Health Insurance jumping 41%

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David321

485 posts

Ultimate Geek

#319834 6-Jun-2025 13:50

Hi all,

I am a 37 year old Male - non smoker.

I currently have health insurance with NIB, it is "Major Medical Deluxe" with a $500 excess with a $300,000 non pharmac medication add on and currently pay $47 per fortnight for this policy.

It has been arranged through Swain Woodham (insurance brokers/financial advisers) back in 2013, I am not sure if I pay extra because it is through a broker or not, I am also not sure if brokers avoid companies that do not pay them (like how Kiwibank did not pay brokers so brokers would not bring them customers).

I have recently got an email from NIB saying my fortnightly premium is going from $47 to $66, so I emailed my broker (his emails got to his assistant) the assistant came back saying most premiums have gone up across many different companies and my increase is due to me enter a new "age group".

I have used a few online quoting tools for health insurance and most companies quote very similar to what I am paying now (before the upcoming increase).

I have asked my brokers assistant to get my broker to look into other companies for me and see if there is cheaper options out there, but I am curious what others are paying, particularly if you are around my age.

Also curious to know (if anyone knows for sure) if I indeed would be paying more as my cover is arranged through a broker and the company charges me more to recover the commision they pay the broker?

_David_

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2793 posts

Uber Geek

#3381264 6-Jun-2025 14:09

In general brokers are commissioned by the bank or insurance company - it is not supposed to disadvantage the customer.

$66 a fortnight sounds very cheap in this day and age. Let us know if you find better.

KiwiSurfer

1449 posts

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#3381305 6-Jun-2025 15:44

38 male non-smoker here and I pay approx $110 a month to Southern Cross. So more or less similar to you.

I was part of my parent's family policy growing up then when I turned 18~21 or so I had it split out and have been dealing directly with Southern Cross ever since. Never used a broker. At times Southern Cross has allowed me to join a workplace scheme (whenever I've worked for an employer that had some sort of cooperation with Southern Cross) but I've foud the savings are pretty a few dollars/cents compared the normal individual policy.

Be aware than moving health insurer can be risky as your new insurer may not cover any pre exisiting conditions as of the start date of your new policy, that would otherwise be covered if you stayed with your exisiting insurer and renewed your policy with them. Basically this is why I've stayed with Southern Cross as it's not worth moving to a new insurer. Some years ago I looked into moving to a different insurer (affliated with my union so would have received discounts etc) and even they admitted that I was better off staying with Southern Cross than to move over to their scheme. I've been quite statisifed with Southern Cross's service so haven't really done anything further.

tigercorp

668 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3381328 6-Jun-2025 16:36

Southern Cross, wife 38 increased by 21% to $101 per fortnight, kids increased by 11%.

Mine is covered by a work plan and curiously I can't find anywhere what that cost actually is.

GSManiac

488 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3381376 6-Jun-2025 16:47

35 Male Non Smoker,

I am on my second year with Southern Cross and my monthly premiums doubled after my first year was up. That must be how they hook people-get them in a cheaper deal and wham hit them with a 100% increase knowing most wouldn't want to look elsewhere.

larknz

1689 posts

Uber Geek

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Lifetime subscriber

#3381452 6-Jun-2025 21:33

Welcome to getting old. I get an annual present from Southern Cross increasing my premium.

k1w1k1d

1519 posts

Uber Geek

#3381460 6-Jun-2025 22:27

It gets much worse as you get older.

My wife and I are in our 60's and currently paying Southern Cross $209/week for specialist and operations cover. That's just under $11k a year.

johno1234

2793 posts

Uber Geek

#3381503 7-Jun-2025 07:08

We’re 60 and 59 and paying $1k per month but that also covers our 3 kids aged 18-24

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Dynamic

3866 posts

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#3381720 8-Jun-2025 11:00

When I hit 45, I had enough of the annual hikes and decided to self-insure. At that stage in my life I was able to draw down additional mortgage funds if needed.

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Juicytree

141 posts

Master Geek

#3381725 8-Jun-2025 11:27

We are in our mid 70s and have finally decided NIB has reached our pain thresh-hold. We have stopped our medical insurance because we were notified last November that the annual premium for both myself and my wife was to be $18,434 with an excess of $4,000

Dunnersfella

4086 posts

Uber Geek

#3381758 8-Jun-2025 15:10

I dropped NIB last year after fighting over a claim...

The money to switch to Southern Cross was slightly cheaper, however everyone I have spoken has said that it's easy to deal with Southern Cross.

I can't say that NIB offered even remotely friendly service and certainly weren't easy to talk to.

Of course, having changed I haven't made a claim, so there is that.

Quinny

885 posts

Ultimate Geek

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#3382116 9-Jun-2025 14:10

Sthn X, $189 per week. Can we swap?

hsvhel

1237 posts

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#3382166 9-Jun-2025 19:01

Seems most are with Southern, can you not decline the increase and maintain the lower level?

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mattwnz

20141 posts

Uber Geek

#3382167 9-Jun-2025 19:12

I wonder if there is an increase in the percentage of people taking out private health insurance. The thing is that we do have a public health system that should be meeting the public needs. But based on how many people have insurance it doesn’t seem people have much faith in it. Based on some of the premiums people are paying I would have thought more people would self insure. I really hope we aren’t becoming more like the US.

larknz

1689 posts

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#3382168 9-Jun-2025 19:18

Self insuring is all well and good, but my last back operation was more than $30,000. This didn't include associated scans and x rays.

KiwiSurfer

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#3382188 9-Jun-2025 20:19

hsvhel:

Seems most are with Southern, can you not decline the increase and maintain the lower level?

You might be thinking of property/car/etc insurance. With property/car/etc insurance you sometimes have the option to insure an agreed amount which you can adjust downwards to lower your costs -- for example when I insured my car I chose a lower value for my car to reduce my annual costs accepting the tradeoff that if my car gets written off I will be paid not not much. However it doesn't work that way with health insurance (at least not with Southern Cross). My plan for example covers 80% of costs without options to increase/descrease that within the same plan -- so whenever the cost of medical procedures goes up, 80% of that also goes up, and thus insurance costs also go up. I can switch to an entirely different plan, but that means whats gets covered is differnt. Southern Cross offers a plan that does 100% cover but much more expensive cost as that plan also bundles in other perks I'd be happy to do without. Changing to a different plan comes with its own set of benefits/drawbacks.

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