What is health cover?
Health insurance is the cover you take out to help pay for a future medical event(s). Depending on your cover, health insurance can help pay for several medical services, including hospital care, access to PHARMAC and non-PHARMAC treatment, and appointments with a GP and/or specialist.
Why do I need health Cover?
Life is unpredictable, and we need to be as prepared as possible for adverse health events which require medical assistance. Health insurance helps to pay for potential future medical costs, and may help to relieve some stress around paying for healthcare.
What kind of information do I need to provide?
One of our Moose insurance advisers will set up an initial meeting with you to discuss your goals and the type of cover you are after. We will ask a few questions about your medical background, medical family history, and your finances. The reason we ask about your income and finances is because we must make sure that the policy we recommend for you aligns with your budget.
After gathering initial information, we will put together a statement of advice with our recommendations chosen specifically for you (and your family, if applicable). We will then arrange a second meeting to go over the statement, and to work through an online application together if you decide to proceed.
Following the second meeting, we will wait to hear back from the underwriter, and will be in contact via phone and email to finalise your application’s offer of terms.
Will I be covered for any pre-existing conditions?
This will depend on the nature and definition of your pre-existing condition, and your cover will ultimately be determined by the underwriter, or the type of product you proceed with. Just because you fall under the definition of having a pre-existing condition, doesn’t neccessarily mean you won’t be covered for it.
Some insurance providers may insure you for a pre-existing condition after you have been with the insurer after a certain amount of time. On the other hand, some pre-existing conditions are too risky for an insurance provider to insure you for. Exclusions may include cardiovascular conditions (e.g., high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease).
Your level of cover for pre-existing conditions is specific to you and your health history, and can be discussed in further detail with your Moose insurance adviser.
What are some of the benefits I can add-on to my policy?
This will depend on the insurance provider. Below might be some of the benefits you can add-on to your policy:
- Specialist options
- Proactive health options, including cover for health screening tests, dietician/nutrition consultations, and healthy living programmes
- Serious Condition financial support option
- GP Option (additional cover to see your GP or another specified practitioner, e.g., physiotherapist)
- Additional cover for non-PHARMAC medicines that are Medsafe approved
- Dental and optical option
Our insurance partners
Benefits of getting health cover
01 Peace of mind
It is impossible to predict how life will unfold; however, with health cover in force, you have peace of mind that you will be appropriately cared for when it comes to claim time.
02 Financial certainty
Taking out health insurance cover can relieve the financial stress associated with medical costs. Health insurance means that you won’t have to dip into your savings to pay for medical emergencies.
03 Trusted advice
Moose insurance advisers are here to make sure your insurance is fit for purpose. We tailor a plan to provide the right cover to meet your needs, so that you are not under- or over-investing in your insurance policy. When it comes to claim time, we are also here to guide you through the process.
04 Private hospital cover
If you are uncertain about whether the public hospital system can meet your needs in a timely manner, then health insurance provides access to private hospital care to ensure you can be treated without delay.
05 Specialists & tests
If your illness or injury is not life-threatening or is not deemed urgent, then access to specialists and tests is often delayed through the public health-care system. Being on a waiting list can cause stress and uncertainty. Health insurance can offer options to include access to specialists and tests. This means that you can be seen without delay once you’ve been referred by your GP.
06 Non-pharmac treatment
PHARMAC is our government-funded drug agency which provides access many subsided medications. However, some medications, including drugs for some cancers and rare illnesses, may not be funded by PHARMAC. This makes access to these important, and sometimes life-saving drugs, extremely expensive. Health insurance can provide access to NON-PHARMAC treatment costing up to $500,000 (depending on your policy).
Why should I use an insurance adviser?
An insurance adviser will be able to run through a series of questions with you, to gather enough information to determine your financial position. This will enable us to understand what type and level of cover would be required to meet your needs, whilst balancing the affordability of your premiums.
Moose Mortgages & Insurance is accredited with a range of providers. This enables us to provide our clients with competitive pricing, and solutions to meet your needs.
- Advice recommended to suit your individual circumstances
- Access to a range of insurance providers
- Save time by letting us do the heavy lifting on your behalf
- On-going management of your insurance policy
- No fee service for our recommendation
Use our link ‘Get Started’ to create a profile, and complete a series of questions to identify what types of insurance you may be interested in. This will take only a couple minutes.
Once you’ve completed our online fact find, an adviser will be in touch to arrange a time to meet you in person, or online through video call to discuss the information disclosed. We will add any additional information that may be fit for purpose, along with a needs analysis to determine suitability of the insurance.
An adviser disclosure document will be provided outlining the adviser’s scope of service, personal details including FSP (Financial Service Provider) registration number, and how we are paid by the insurance companies. If a fee applies for our advice this would be disclosed upfront prior to you engaging our services
After we’ve gathered all the information from our meeting, we will begin the process of research and analysis. This will include comparing product provider’s pricing, product benefits and features, insurer financial ratings, and claim payout percentages for the previous year.
We will use our research findings to tailor a recommendation that is aligned to the needs based information gathered in our first meeting.
Once our recommendations are ready we will arrange a time to catch up with you to review the document either in person, or online through screenshare.
In this second meeting in person, or through screenshare, the adviser will talk you through the options in our statement of advice (recommendation) document, and answer any questions you may have.
If the advice provided requires variations the adviser will take notes, and rework the recommendations to ensure your needs are met prior to you either accepting, or declining the recommendations.
If you accept the recommendations provided by the adviser, we will lodge an application to the insurance provider on your behalf. This will require us to complete the insurer’s health questionnaire along with your personal details. This application usually takes around 20 – 30 minutes to complete.
Your completed application will be sent to underwriting for approval, where they will either issue the policy if there are no conditions, or come back to us to advise you there are conditions for us to work through prior to the insurer providing you a policy offer to accept.
Your adviser will contact you annually to review your insurance. This is to ensure that your cover remains fit for purpose through the changes in your life. We are here to ensure you are looked after for the long term.