We got quotes from six health insurers for surgical and medical cover for a male and female aged 35, 55 and 70, as well as for a family of four, with excesses of $0, $500 and $1000. You can see these quotes in the ‘Compare’ tab at the top of the page.

What we found

Of the policies surveyed, UniMed’s Hospital Select policy was significantly cheaper than the rest, however, it limits surgical cover to $300,000 and hospital medical cover to $65,000.

Only Southern Cross had lower medical cover across its policies, with the other insurers’ hospital medical coverage ranging from $300,000 to $500,000.

Accuro’s SmartCare+ offers $500,000 of hospital surgical cover, nib Ultimate Health Max and Partners Life’s Private Medical Cover offer $600,000 cover, while AIA’s Private Health Plus and Southern Cross’s Wellbeing Two offer unlimited cover. Age matters

For 35-year-olds, Partners Life and Southern Cross’s policies are the most expensive.

At 55, nib’s policy is the most expensive, with Southern Cross offering the most expensive policy at age 70.

Given the importance of continuous cover and pre-existing conditions, it’s worth making health insurance decisions with the long-term in mind. Partners Life is among the most expensive at 35, but by 55 it is mid-range, and by age 70 it is among the cheapest policies on the market. Gender matters too

Prices were generally higher for women aged 35 and 55 but for men at 70. Accuro and Southern Cross are the exceptions, with men and women paying the same price for health insurance at every age. Health insurance is rising faster than inflation

On average, the health insurance quotes we received have increased in price by 10.2% from October 2021 to January 2023, outstripping inflation over the same period, which stands at 8.8%. Costs are rising everywhere, but they’re rising faster in health insurance.

We asked the health insurers what was behind their rising prices, and the predominant theme was “medical inflation”.

Medical inflation refers to the rising cost of medical treatment. Innovation in healthcare creates better but more expensive treatments, drugs and technologies. We live longer due to these developments, but we are also more likely to require more medical care. Changes in our diets and lifestyles mean we are living with more chronic illnesses and increased rates of heart disease, cancer, diabetes and obesity.

While all insurers attributed their price increases to medical inflation, the extent of the increases and how they are applied differs significantly between providers. Accuro, AIA and Unimed have consistently applied increases across age and policy type, but while Unimed and AIA’s increases range between 8% and 9%, Accuro’s policies have increased by around 12%.

Other providers have adjusted prices differently depending on the policy and the age group. Southern Cross is among the only providers with price rises below inflation. Still, while the cost of its Ultracare policy for a 70-year-old has fallen by 1%, its Wellbeing Two policy with no excess has increased by 9% for the same person. Similarly, a nib Ultimate Health Max policy with a $1000 excess has increased in price by 13% for a 35-year-old male but 16% for a family of four.

Best and worst health insurance for customer satisfaction

Service is just as important as price when choosing an insurance company. We surveyed our members to find out how they rated their health insurance providers.

People’s Choice

Police Health Plan is the winner of our People’s Choice award. We give the People’s Choice award to providers that rate above average for customer satisfaction and meet our other performance criteria. Learn more about our award.

We surveyed 1773 Consumer members with health insurance to rate their overall satisfaction with their provider. In the past three years, 75% of the respondents had made a claim. Overall, 46% of respondents with health insurance were very satisfied with their insurer. Best health insurance providers

Southern Cross are New Zealand’s largest insurer, and they are also the best when it comes to making claims in the eyes of consumers. Results show 83% of Southern Cross customers who made a claim were very satisfied with how their claim was processed, with UniMed (81%) also performing strongly.

Southern Cross and UniMed were also the insurers with which respondents were least likely to have had a problem. Just 6% of Southern Cross and 5% of UniMed customers had experienced a problem compared to 19% for Partners Life. Worst health insurance providers

Partners Life and nib were the worst performers in this year’s survey.

Partners Life has experienced a significant decline in satisfaction, with 50% of those experiencing an issue with the provider naming expensive premiums as the problem.

nib’s problems lie in claims processing. Among customers who had made a claim, just 59% were very satisfied with how the claim was processed, with 19% saying that nib made a mistake with their claim.