Health Insurance

12 September 2014

20% of GDP is spent on our Public Health System.  This is double the average for other OECD countries and with Medical Inflation increasing at a breathtakingly rapid rate it doesn’t take a brain surgeon to realise that our health system is NOT sustainable.  

The odd thing is that not every area experiences the same funding issues.  Some people in some areas for certain procedures may not experience a long waiting period whereas others for the exact same procedure may find the wait intolerable.  The point here is that it is not guaranteed that your treatment will be able to be offered in a timely manner.

The current public system is definitely the most appropriate for certain types of care eg critical and emergency care.  However more chronic medical complaints such as  Heart disease and degenerative joint conditions which are the most common are experiencing huge delays causing pain and distress and even deterioration of health.

Chemotherapy is now being prioritised for the more advanced cases meaning that those requiring treatment may also experience delays.  

Some people believe the answer is for the Government to inject more funding to this area.  But where is this to come from given we are already injecting double the amount that would be expected to be spent on health?

We believe that private health insurance, as with other countries, is a good start.  Private health insurance is designed to relieve some of the financial burden on the health system.  We believe that the Government needs to provide tax incentives for those taking on the responsibility of their own healthcare.

Private Health insurance provides huge benefits for the person Assured.  It allows them choice of their health care provider and when they can commence treatment.  It allows access to some treatments that may not available through the Public Health System.  

The earlier you join a health insurance plan the less likely you will have of having exclusions on the health care cover – the longer you go the more issues you may experience meaning that health insurance will not cover those particular conditions.  This is why there has been a big movement for young families to arrange health insurance for their entire family so that children are covered before they start to develop any medical issues.  

Not all providers and products of Health Insurance are equal and you do need to be vigilant when comparing different health insurance products and providers.  As always we recommend the use of Insurance Advisers who are able to assess your situation and compare the health insurance options to come up with the one that is most likely to suit your particular requirements.    And best of all they are able to do this for their clients free of charge.  

Published In Whakatane Beacon

This post was written by

Trish Marsden - who has written 5 posts

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