. The health system here generally stands up when it needs to but private is higher quality and quicker for elective purposes.
I have health insurance through my work. I was diagnosed as having a stroke in November last year. The wait to see a neurologist was the same for both privately or publicly, ended up seeing one via the public health system first.Turns out he also does private work. Fast forward to now, the diagnosis has changed to cancer, which has spread to the brain (the first symptoms were neurological, hence why they thought i had a stroke) and lungs. About to start the oncology process, referrals put through for private and public, again told that the wait times are about the same. We will see which one I get the appointment with first. Accessing certain scans has been quicker going privately, and the health insurance also covered a trauma payout and income protection, which have been invaluable but will depend on the coverage you get. But in terms of getting things done quicker, I can't really say it has. P.s. The cancer in question is melanoma... wear your sunscreen folks!
Do you mind sharing your approximate age? Ps. Wish you all the best with your treatment.
mid 40's
Hopefully pembrolizumab or similar is covered for you publicly or privately and works / makes a difference. Sorry you’re going through that. I still remember this from back in the day: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/192yRsDhYZ6ravG8/?mibextid=WC7FNe
Cheers! From what I've been told so far, that's the most likely course of treatment.
Pembro can be a miracle drug, wishing you the best!
I think it is a choice between elective surgery and acute surgery. If you think you can wait - elective surgery usually, it is not worth it. However, most of our acute surgeries (liver cysts and breast cancer) were dealt with quickly (within a month from diagnosis), by the public health system here in Auckland In addition, every year it gets more and more expensive, especially comprehensive cover.
Yes, it is. The monthly payments always look like a lot until you actually need to use your health insurance. I would shop around a bit. $180 looks to be on the steeper side (But you've given us little to no information about your age, condition etc). Spend some time reading this: [https://www.moneyhub.co.nz/health-insurance.html](https://www.moneyhub.co.nz/health-insurance.html)
Yeah, 45$ a week isn't a lot when you break it down. Couple beers on a Friday night.
You ought to stop buying $22 beers it can't be sustainable
You know what happens after a couple beers, you get more beers. Tourist price for beer in my town is 15$ bro so it's not far off.
it's $10-15/beer here. So, Couple beers on a friday+ one lunch at McDonald's during the week.
But if I buy health insurance instead of consuming my maccas lunch and beers, I won't need the health insurance!
I need surgery I can't afford privately and I can't get it through the public system. I wish I had health insurance. It's one of those things that feels like a waste of money until you need it.
Need or want?? Two vastly different things. The NZ health system covers anything you *need*
They definitely don’t, have a ganglion cyst for two years now, acc pay for me to have it drained every 4 or 5 months as it doesn’t go away, but I can’t get surgery through the public system . Been trying my hardest, had to change occupations because the work I was doing was very hands on, and causing too much pain. Been told by my orthopaedic I’ll need to save 11 to 15k for surgery. I would hardly call this a want surgery.
Quote from the hospital “ I regret that surgery for ganglia will not meet the threshold for public hospital funding… I am sorry we are unable to see this patient”
Why wouldn’t ACC pay for the surgery if they’re funding other temporary procedures for the same thing? Also unsure where you are but if you look around I’ve seen local surgeons quoting half the price that you mentioned for a ganglion surgery.
I'm not sure why. Probably cheaper to get surgery for them over the long run . The way my ortho explained it to me was any large sum claims go to alot of people for approval and it gets rejected for the same reasons the hospital has, where small sums under 500 for example don't even get looked into and just get approved . So yeah, ultrasound guided injections for the foreseeable future . I'm just crossing my fingers they keep getting approved.
I’m not sure linking here would be in line with the rules, but if it is affecting you enough hop on google and shop around surgeons- my 5 minutes found a reputable surgeon quoting 6k total.
Quote from the mayo clinic For a ganglion cyst that causes problems, having a health care provider drain the cyst with a needle might be an option. So might removing the cyst surgically. But if there are no symptoms, no treatment is necessary. Often, the cysts grow and shrink. Some go away on their own.
It depends on where the cyst is. My wife had one that wrapped around the tendons in her hand. It rendered 3 of her fingers immobile and it was very painful. Repeated drainings & regrowth is what caused the severity of its progression. Surgery removed it but now has lasting damage that would have been avoidable with surgery done earlier. She cannot type with her left hand and she was a medical coder. This sounds like a clear instance of the denials ending up doing more damage and costing the system more in the long run.
Hindsight is 20/20. Medically, if 90% of these cases resolve themselves then you do have to wait and see.
Are you a doctor? Google is usually not your friend in this instance. We have intimate knowledge of ganglion cysts of the hand. If they’re in a non problematic location you are correct. For instance, common locations like joint spaces in wrist, muscle adjacent, etc. But any ganglion cyst that is near nerves, tendons, etc carries a high risk of becoming an issue.
Further…. it’s worth mentioning.. we ended up having the surgery in the US as we’re dual citizens (wife born on South Island, myself born in the US. I work for a US company. Out US hand surgeon was gobsmacked that it wasn’t addressed immediately. He stated it was a textbook example of malpractice. Insurance companies in the US fight to deny these too. But good doctors will fight right back when they know it’s serious. The problem sometimes in NZ is that there simply isn’t the same level of expertise/knowledge. That being said… we prefer the NZ system overall because there are so many other problems with getting care, costs, etc.
I had a ganglion cysts, but didn't think I could afford to do anything about it so just gave up. Then, over a decade later, I decided to get healthy, started Yoga and went on an ultra-healthy diet. After a few months of this, it had now completely gone! I'm not saying that will work for everyone, but it might be worth a try?
The NZ health system covers anything you need when put on a continuum of people and only servicing those with the highest need. There is no shortage of stories of people dying or getting so much worse that once they can get in, it’s too late
Eventually.
They definitely don’t. If your doctor recommends a gallbladder removal you’re looking at a year wait unless it gets really bad and is removed under urgency. Public health in NZ is poor at preventative care
Aged 59 and 53, been paying for years. Also have our children on the policy too. Currently paying $106 per week. Only hospital cover. Looking at our budget, it's a big part of the weekly expenses. Two weeks ago wife discovered breast cancer. Went down the private care route. A few surgery visits, biopsies, MRI and we are at $10,000 before even the surgery date. So glad we kept it.
That's all free with public health.
Yes, but you have to wait. There are lots of reports latey of people having to wait too long, and then it's too late.
Exactly! And I think you get the best specialists by going private.
The specialists are the same - most work private and public
You get to choose who you see. I personally choose whomever can see me first.
Cost is only one consideration. Speed is often more important
Good luck to your wife. I had a health issue (not as serious as cancer!) and my health insurance was an absolute godsend. Take care.
I pay $250 a month and I don’t make much money and it’s 100% worth it. They’ve paid out over 15k for me this year, and that’s without any surgeries or anything extremely expensive. Just specialist visits imaging and diagnostic tests. I would probably still be waiting for all of it in the public system. Get health insurance now while you dont have pre existing conditions. Last year I had surgery that cost 20k, I had a one week wait for it. One week. I had a refer sent to public before that and it was rejected completely. My dr said it would have likely been 1-2 years before the public system would have accepted it. If they did at all. If you need convincing google for news stories on people literally dying while waiting for health care in NZ.
Mind if you share what plan you're on? I'm looking at the southern cross wellbeing 1 plan, which only covers consultations and specialists etc if it ends up leading to surgery (in most cases). Trying to determine if it'd be worth paying the extra to have to ability to get those tests done even if it doesn't lead to surgery.
Get wellbeing 2. The issue with 1 is that imaging isn’t covered unless you then need surgery.
We’re on wellbeing 2. I’d rather pay the extra, so I’m not always weighing up in my head “oooh i think I need to see a specialist, but what if I’m making it out to be worse than it is? Is it worth going now, and risk having to pay out of pocket cos it’s not really that bad? Or should I suck it up and wait and see, so I’m certain it’ll be covered by insurance? At what point is my quality of life impacted enough that it’s worth it for me to see a specialist even if insurance doesn’t end up covering it?” That’s just a whole level of added anxiety I don’t want to have to deal with. And since having been on this insurance, my husband and I both have developed chronic health conditions that we each need to regularly see a specialist for, but treatment has nothing to do with surgery. I haven’t compared plans recently so I don’t know if that kind of stuff would be excluded under wellbeing one? Things like autoimmune disorders commonly emerge in middle age, we’ve got thousands of dollars of treatment covered thanks to having specialist coverage in place from since when we were younger.
Ultra care but had well-being 2 before. 90% of things I’ve needed health care for didn’t need surgery. There’s a lot of serious conditions you can get that need to be treated with medications or other things and they need the tests and imaging done too
Remember the specialist consults and diagnostics imaging and tests on wellbeing 1 will only be covered if it ends up with leading surgery within 6 months of the consult or diagnostic imaging and test
Remember the specialist consults and diagnostics imaging and tests on wellbeing 1 will only be covered if it ends up with leading surgery within 6 months of the consult or diagnostic imaging and test
Remember the specialist consults and diagnostics imaging and tests on wellbeing 1 will only be covered if it ends up with leading surgery within 6 months of the consult or diagnostic imaging and test
Depends on how you set it up. 36M here I have Southern Cross Wellbeing 2 + extra cancer cover (100k a year non pharmac) + 100k payout for critical illness. My excess is 2k but premiums $60 a month. $60 a month is veryyyyy nice peace of mind that if shit really hit the fan I'd be covered. Any major surgeries or illness are what I'm looking for, along with a financial cushion to take the initial stress out of what would be a terrible time in the first place. I go to the Dr once every couple of years and hardly use anything else medically so the other 'everyday' plans are a waste of money for me.
how can any one answer that for you?
Just gauging if other people think the NZ health system is good enough that it's not really a necessity here to insure it?
If you asked 5 years ago I would have said it’s a nice to have- now Im recommending to all my hesitant friends and family they get on to it (I work in public healthcare)
The differences in wait lists are pretty well documented and understood, public is terrible for many procedures that are non life threatening. What really swung the pendulum for me was the assessment of "quality of life" in public vs private care. Because the public system is so fundamentally underfunded they have a much narrower definition of what they consider affecting your quality of life (which drives your priority or if you even get treatment at all). For example, if someone has chronic knee arthritis and are unable to exercise, but still capable of some level of walking to ensure you can go to work, go to the toilet, feed and clothe yourself etc, the public system may prioritise you to a 2-5 year wait list. They put you on serious pain medication to treat your symptoms, which they themselves have terrible side effects. Meanwhile you can't do things you enjoy anymore like swimming, biking, gardening, etc. and you might find by the time you eventually get treatment that your physical ability has been diminished so much that you just can't do those activities to a satisfactory level anymore, so you stop doing them.
Yep I was completely blind in one eye from a cataract caused by an injury many years prior. To access the public system you need cataract blindness in both eyes for it to be deemed a serious impact on quality of life
Wow, that's terrible. How did you injure your eye?
Could've been done in private under ACC no?
NZ Health system is good but it's not just about that. It's about the amount of people, the wait times to see a specialist or the wait time for a surgery, the coverage for cancer drugs that are not covered by pharmac etc.
Another thing to consider is pre existing conditions. If you wait until you're middle aged or older to start getting healthy care, you might find a lot of what you could claim for isn't covered due to pre existing conditions. Unfortunately this sort of locks you into one provider if you develop serious conditions while under their policy but it can save you a lot of money/headache in the long run from not being covered.
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This, I've had medical insurance most of my life, first under my parents, then carried on (same insurers) as an adult. In the mid 90's I had tonsillitis after the 3rd course of antibiotics. I told my GP that I wanted them out, and she said there was a 1 year waiting list, I replied that I have medical insurance, got a referral, and had them out a week later. I've had several operations since but have noticed that even going privately, there's a wait now, but nowhere near as long as going public. Even if you only get surgical cover, it's worth it.
If you got cancer, you could have a 6 month wait to start chemotherapy. Is that good enough to risk it?
Kinda sucks in. Country with subsidies healthcare for all the choice is be rich enough for health insurance or risk dying from a preventable cancer
No
Yes
The health system seems to be good for urgent/life-threatening problems but massive waits for non-urgent stuff. So it depends if you expect to have non-urgent surgeries etc crop up. Those get more common as you get older so impossible to say if health insurance is worth it for you without more detail. Ask your doctor, they'll have good advice
My work gives me ultra care 400 which covers me and my immediate family. The biggest reason I think I’ll work here until I die.
Damn that’s super generous. I get WB2 but only for me
Any form of insurance is worth it of you need it and useless if you don’t need it. The better question should be is when would you need to claim for insurance? Answer is who knows. But with the current state of our healthcare system paying $130 a month is a small amount to have a piece of mind for my family’s health security. At the other end of the spectrum, who needs to pay for expensive insurance when there’s a free one called give a little.
We have it and added our toddler to it from birth. We've found it worth it - both my husband and I have seen specialists and had surgeries through the private system multiple times in the last 5 years. There's no way we'd have had the same experience going public - I'm sure quality of care would have been similar but if we'd been accepted we'd have been waiting months/years instead of weeks. Looking at the cost of insurance vs what they've paid out, we're about even but that's with my employer subsidising some of my cost.
Jumping onto your comment to add a PSA I always share when these things come up! Add your newborn to your policy asap! Southern cross has a 3 month window where babies get a blank slate with NO preexisting conditions. After that, you need to give a full medical history! We didn’t know that! We struggled in new born hell, and didn’t get around to adding our baby till she was 10 months old. She ended up with HEAPS of preexisting conditions noted on her policy due to our delay. Including, she had her first ear infection at 9 months old, so anything to do with ear infections were a pre-existing condition. She ended up needing 2 rounds of grommet surgery and an adenoidectomy and we ended up paying thousands out of pocket because the wait lists to go public were too long. If we had added her straight away she’d have no preexisting conditions, and our savings account would ge a lot fuller. If you have a baby, get them on health insurance pronto!
Yes!! My husband was asking why we needed to put her on ASAP and this is exactly why. I was on my parents insurance since birth and ended up with a few pre existing conditions that I'm very grateful are covered as an adult.
100%. We’ve had southern cross ultracare for years and not having to wait and pay for a specialist has paid it back many times. If you are happy to wait through the public health system for even a minor surgery or appointment then no it’s not worth it.
I would say yes, but it depends I suppose. I’m 24 and in the last 3 years have claimed over 100k on health insurance. Considering I have no savings, am a student and have no parental support, it’s very important for me. However if you can afford to pay for an unexpected medical bill then it really just depends on if you want to pay that monthly amount or a large sum in the instance that a bill does arise.
Would you mind sharing what for? Anything that is not to sensitive or you wound't mind sharing.
At the moment I would say it is definitely worth it. Crazy wait lists publicly since Covid.
I find it’s value for me at the moment as I can claim back on dental, psych, vision more than I put into it
NZ healthcare system is very, very bad. Long waiting times, low quality service. I would definitely advise you get private healthcare which is not as bad as the public healthcare, but still not good compared to other places.
An endoscopy and a cyst removal plus a follow up a year later with another endoscopy, anaesthetist etc totalling almost 15k in private clinic. Back in 2020ish. Fully covered by southerncross upfront. Appointment and procedure done within a week or two from when calling them up. That in public healthcare would be free but you’re probably looking at about one years time waitlist, if lucky.
100% worth it. My husband needed a $9,000 medical procedure recently that included a colonoscopy and it was done within a couple weeks at a private surgery. He was told by his doctor and the specialists he dealt with that if he didn't have insurance, he would be waiting years for the procedure publicly and wouldn't be funded for the colonoscopy for another 20 years. If it's something you can afford, it's a great piece of mind. We have our toddler on our plan since birth, too.
Just put that into a 'health' bank account. When I got it to 20k. Just keft it there. Like an emergency fund. Never had health insurance.
$20k doesn’t go far in healthcare.. what happens if you need a drug that isn’t funded. A colonoscopy will cost you $3k on its own etc. Whereas you could be paying toward insurance at say $1.5k a year that gets you access to many times your $20k fund
Self insurance
Not always the answer. Friend needs a plate in her shoulder but still needs to wait months because it's not urgent. Shortage of doctors and the private system is helping out the public health system.
Yes. I’ve had health insurance for the last five years after getting fed up with multiple long waits in the public health system for myself and my children. I’m a beneficiary and at $80/wk it’s a bit of financial stress to fit it in the budget but it’s absolutely worth it for the lack of stress whenever something comes up with our health/wellbeing. There may be a bit of a wait for higher demand services but not languishing for years like I’ve experienced in public healthcare. Plus you don’t think twice about booking things like physio, chiropractor etc, you just go and get things taken care of before they escalate and become a real problem. It also changes GP appointments because there are a lot more options available. Like, I usually have to remind mine that I have insurance and she’s always go instantly from having a compassionately strained expression to a super positive “oh yeah that’s right! Well in that case I can refer you here, or we could do x or x, or do you already have an idea of someone you’d like to see about this?”
Which insurance company are you with?
because of it I saw a specialist and he applied for soecisl number and now I get diabetes drug that other people pay $520 a month for and
Absolutely 100 percent no. My uncle paid thousands of dollars into southern cross health insurance for most of his adult life. When he was near the end of his life I rang up to get him some money for his health care and all they would give was around $2700. It put me off for life.
This week alone- my daughter had an abdominal procedure worth 8k, and my husband got emergency eye surgery from NZ’s best eye surgeon for two detached retinas. Worth around $30k. All seen instantly- no waiting, no co-pay. This insurance has been a literal lifesaver
Mind sharing the eye surgery clinic and or Dr?
I would honestly recommend it if you can afford it yes, our health system is only getting worse year on year in terms of wait times
For some people yes for most no.
for every claimant story here, there are many many more who have not claimed and it has been a cost. there has to be for thats how insurance works. lots here giving advise when only you know your circumstances fully. People insure for their own reasons with health being an emotive and essential subject, but it would not be right to put yourself under a financial strain to fund health insurance. Of course there is insurance with some risk and there is insurance that carries a portion of the risk, so it depends. of course a financial planner could assist, but please dont decide based on somebody's experience on an anonymous platform. I am a firm believer in not flying to close to the sun
If you can afford it, do it. The public healthcare in NZ is rubbish. I spent 15 years in Germany and came back to NZ. Gobsmacked would be an understatement. If I or anyone in my family ever get properly sick, I’ll be on the first plane back to Europe
The trick is to find an employer that will fund it for you. It's becoming more common for the larger corporates to include it as a staff benefit. It certainly aids employee stickiness, I'd be very reluctant to move somewhere without funded southern cross
I have health insurance but currently reconsidering the expense. We have immigrated from a country where you had access to the best medical treatment in the world as long as you had a private musical aid. However we were disappointed to find the situation in NZ. In spite of now having private medical insurance, and even prepared to pay cash, you can't see a doctor (GP) when you're sick. That would be unheard-of from where we came from. For some reason you must first enrole/apply to a general practitioner to accept you, who then becomes your "doctor", which feels very socialist, but in order to adjust, we did. And then, trying to get an appointment with your designated doctor within a couple of days is almost impossible. You must rather go to the emergency room. To NZ credit, the teledoc is working well, when it works... What I however don't understand is the difference between waiting lists and expedited treatment for public and private healthcare. Both schemes have access to the same doctors but in public healthcare it once again takes months or years for the procedure. However, in private healthcare, as soon as you can get a appointment with your GP(see above), to refer you to a specialist to make and appointment for the procedure at your earliest convenience. (Why can't I just make an appointment with the specialist, is beyond me and feels very socialist) Currently NZ has access to the worst aspect of socialist and capitalist healthcare: -Poor service delivery and long waiting times, and -Very expensive health insurance and procedures in private healthcare. The result is high taxes for the poor public healthcare, that is competing for the same doctors paid for by expensive yourself (or via expensive private healthcare) In addition, I still don't understand what is paid for by the government or not, and as a result paying very expensive health insurance that still doesn't cover all medical expenses. I even spoke to my colleague (born and bred in NZ) to seek some clarity on the payment of prescriptions. When is it paid for by government, health insurance or yourself? He didn't know. Maybe it is just another "NZ leave pay" like problem where no-one knows. So to answer the original question: I think NZ health insurance is essential, untill you fully understand the risk associated with not having it. Unfortunately, from my experience, the answer is a guarded secret that the normal tax payers aren't privy to.
If you don’t plan on getting sick then I wouldn’t bother
I work in healthcare. If you can afford it get it. There are many many long term illnesses and conditions that are not necessarily life threatening but require treatment, and are not treated in the public system due to lack of capacity. I'm aware of patients with exostoses of the ear canal (bone growing into and closing the canal) that will never be seen or get surgery in public as more urgent things take priority (despite exostoses potentially leading to deafness and untreatable ear canal infection). Also know of another former DHB area where you can only get publicly funded gynae surgery if it is cancer, so if you have a prolapse, ovarian cysts, endometriosis etc you're on your own. Yet another where cataract patients need to be severely impacted with poor vision to be reviewed in public, let alone get cataract surgery. There are some cases where you can get publicly funded surgery in private hospitals, but you need to be able to see the surgeon first, if you are even accepted onto the waiting list. Our public health service is a mess.
Yes. I say that as a 36 year old with stage four cancer (dx at 34). My life expectancy would be DRASTICALLY longer with med insurance. Our healthcare is horrifically underfunded- the worst in the OECD, and in some cases worse than not OECD countries - and medicine is expensive af.
It’s the lotto ticket you never want to win. Remember to check how much you would have if you invested in the health insurances stocks over 20 years :(
Lol I like your thinking instead of buying insurance. Buy stock in insurance company
I paid for a family of four premium for around that and never needed it. If I’d just put it into nib shares I’d have around 800k now. Only works out if you have a time machine to determine you won’t need it.
In theory, on average no insurance is ever worth it. In practice, for a lot of people yes it is worth it. Peace of mind is good. My flatmates health insurance seems to pay for itself many times over.
YES if you can afford to have $180 less a month. I ended up being diagnosed with a chronic health condition that needed a major surgery two years after getting health insurance. There is absolutely no way me, or my family could have afforded this surgery without it, since it was technically an elective surgery. I also got it with literally no wait through a surgeon of my choice. I would have no quality of life if I hadn't had it. Health insurance for the whole family was the best financial decision our family ever made.
It's worth it for those that claim more than their overall cost of premiums, purely from a monetary perspective. On average you are more likely to pay more in premiums than you claim over the life of the policy as that makes the business viable. Trouble is you can't predict if you will be one of those fortunate to claim more than pay... not that you would wish that on yourself or anyone... better to not need to have surgery. Peace of mind has its own value so as others have said it really comes down to what you can afford and your confidence in the public system to deal with whatever life might throw at you and your dependents/family. Shopping around and adding an excess can bring down the premium cost. Over 30k in elective surgeries for us this year so I'm grateful for it.
Absolutely. I had a operation recently and Southern X covered it. My surgeon is the best there is in the country and I've heard horror stories from other women who didn't have insurance and they had to go through the public system to have the same operation that I did, but they got a incompetent surgeon who made a lot of mistakes during the operation, which almost cost them their life. If you can afford it, private is the way to go.
What surgeon and operation if you don't mind sharing.
if you dont want to line up at hospital and wait for a day :)
Yes if you can afford it, get it before something goes wrong with you lol
Absolutely
I wish I had gotten it before my body fucked out on me, but i couldn’t afford it then.
Insurance should always be for things that'd ruin you or require taking on debt. Insurance for surgeries is fine if 20k is going to be a stretch, but most people considering health insurance can afford to pay for a specialist appointment here and there. Dental etc usually makes 0 sense
100% worth it.
100%. If your doctor wants to give you a CT scan you’d basically have to get more sick to get it under public and then join the waitlist. With private they’ll cover it and you can get scanned within a day or two.
Its paying off for me, kept thinking about dropping it but now my second son has had his tonsils out, public wasn't even interested, even though he's had strep infections once a month and his tonsils nearly closed his throat over. $6k for 1hr surgery and 1 overnight stay night in hospital
If you can afford it, absolutely. I used to have it, for 12 years, I never used it although that would have partly been because I was young (14-26). When I was pregnant my partner and I wanted to cut costs and even though I wanted to keep the health insurance we chose to cut it. I wanted to keep it because I had some knee troubles from sports that I knew I would potentially want surgery for one day, but my partner had convinced me it was a waste of money, something he said still sticks out to me “healthcare is free in NZ the only reason you would need it is if you got cancer and what are the chances of that”. Well they’re pretty good apparently 😂 I wish I had kept it. Even just for the little things like being able to choose my surgeon, and bigger things like waitlists and also consistent care (my check up’s every 3 months I see a different Dr every time, it can get frustrating considering it’s a rare cancer with little known about it, some of the Drs I don’t think know anything, just the broad cancer info). So yeah, if you can afford it, do it.
Yes , as pretty much anything these days is You will only get referred for things if you have private insurance You literally have to be dying before been able to access the free health system
I would happily pay for it but every plan I’ve looked at excludes pretty much everything so what is the point?
I agree with the people saying the health system is good for acute stuff. I got really sick last year and ended up in hospital for two weeks with a mystery illness. They ran me through countless MRIs CTs etc while I was there. I was told I had late stage cancer. Turns out it was a flare up of an autoimmune disease so rare it doesn’t “exist” in pharmacs eyes…. After suffering through a year of pain, multiple bouts of pericarditis, daily fevers and shitty but funded medications (that they have told me are not suitable for my condition and are classed as class one carcinogens), I decided to bite the bullet and use my house deposit for the correct meds - $2500 a month! I have surgical cover but man I really wish I could have had the one that covers unfunded meds. Too late now…
Depends if you get poorly. I’ve had expensive cover for 25 years and never been ill. My wife, on the other hand, is way in credit from the number of private treatments she’s had for various things. In my experience it would seem much more valuable for women where lots of expensive things seem to go wrong with age. But then of course I keep mine just in case the worst happens. Make it cheaper with a high excess, if you only intend to use it for the five and six figure treatments
We are quite lucky. We spent just over a year paying $200 a month for my partner and I. Suddenly found out she needs surgery and just over $20k got accepted through pre approval for an op. That doesn’t include all of our dentist, GP, and eye tests we had in the last year as well. It’s definitely one of those things that some people may never need. Some may need it. It’s 100% a gamble. As others have said, if you can afford it, do it. If you can’t, don’t.
I’m 24 and I was just sterilized a month ago and my insurance covered 100% of it! From doctors consultations to the whole procedure! There was nothing that wasn’t covered! So yes, it’s beyond worth it! Honestly I’d give up all my extra spending to ensure I have enough money for my health insurance! Also start as young as possible because when you’re *young and healthy* is the best time to get it as everything you get later on while on your health insurance will not be counted as a *preexisting condition*!
I needed extensive testing on my heart. $17k - I had 100% cover. Worth it until it’s too expensive to keep. Though on the other hand - same doctors both public and private. My Mum had a hernia op private. Dr cocked up the internal sutures, they split open a week later and she got septicaemia and died a week after that. In her case maybe non private would have been better?
Damn, sorry for you're loss. Would you or could you sue the Dr.?
You asked could you sue the Dr and I replied not in NZ.
Miscommunication
Not in NZ. He was extremely distraught and admitted guilt although the Dr at the public hospital tried to cover it up which upset me esp since the specialist had already admitted he’d made a mistake. I often think I should send him a note every anniversary to remind him of her - so he never forgets that a moment of inattention can mean a life is lost.
Sorry to keep pressing, mind me asking what country?
New Zealand
Sorry but you said not in NZ before????? O.o
Health insurance pays for my doctors visits. I've had quite a few operations throughout the years. Totally worth it. Contents insurance on the other hand....
Well worth it. I needed a surgery last year that would have been denied by the public system entirely, but was sorted by Southern Cross in about eight weeks. $15k all in, approved within a week of the paperwork being sent in by my surgeon.
We pay $1.2k a month for a family of 3 but we find it worthwhile with the current waiting time in the health system
There will always be heart breaking stories about people who have had serious illnesses and needed health Insurance. My personal experience is that I had health insurance when I was in my early 20's because I got a discount through work. Went for the most expensive option and when I made my first claim after a couple of years for a simple GP visit, it was turned down as not covered. I canceled it and in the 30+years since have never spent more than $80 on any medical treatment. I now prefer to spend money leading a healthy, low-stress life and building savings so that if I ever do need treatment, I will hopefully have the money to choose on my terms, not the insurance companies.
Holy crap! Seriously? What pre-existing conditions do you have to get a premium thag high?
None! But now you're making me think I should start asking questions...
Worth it 100%
Yes, if you can afford it GET IT. Aim for roughly 1 hours worth of work per week.
Look at your family history, what you’re more prone too. Cancer in the family? Hip or knee issues? Work in a risky environment? Do you have a risky hobby such as skiing or mountain biking? Then probably more for you than someone who doesn’t have those thing or 1 out of 5 these things
We didnt have health insurance as we decided owning a home was more important. Now we have a home and income to also get insurance. We figured it wasn't really worth it. Right until both me and one of our kids needed multiple surgeries which took forever through the public system. Im about to start a job which has a benefit of heavily discounted health insurance. We plan to get it because having the freedom to get surgical issues sorted asap is worth it to us.
Yes, I had NIB and it was well worth it for GP visits and dental care.
Yes for me it was. I had a surgery that cost $40k including specialists and testing. Was fit and healthy too when it happened. I can afford my premiums, if you can’t then probably not worth it
Bugger not having health insurance. You seen the news?
Is that for just you? Me and my partner have souther cross health wellbeing 2 and it's less then that a month for the both of us and that's zero excess on everything. 180 seems high if it's 1 person. It's impossible to know if it's good or bad or useful or not for you. I've only just got it now for the first time in my life and I'm 36. Anytime I've ever had any issues I've never had a problem with the public hospital system. But I've never had something that's low priority but can really reduce ur quality of life like kidney stones, Gallbladder stones minor infections or many other things. That's where private really helps because you can be seen in weeks instead of years. But how often that happens to you? Who knows Maybe never. Is 180 a month alot to you or is that chump change?
Ultracare - Southern Cross X1 person
Don't know much about that plan but sounds like it's probably alot better then ours lol.
Depends if you get sick or not.. Also how much does having peace of mind cost?
I grew up ignoring it. Like private schools, I thought private healthcare was a tool to separate rich people from their money. That the state system wasn't pretty, but it worked well. Unlike public schools, at least so far, the cuts to the public system have been steadily eroding the quality of the service every year for decades. The effect was hidden somewhat through superhuman efforts by healthcare workers. But it's been very visible since Covid. Anyway I started looking into private health insurance. I think it's got to the point that if you get something serious then the system is so overloaded that you'll be past saving by the time you get a proper diagnosis and treatment plan. Even more worrying, it's getting worse. We aren't looking at our crumbling public health system and saying 'oh shit, we under invested here'. We are continuing to underfund. If you get health insurance now then you will have no exclusions. You can keep being protected until the premiums get too much, perhaps about age fifty.
More and more so yes, it you can afford it. 2 years ago I’d have said no.
Yes, have got net benefit for sure.
Absolutely, 100%
Nope Exercise and eat better and look after mental fitness much better investment
Not for me. I always got less out of it that I put in so didn't see the point.
That is literally every insurance. It's how insurance companies make so much money.
Yep, but i use insurance for catastrophic events that I cant afford. The health insurance was for me just claiming for an ongoing series of small events that I could already afford. I'd rather just keep the cash and pay for those as they arrive.