Tower New Zealand chief executive Jim Minto says New Zealanders with health insurance need to look at more modern covers."Many people have the wrong type of health insurance and this has disadvantaged them in the recent public claims delays," he says. "If people have health insurance that refunds regular doctor and dentist bills then they may be paying for something they don’t really need. People with these covers pay twice, once for the premiums and again when they pay the doctor or dentist. Sometimes then they misplace the bills when getting round to claim the refund from health insurance. Even if they do claim may have to wait for the refund."Minto says that these individuals may be more suited to a modern hospital cover health insurance that pays only for major medical needs at a lower premium. This is now the most popular type of new health insurance sold, but a great many people (almost half) still have the old type of cover that carries a higher premium.

Tower has just launched a new range of health insurance covers.The new types of plans provide cover for major medical issues like surgery.

Tower is New Zealand’s second largest Health Insurance provider with about 200,000 lives covered.