Absolute Insurance - Proud Sponsors of Swimming New Zealand

5 Features Your Health Insurance Must Have

1.  A high level of surgical cover without limits or listed procedures:
As medicine becomes more sophisticated and more advanced technology is used, the cost of procedures and treatment rises.  It’s important to have a high level of cover for the big expenses such as surgical procedures (when a person undergoes a form of treatment using anaesthetics). Some procedures are as high as $60,000 with one ongoing claim currently costing the insurer $120,000. Some insurance policies limit each part of the procedure and will only pay to the level of their pre-determined limit. This can leave the claimant with a significant shortfall which they will have to meet.   Another area to be aware of when investing in a health insurance policy is "listed procedures". Some policies list what they will cover. If a procedure is not on their list they will not cover it. While these lists are often comprehensive, common sense dictates that a newly developed procedure can’t be on the list and may never make the list. This leaves an area of uncertainty. 

2. A high level of non surgical cover:
An emerging area of medical treatment is termed as medical (non-surgical) hospitalisation (when a person undergoes a form of medical treatment which does not involve surgery). Types of procedures classed as non-surgical include treatment for asthma, cancer (chemotherapy & radiotherapy), diabetes, epilepsy, pneumonia, lithotripsy (the removal of kidney stones). For a policy to be ‘future-proofed’ it must have a high level of non surgical cover.  As medicine advances more and more non surgical procedures will become available.

3. The availability of excess options:
An excess on your health insurance is where you agree to pay the first $250, $500, $1000, $2000, or $4000 of any claim and the insurance company pays the rest. The higher the excess, the lower the premiums. The value of having the ability to add or subtract excesses means you have a measure of control of the premiums throughout the life of the policy.  Having a higher excess is especially useful for retired people who have a limited cash flow. Often in these years a person can find the $500 or $1,000 or $2,000 excess while protecting their assets from $20,000/$30,000/$40,000 claim.  Good health insurance policies will have a range of excess options to help manage the cost of premiums.

4. Cover for specialist consultations and diagnostic procedures:
Diagnostic procedures, generally through a specialist, are essential before a decision can be made to proceed to surgery and the cost of diagnosing an illness or condition can run into thousands of dollars. Good health insurance policies give you the option of having either: Associated specialist consultation, diagnostic investigations, radiology and imaging costs that directly relate to the hospitalisation. This type of cover allows you to reduce premiums. or A full Specialist Benefit which covers specialist consultation, diagnostic investigations, radiology and imaging costs even if you have not been, or will not be, hospitalised.  Diagnostic services include: endoscopies, laparoscopies, MRI & CT scans

5. Flexible and future-proofed:
Because your needs and your circumstances will change throughout your and your family’s lifetime it’s important to have flexibility within your health insurance policy. This includes being able to add or subtract options such as non-hospital related specialists, GP and Dental Options as well as being able to increase or decrease your excess as your budget dictates. We don’t take out a health insurance policy for the health conditions we currently have – we take it out to protect us from conditions that may develop in the future. This is why a good health insurance policy must be future-proofed to take into account new and developing procedures and cover the associated costs.Having the high level of surgical cover without limits and listed procedures, a high level of non-surgical cover and the availability of excess options give a measure of future-proofing to your policy.