Health insurance claims hit $1 billion

The milestone was reached in the March quarter, with total claims paid amounting to $1000 million for the year ending March 31, 2015 – up 3.9% on the previous March year. The annual value of claims paid has effectively doubled in the past decade.

Despite the number of New Zealanders with health insurance being just 29%, HFANZ chief executive Roger Styles said this was a sizable and growing contribution to total health spending.

“Health insurance really deserves more credit for its contribution to overall health funding in New Zealand. There are limits to what can be afforded via the public purse, and having a significant chunk of healthcare financed via insurance helps the public sector to focus its resources to best effect,” he said.

“With a constant stream of complaints about the lack of public funding, there are now a billion reasons for having a closer look at how health insurance can help with funding.”