_0v0_

My wife and I between us pay $350 approx for life and medical insurance per month. It doesn't cover the children, who are reaching the age at which free healthcare ceases.

It burns a hole in our pockets.

Recently both my wife and I were in hospital - I for an accident (I went to the local DHB hospital), my wife for a non-emergency procedure (she went to the flash private hospital). I found the difference between the two was that my wife got better cooking and a room of her own.

I would be interested to hear from those who have considered taking out medical insurance and either done so or not done so.

Jan n Neil

You have answered your own question better room and food the medical care is the same the only upside of ins is that you wont wait for small ops,hernia ect If it,s making a dent in the finances i wouldn,t bother. We do have the life ins tho wich will pay the mortgage of and leave a bit left for my new 22 year old wife


Neil

BEVS

We would like to have done so but simply couldn't afford it.

Tom1983

The boss and I decided to take out Health Insurance, we pay about $80.00 each in total with Southern Cross per month.

It's one of those that whilst we think it is a waste of money, it's there if we need it. Apparently my tonsils are not looking the best at the moment so it might be that later on in life, i'll be needing them out. I know my health insurance will cover that, thank goodness.

Both of us wear glasses/contact lenses so we did consider eye care as well but worked out that it would be a complete waste of money adding that. Same with dental care, I've paid $330.00 for my wisdom teeth to be removed, a normal appointment and a hygenist sort out - that cost far less than the extra amount per month i'd have encountered if I had dental care included. Same with eye care, our eye test was $60 and with contact lenses being only $20=$40 a month for me, there's absolutely no point in us obtaining etc.

Is it worth it, it's a tough one. I've only got it to be on the safe side and it's there if it's needed. Had I known what I knew now than I did when I took it out, I probably wouldn't have taken out health insrance. Best to be safe

jmh

I probably wouldn't (well I don't), but you must make sure you have a slush fund for emergencies. If you are disciplined enough to put that money in a savings account it wouldn't take long to build up a tidy sum. Re the life insurance though, I guess it depends on how your kids would be provided for if the worst happened to both of you. That probably depends on the sort of extended family support you have.

sparkie down under

we took out medical insurance when we first got here, panic panic no NHS. We paid about $250 each month and never used it, (thankfully),

When times became hard we ditched it and thankfully we've still never needed it.

So was it worth it?

If we'd put that money into a saving account we'd still have it and even some crap interest.

I can't say if it was worth it but I don't think that when times get better we'll be taking it out again

nero

We do not have medical insurance - kind of wish we had, but then hindsight is a great thing and now well we cannot afford it.

The key difference between having and not having is:
In an emergency - probably not alot (except better food and your own room)
In a non emergency situation - expect to wait................for an op, procedure or test
With either you will probably see the same Consultants in both the Public and Private Health care systems
The Public health system is very good, but at times the clinics etc can be very busy and a 15minute appointment can take a whole morning, which when you have to take time of work is quite costly
As you age and if you have had any high profile conditions like cancer, getting or affording healthcare may be a problem.

Hope this helps

Bumptious

If it's a group scheme through your job it will work out much cheaper which we found out after paying for years to Tower then realising husband had a group scheme with Southern Cross - doh and silly us yes.
I think actually you will be glad of it when you are older as realistically things are more likely to go wrong as it were, but then again you never know.
We do have a pretty good health system here but for non essential surgery you would go on a waiting list. Our medical insurance is for surgery only, not for doctors or specialist visits as most people would be able to get the money together for that, but not for a major op. Think the difference between $250 - $10,000. My father in law in his 70s recently had a stent put in for his heart and it cost $16,000 done privately which his health insurance paid but he pays large monthly fees.
I would say if you really wanted to reduce your outgoings or are having problems affording it, stick with the life insurance and ditch the health one.

janiejones

If anyone is interested, I spotted a that a copy of Consumer magazine today in New World had a comparison of health insurance stories on the front cover.

lfcfan

We came out here with no health insurance over 6 months ago, my husband had had a heart attack in the UK some 12 months previous to our arrival, we are entitled to health care with through my company after 1 year, but we are on 30 month work visa so are entitled to publicy funded health care.

Within the last 2 weeks the husband has had chest pains, we went to see our local GP on a Fweel last Friday to discuss, who suggested he booked us into see a cardiologist, mentioned we don't have private medical insurance, was advised it maybe a long wait as non residents, got a phone call the following Monday from the cardiologist to say they have an appointment available on Weds, could he attend. We did, had a 2 hour consolut, ecg, stress fitness test, all the normal and have been told all is good and no issues, just a muscular strain....

Our dealings so far of the health service have been great

alanmacc

IMO I cant justify medical insurance, looked at it a few times and still cant see the real benefit of it, yes you can go private if needed but the waiting lists here aint anything like the NHS, personally id much rather pay to see a doctor as and when I need to rather than coughing up nat ins every month and never actually using it.
I had an eye problem and was referred to a specialist which would incur the usual $$$ so i sent the results off to the eye clinic in Chch and have an appointment with them so far my experience of the health service here has been pretty good compared to the good old NHS

_0v0_

I'm not sure that free medical treatment here is as comprehensive as the NHS, leastways where it's not an accident or an emergency. My 4-yo daughter has had problems with one of her eyes. My wife took her to an optician and GP. The GP gave us a referral to a specialist, but we had to pay. He told my wife that as we didn't have a community services card the State would not cover the specialist's fee.

(and of course - guess what? my children don't have medical cover).

pricklykina

I have surgery only medical cover for myself and hubby only. We used to have a more extensive cover but it wasn't worth it at our age (39 &43) especially since GP and script costs came down so dramatically. PLus the excess is much lower for our surgery only that it was for an extensive cover.

I know some people that keep a slush fund instead but we are not that dedicated.

One option is to pay for your own specialist appointment. You can get your GP to arrange private referral. That will dramatically cut your waiting times. Then you pay for the specialist and get them to refer you into the public system for surgery