More Kiwis are hanging on to their medical insurance for fear they won’t be looked after by the public health system says Roger Styles, CEO of the Health Funds Association of New Zealand (HFANZ).
According to its statistics for the December 2019 quarter 1.411 million people had health insurance in New Zealand – an increase of 2,800 (0.2%) on the same time in 2018.
In a press release HFANZ says working-age people account for most of the health insurance uptake, and that growth in the over-65 age group is significant.
That older age bracket with health insurance grew by 2200 last year to 167,000 – around 22 percent of the 65-plus population, says Styles.
He says claims paid were $363 million for the last quarter of 2020, an increase of 5.2% on the same period in 2019. Claims paid for the year to December 31, 2019 totalled $1.379 billion, up 80 million on the previous calendar year.
HFANZ says premium income for the quarter was up $12 million on the September 2019 quarter to $439 million. Annually, premium income rose $145 million (9.3%) to $1.695 billion.