Medical claims hit record
There’s been a surge of people taking out health insurance, and it’s not been driven by the sale of bargain basement ‘‘minor medical’’ policies targeted at the young.
The Health Funds Association says 20,000 people took out health cover last year, the strongest growth in a decade, taking the number of New Zealanders covered to 1.36 million.
But the demand was not for minor medical policies that cover little more than GP visits, said Health Funds’ chief executive, Roger Styles.
Instead, the policies Kiwis wanted were ‘‘major medical’’ policies that give people access to elective surgery without having to go onto the state health system’s waiting lists.
The biggest leap in demand was an increase of 10,000 new policies issued to people aged 25-39.
Styles said minor medical policies made up a mere 3.5 per cent of all policies New Zealanders were shelling out premiums for.
Minor medical policies are a relatively new invention. They typically cover some reimbursable items such as glasses, physiotherapy and GP visits, but had limited or no cover for major surgery.
Minor medical policies were pioneered by Australian ASX sharemarket-listed insurer NIB, but versions are now offered by eight health insurers including the country’s largest Southern Cross Health Society.
Despite that, only about 48,000 people have opted for them.
Last year set a new record for claims made on health insurance, with $98 million more paid out in 2016 than in 2015.
Claims paid for the year jumped 9.4 per cent to $1.136 billion as health insurers funded record levels of elective surgery.