New Zealand’s Public Health System – by Richard Toon

It’s great to live in a country with a good Public Health System. Over the years I have had several encounters with the Taranaki District Health Board. These encounters were filled with Doctors, Nurses and Administrators that were both skilled and helpful and are trying to do great things under trying circumstances.

So why would you bother spending money on Private Health Insurance in New Zealand?

Well while our New Zealand system of Public Health Care is good, it’s far from perfect.  It can be slow, it is filled with bureaucracy and it is extremely underfunded. Throw a world-wide pandemic in the mix and we now have a huge Covid backlog placing great stress on the public system and to some extent the private system which is having to take up the slack.

Professor Des Gorman at the University of Auckland notes New Zealand’s management of the pandemic was solely to focus on the weaknesses of our health system.  He describes the public health system as unsustainable, unaffordable, and unfair. And the worst time to restructure such as system and attempt reforms is during a global pandemic.

Private Medical Insurance will pay for your operation and even your specialist visits and tests, if you include this on your policy.  You choose when you want the procedure done, where you want it done and by whom. 

We often concentrate on the fact that Private Medical Insurance will provide more instant treatment, and this is a fact even in Covid times.  In the extreme cases this expediency will save your life. The importance of the choice of provider plays just as bigger part in saving your life and providing a better outcome. 

For example, if you require removal of your prostate there is a not only a better chance that you will experience a return to full functionality if you have this procedure completed by the most modern techniques rather than older techniques available in many provincial centres, its less invasive, the recovery time is better and the risks are lessoned. In an ideal world we would like to think that our public system could provide the most up to date procedures in a timely manner.  Unfortunately, public finances do not permit this, and private providers continue to invest in new technology.  

Here is a list of the top five claims from a major medical insurer we partner with, for the month of December 2021.

Source – NIB Top 5 Claims December 2021

These people would have experienced the fast and efficient service that the private health system provides giving them a faster recovery, a better outcome, immediate care and the return to good health that we all know is the most important thing any of us can have in our lives.

Contact us for a Private Health quote today.